Expekt.com Norwegian Championships ME: FINAL TABLE

[Djinn]

We're about 45 minutes from starting the end, if that makes sense, of the Norwegian Championships £500 ME.  A sellout affair, with 517 players, they've busted each other with Scandinavian abandon until reaching the final Nine.  And they are:

Sondre Barlien-- 1036000
Stig Rune Kveen -- 777500
Erik Borkvik -- 613000
Marcus Pettersson -- 602500
Ian Frazer -- 526500
Svein Arnesen -- 436000
Oyvind Efraimsen -- 423500
Kjetil Skau -- 422000
Tage Almark -- 308000

Sole UK player Frazer has a decent stack, and we reckon the Norwegian commentators will be biting their nails off lest a Brit win this prestigious Nordic tournament.  Nearly a week of top class play, a veritable smorgasbord of new and interesting names and faces, and a faultlessly hosted event by DTD and it's all about to come to its thrilling conclusion.  See you at 5pm.

[Djinn]

Seat order of the finalists (who are just now taking their seats and unbagging their ludicrous mountains of chips, which we hope have been coloured up somewhat):

13   1   Ian Frazer
13   2   Sondre Barlien
13   3   Erik Borkvik
13   4   Oyvind Efraimsen
13   5   Marcus Pettersson
13   6   Stig Rune Kveen
13   7   Kjetil Skau
13   8   Tage Almark
13   9   Svein Arnesen

Pics coming...

[JungleCat03]

Photos of the players and their starting chip count...

Seat 1: Ian Frazer - last great hope for the UK! - 526,500



Seat 2: Sondre Barlien - 1,036,000



Seat 3: Erik Borkvik - 613,000

[Djinn]

Seat 4: Oyvind Efraimsen -- 423,500




Seat 5: Marcus Pettersson - the sole Swede - 602,500




Seat 6: Stig Rune Kveen - 777,500

[Djinn]

Seat 7:  Kjetil Skau -- 422,000



Seat 8: Tage Almark - 308,000



Seat 9:  Svein Arnesen -- 436,000

[Djinn]

Near instant double through for Kjetil Skau, courtesy of Erik Borkvik, all in preflop with against .  First card out:    Second card out:  (not interesting, just building tension…)  Third card out:  !  Turn and river no help and Kjetil wins a pot which may just have catapulted him into second in chips behind Sondre Barlien.

[Djinn]

ELIMINATION!  Oh the drama - Svein Arnesen gets it all in with , ideal, wouldn't you say, against the of Sondre Barlien.  But the on the flop actually got there with the ... and cracked Aces send our first player to the rail - Svein Arnesen, finishing 9th, winning £4,330.

[Laxie]

Live poker is rigged...obv

[George2Loose]

Hi Jen- any idea on the policy re deals? I know DTD always do it on chip count but does a Norwiegen championship precedent supercede that rule?

[bovie]

not to many scandies have deals

[bovie]

i have as yet not been to ddt but it sounds a great venue

[Djinn]

Hi Jen- any idea on the policy re deals? I know DTD always do it on chip count but does a Norwiegen championship precedent supercede that rule?

I had a chat with Simon Trumper who suggested to Henrik that should they get down to the point where a deal would be likely, they should still play for 10% (four handed that would be about 25k).  I also found out that the winner gets a bonus WSOP Main Event seat.  Add to this the character of the players that have made the final, and the fact that it's being broadcast live all over Norway, with post production being made to include the hole card cams for a show, and I would say the possibility of them dealing and just kind of giving up the end stages is very very slim.

[JungleCat03]

Long, drawn out pot just played out between Oyvind and Erik.

It all started so simply...

Passed round to Erik in the small blind he completed, only to find Oyvind raising it up...he now RE-RAISED enough to virtually set Oyvind in, meaning Oyvind now had a decision for his tournament life...

He stared at Erik, shuffled his chips, looked pained and tortured. Erik went deep into full bulgy eye mode and most of the time his bulgy eyes were trained in my direction...MOST UNNERVING!

After eons had passed, Oyvind did likewise, shaking his head and passing, leaving Erik's eyes to withdraw back into their sockets where they belong as he picked up the pot...

[Djinn]

With the blinds at 10k/20k, Tage Almark raises in early position to 80k.  It passes to big blind Stik Kveen, who thinks for a while and annoucnes all in.  A sip of what looks like beer (again, seriously impressed by the hardcore nature of Norwegians), a long think, a bit of a scowl but an eventual decision to call for his tournament life.  He winces as he sees his opponent fllip first - a hand that has him dominated.
Almark: 
Kveen: 

Flop: 
Turn:    So only a non-diamond Jack will save Almark...
River:   That's not a non-diamond Jack.

Therefore we lose Tage Almark in 8th place, winning £5,412

A nice guy, talked to him in some breaks and at the end of days, when he would appear, beaming, with a bottle of Corona in each hand and chat to his lady railer.  He said he was delighted to have made the final, and although he is bound to feel some disappointment, he's played four days of poker against Norway's finest and done pretty well overall.

[JungleCat03]

i have as yet not been to ddt but it sounds a great venue

Yes, the best venue I've personally played poker in.

Much attention has been paid to the aesthetics of the place and it shows... It's beautiful to look at, sympathetically lit and overall very easy on the eye. Then there's the facilities; terminals where you can play online poker; nice smoking area, masses of space to actually play poker. Food? Excellent, wide variety of choice, puts most casinos (and even some restaurants) to shame. Then we have the staff who are efficient and friendly;  helpful, and often beautiful valets abound, ready to assist however they can. And I haven't even mentioned Simon Trumper who rushes around, making sure everyone is happy, solving problems and organising events with a flair and hunger for the job that is a pleasure to watch.

We've been treated excellently this week, but we are not alone in this. Every Norwegian I have spoken to is blown away by DTD and rightly so. Rob's vision of excellence has come to fruition and he has single handedly raised the bar for all future poker establishments.

Congratulations to everyone involved.

(I was not paid to write this btw!)