EPT Copenhagen thread

From the field of 24 players that started day 4, 9 move forward to the final table on day 5. All are eyeing up a first prize of DKK 3,675,000 (€493,700 approx.). The total prize pool is DKK 14,212,800 (approx. € 1,909,000) with 56 places paid.

The current chip leader is Francesco De Vivo from Italy with 2,073,000. In second place is Morten Guldhammer from Denmark who has 2,033,000 in chips. PokerStars online qualifiers Anton Wigg from Sweden has 1,412,000 and Yorane Kerignard from France has 1,164,000.

Team PokerStars Pros Peter Eastgate (2009 world champion and runner-up EPT London) finished in 22nd place and won DKK 80,000 and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier (Winner 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure) finished in 40th place and won DKK 65,000.
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Seat 1 - Jesper Petersen with 968,000 in chips

Jesper Petersen, 27, Aarhus, Denmark, PokerStars player
Jesper Petersen is a former economics student, who has been playing poker professionally since 2004.

He took up poker early that year and by the end of it was playing full time. To date Petersen’s biggest result came in a side event at the Irish Open in 2007 where he finished fourth and while he has cashed in WSOP events since 2006, EPT Copenhagen will be his biggest career cash.

Petersen was close to elimination on day one, dropping to 9,000 before doubling up with aces just before the dinner break. He went on to finish the day in strong position and has played solidly since, his fortunes helped greatly on day four when his straight beat the flopped set of Peter Eastgate.
Seat 2 - Francesco De Vivo with 2,073,000 in chips

Francesco de Vivo, 39, Turin, Italy
Francesco De Vivo has been playing poker online since 2005 and professionally for the past two years. The father of two from Turin is playing his first tournament as a sponsored professional since winning a special event in Vienna, earning a package of tournament buy-ins worth $100,000.

De Vivo cashed in the 2008 World Series Main Event, and at a side event at EPT Prague in 2007, but his best results have come in Italy, where he became Italian champion for his performances in 2008.

De Vivo spent the first three days of EPT Copenhagen short stacked and card dead, but two hands helped him on his way, the first a piece of luck, when his pocket eights beat aces. Then on day four he doubled through Roberto Romanello, leaving him with the chip lead going into the final.
Seat 3 - Yorane Kerignard with 1,164,000 in chips

Yorane Kerignard, 24, Aix-en-Provence, France
Yorane Kerignard has been playing professionally for three years, concentrating on multi-table tournaments online.

EPT Copenhagen is only his third major live tournament but will be his best live result, beating his previous best payout of $7,000 in a €500 buy-in event. His biggest online cash was for $122,000 in a $1,000 buy-in tournament, and his online talents have been used well to win his seat to EPT Copenhagen on PokerStars.

So far things have been easy for Kerignard, who by his own admission lives and breathes poker. He’s had no need, so far, to make tough decisions for his tournament life but as he said at the end of day four he looks forward to whatever the final table brings.
Seat 4 - Magnus Borg Hansen with 1,164,000 in chips

Magnus Hansen, 22, Kastrup, Denmark
Magnus Hansen is no stranger to the final tables of the European Poker Tour and finished third here in Copenhagen in 2008.
He earned more than two million Kroner for that performance, his biggest win to date, and it was a contributing factor in his decision to turn pro last May – after he had finished studies in IT.

He is also a keen Counter–Strike player and used to be a member of one of the top 20 teams in the world.
Seat 5 - Anton Wigg with 1,412,000 in chips

Anton Wigg, 22, Stockholm, Sweden, PokerStars qualifier
One of a huge army of highly successful professional Swedish players, Anton Wigg is enjoying his best ever appearance at an EPT Main Event.

Indeed, it’s his first ever cash on Europe’s premier tour, although he took down the European Masters in Barcelona for €55,000 last July and made a final table of a PCA side event last month.

Despite his tender years, he has played poker for four years, three as a professional, and won his seat here in a €500 satellite on PokerStars.
Seat 6 - Morten Guldhammer with 2,033,000 in chips

Morten Guldhammer, 35, Aalborg, Denmark, PokerStars qualifier
Morten Guldhammer is the fairytale story of the final table. He won his seat in EPT Copenhagen through a series of tournaments run by PokerStars with the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

First he beat 1,457 opponents in a $1 buy-in tournament. Then he beat 15 other tournament winners for his EPT Copenhagen package. Normally only a freeroll player, he has already earned more than ever before – and has surpassed his pre-tournament goal of making day two.

He has cultivated a loose aggressive style during the tournament and was responsible for bursting the bubble – beating Craig Hopkins – and knocking out at least five others en route to the final table and a stack of more than two million.
Seat 7 - Richard Loth with 1,436,000 in chips

Richard Loth, 42, Aalborg, Denmark 
Married with four children, Richard Loth is a recreational player who normally plays multi-table tournaments online. He has been playing for four years and bought in directly for this event, and is now enjoying his biggest result live or online.

He has taken this tournament one day at a time and has progressed steadily to the final table – he’ll return to his career as a consultant come what may.
Seat 8 - Roberto Romanello with 1,551,000 in chips

Roberto Romanello, 33, Swansea, UK
Bedridden owing to a football injury in 2006, Roberto Romanello reached for his laptop and began playing poker online – the first step in a career than would earn him more than $600,000 in live tournament winnings, and counting.

Romanello won the European Open last February, worth $200,000, and this is his best result so far on the EPT, bettering his 32nd place in Copenhagen last year. He battled food poisoning on day three, but ended with the chip lead.

These days Romanello considers himself to be a full-time poker professional but used to split his time between playing poker and helping to run his family's award winning fish and chip shop in Wales.
Seat 9 - Morten Klein with 748,000 in chips

Morton Klein, 41, Norway
Morten Klein learned poker from his father with his four brothers and sisters. “It was a hard school,” he said.

Klein now has three children of his own, aged 11, 17 and 18 – and he has already taught them all how to play. When he is not playing (or teaching) poker, Klein works for a Norweigan online slot-machine company.

Klein has played poker seriously since 2006 and his major results are 51st place at EPT Barcelona 2009 and second place in the Norwegian heads-up championship in 2009.

Place Prize Name Country
1 DKK 3,675,000
2 DKK 2,275,000
3 DKK 1,400,000
4 DKK 1,050,000
5 DKK 715,000
6 DKK 570,000
7 DKK 425,000
8 DKK 282,800
9 DKK 215,000
10 DKK 215,000 Paul Szyszko USA
11 DKK 155,000 Mads Wissing Denmark
12 DKK 155,000 Andrew Teng UK
13 DKK 120,000 Damien Fouquet France
14 DKK 120,000 Andrey Vlasenko Russia
15 DKK 100,000 Chris Dombrowski USA
16 DKK 100,000 Steven Vollers Netherlands
17 DKK 80,000 Ricky Fohrenbach USA
18 DKK 80,000 Thomas Pettersson Sweden
19 DKK 80,000 Stig Rossen Denmark
20 DKK 80,000 Henrik Junker Denmark
21 DKK 80,000 Janne Nevalainen Finland
22 DKK 80,000 Peter Eastgate Denmark
23 DKK 80,000 Kristijonas Andrulis Lithuania
24 DKK 80,000 Nicolo Calia Italy
25 DKK 70,000 Jens Sundberg Sweden
26 DKK 70,000 Rasmus Vogt Denmark
27 DKK 70,000 Pieter van Genderen Netherlands
28 DKK 70,000 Julien Haution France
29 DKK 70,000 James Bowey UK
30 DKK 70,000 Thomas Froslev Denmark
31 DKK 70,000 Jens Klaning Denmark
32 DKK 70,000 Fabian Gentile Belgium
33 DKK 65,000 Kristian Kofoed Denmark
34 DKK 65,000 Juha Helppi Finland
35 DKK 65,000 David Adelskov Denmark
36 DKK 65,000 Kristoffer Thorsson Sweden
37 DKK 65,000 Thomas Quaade Denmark
38 DKK 65,000 Stefan Raffey Denmark
39 DKK 65,000 Vitor Pinho Portugal
40 DKK 65,000 Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier France
41 DKK 60,000 Csaba Toth Hungary
42 DKK 60,000 Lee Gaines USA
43 DKK 60,000 Jan Djerberg Denmark
44 DKK 60,000 Casper Toft Denmark
45 DKK 60,000 Patrik Kaltrud Norway
46 DKK 60,000 Richard Grace New Zealand
47 DKK 60,000 Yury Kerzhapkin Russia
48 DKK 60,000 Halldor Sverrisson Iceland
49 DKK 55,000 Yngve Hella Steen Norway
50 DKK 55,000 Kimmo Kurko Finland
51 DKK 55,000 Patrick Sacrispeyre France
52 DKK 55,000 Ronnie Gasseholm Denmark
53 DKK 55,000 Alfio Battisti Italy
54 DKK 55,000 Berjar Rustom Denmark
55 DKK 55,000 Anders Berg Norway
56 DKK 55,000 Mark Bech Denmark