Last night, the delightfully named Thang Duc Nguyen (left) won €487,397 for his 1st place finish in this year's Baden EPT, later admitting that he may be giving up his job as a full-time chef.
Originally from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, the 42-year old amateur player from Hamburg in Germany is happily married with ten-year old twins. Although not a familiar face on the scene, he is far from being a rookie, picking up a total of €35,000 in last month's PokerStars' World Cup of Poker, not to mention 8th place in the 2004 WPT in Paris where he won €50,990.
But this most recent of conquests wasn't all plain sailing, as going into the Final Day, Nguyen was a mere 5th place, in touch but still 130k behind Swedish pro' and former card dealer, Peter Eichhardt. But alas, it wasn't to be the Swede's day, as Eichardt dropped in 8th for €47,167 when his K-Qs failed to outdraw Dario Minieri's Pocket Eights.
Not too far behind Eichhardt (right) was another young Scandinavian, Jonas Molander. A talented player who also went deep in the London EPT but, as was the case at the Vic, he couldn't quite find a top 5 finish, eventually being forced to settle for 7th place and €62,890 in spondoolies.
And with Rodion Cherednichenko (T-Jo vs 9-9), Sasa Biorac (A-2 vs 6-6) and Daniel Dodet (A-9 vs A-K) taking 6th - 4th respectively, we were down to three players; Dario Minieri, 22, a prolific online player from Italy, Ben Johnson, 29, an online qualifier from Brooklyn, New York, and joint chip-leader (with Minieri) and homeland hero, Thang Duc Nguyen.
But although Johnson was the smallest stack at the table, it was Minieri who was the first to fall, when Thang took on his A-J all-in with A-Q, subsequently holding up come the flop, turn and river.
And about an hour later (of which included a Ben Johnson (left) double-up with 7-8s vs K-Ts), Thang finally took the title when he made a brave call with Pocket Fours, only to be greeted by the glorious sight of Johnson's paltry K-3. A three on the flop, but blanks on the subsequent streets, meant we had our winner, a German chef from Hamburg.
Clearly over the moon, Thang shared his emotions with the audience via an interpreter before accepting his cheque for €487,397.
Another EPT down and another big winner named. Next stop Dublin, bring on the craic!