There aren’t too many players in this industry that absolutely everyone likes, so it was of great pleasure to many when one of the nice guys of poker, Julian ‘Yoyo’ Thew, reigned victorious in this year’s Baden EPT.Although depleted in numbers with a field of 282, the Baden Casino played host to an all-star cast including formidable faces in Patrik Antonius, Ram Vaswani, Surinder Sunar, Roland de Wolfe and across-the-pond visitor Barry Greenstein who all had their eyes firmly fixed upon the €670,800 first prize.
However, only one player would have the chance of taking home that mouth-watering figure, and with a line-up including bracelet winner Ted Lawson and the highly rated young hotshot Thomas Fuller, lapping up top prize would prove a tricky prospect.
Thierry Van Der Berg -- 227k
Manfred C. Hammer -- 369k
Julian Thew -- 610k
Vladmir Poleshchuk -- 624k
Ted Lawson -- 81k
Thomas Fuller -- 190k
Denes Kalo -- 468k
Anton Allemann -- 254k
Although it took an exhausting 4-day affair to whittle the players down to the last eight, the final table threatened to be over before din dins as two players exited in the first two hands, start-of-day chip leader Polshchuk the assassin on both occasions!First to hit the deck was Allemann (A-K vs. K-9 on a 8-9-K flop) before American pro Lawson (right) felt the Impaler’s wrath with a non-improving K-Qs vs. A-9s. And it didn’t stop there for Poleshchuk, as, to the dismay of millions of parachute trouser fans, he beat M Hammer like a government mule with A-Q vs. 5-5 (Ace on fop) to formulate a stack of 1.4 million, over half the chips in play!
With 5 left, the Impaler stepped aside to allow Fuller to eliminate Van Der Berg (A-T vs. J-9s), but the key hand was just around the corner, Julian Thew finding himself all-in against Fuller with Qc 8c vs. 6d 6h on a Kc 6c Qh flop. An Ac on the turn and a harmless 5c river and we had a new chip leader, the Nottingham based pro rocketing up to a eye-widening 1.8 million in chips.
After Kalo finished Fuller off with 7-7 vs. A-6, it would be early favourite Poleshchuk who would fall in 3rd, Kalo's K-J rivering a soul-destroying straight on a T-9-7-9-8 board against the former Impaler’s now inferior A-Q.
Heads up, and Hungary’s Kalo utilised all his experience as a sales manager to broker a deal with his English counterpart, Yoyo taking home a quite fantastic €550,000 and Kalo settling for €450,000.
A paltry in comparison €45,800 was left in the pot, but those pieces of shrapnel would eventually find their way into the Thewy pocket, a final A-8s vs. A-5 encounter seeing the William Hill man add an EPT trophy to his recent GUKPT victory in Plymouth.
Culminating what has been a scorching hot run with by far his biggest win to date, a jubilant Julian bought champagne for his friends in Baden before praising the support showered upon him by the blonde forum: “Many, many thanks to everyone, those I know and those I don't yet; the support on here has been amazing. Wow, I thought Plymouth was a high, this one really did get a lump in my throat going and will take a few days to sink in. I’m luckier than the average bear in more ways than one, but believe me when I say that anything truly is possible. Tired and emotional, four days never to be forgotten.” At the risk of losing objectivity momentarily, I would like to finish this news item by echoing the comments I made following Julian’s victory in Plymouth. Never has there been such a popular EPT winner – a guy liked by everyone, and rightly so. He’d give his buddies his last dollar if they needed it, would offer advice to those looking to improve their game and would happily lend out shopping tips to those less fashionable. A true gent if ever I saw one and one of the most sincere chaps you’re ever likely to meet. Bravo!