blonde poker

 

Although last year’s visit to Warsaw became the first non-televised EPT event, the combination of top players, friendly atmosphere and meaty prizepool meant that a second outing to Poland was inevitable.

The lack of spotlight may have deterred a few famous faces, but with a credible 359 runners stumping up the 7,180,000 Polish Zloty buy-in fee (you do the maths), John Duthie and his team will have been more than thankful. Among that motley crew, segregated into the usual two day affair, were Dario Minieri, Julian Thew, Bo Sehlstedt, Andy Black, Marc Goodwin and a welcome appearance from the vivacious Kara Scott, more accustomed to the EPT mike than the green of the baize.

Although the final table was a relatively unfamiliar line-up, one face stood out from the crowd, former Amsterdam Master Classics winner Trond Eidsvig (left) continuing his impressive form with an incredible fourth EPT final table appearance.

Unfortunately, Trond was one of a handful of shorties looking on in wonder as Michael Schulze unbagged a commanding 1.1 million stack. Behind him was Ricardo Sousa on 756,000, with Spanish business student Juan Maceiras lying in third with 437,000.

Inevitably, it was the shortstacks who would topple first, Daniel Woolson’s Aces running into the Pocket Fives of Mathias Viberg on a nasty Q-5-3 board, before dangerman Trond’s A-T was out-gunned by Juan Maceiras’ A-9 which caught a Nine on the River.

After losing Niclas Svensson (4-4 vs. Medhi Ouakhir’s Q-Ts) and Juan Maceiras (2-2 vs. Viberg’s A-K) in 7th and 6th respectively, Christian Oman was dealt a slice of bad luck, correctly calling all-in with Kd-5d on a Qh-Kh-7d-9h board but losing out to Schulze’s Ac-9s when a cruel 9c hit the River.

With Schulze’s extending his chip lead by eliminating Medhi Ouakhir in 4th (T-T vs. Q-3), we were left with our final three in shortsacked Ricardo Rouso (458,000), Mathias Viberg (1,072,000) and chip leader Michael Schulze (1,952,000). However, we would soon be heads up when Viberg became one of many to feel the wrath of Schulze, his 6-2o no match for the German's superior Pocket Fours.

Although Sousa battled valiantly, he was never able to get his nose in front, and ninety minutes later it was all over, Schulze’s A-6 spiking an Ace against the Portugese pro’s Pocket Sevens on a 5-2-4-A-2 board.

After Kara Scott had probed Michael with post-match questions, Sculze was presented with a comedy cheque for €609,782 and a trophy that resembled an inflated world cup. Raising his arms aloft in triumph, the German amateur absorbed the flashes of the poker paparazzi and basked in the glory of becoming the latest EPT champion.

 

1st  Michael Schulze  --  €609,782
2nd  Ricardo Sousa -- €345,543
3rd  Mathias Viberg  -- €203,261
4th  Mehdi Ouakhir -- €152,445
5th  Christian Oman -- €123,989
6th  Juan Maceiras -- €97,565
7th  Niclas Svensson -- €77,239
8th  Trond Eidsvig -- €65,913
9th  Daniel Woolson -- €34,554