EPT Snowfest thread

POKERSTARS.NET EPT SNOWFEST - final table player profiles

Seat 1: Russell "rdcrsn" Carson, 27, Powell River, British Columbia, Canada - PokerStars qualifier – 3,463,000 chips
Carson may not be a familiar face to regular EPT followers, but is a formidable and well-respected online opponent known by his moniker "rdcrsn'. The Canadian pro has consistently made his living playing poker, his only other occupation was as a student prior to stepping up to the felt. His biggest cash was for $150,000 in an online tournament. He is an avid sports fan particularly soccer.

Seat 2: Alain Medesan, 33, from Baia Mare, Romania – 919,000
Medesan has been a fulltime poker professional since December 2006. ‘I decided then that I would play for everything. I would play with all my heart,’ he says. It’s a sentiment that is backed up by his supporters who have been ringside throughout Day 4. Seven of them helped stake Medesan into the event which the 33-year old admits would have been too expensive for him otherwise. Their loyalty has already been repaid several times over and we may now get our first ever Romanian champion. Medesan jokes that he is being “coached” by his friend and fellow Romanian Mihai Manole who came fourth at EPT Barcelona. His biggest live result before EPT Snowfest was €17,025 for a second place finish in a €700 tournament in Slovenia, but he’s no slouch online where his biggest score has been a $85,000 3rd place finish in a $100 rebuy event.

Seat 3: Jonathan Schroer, 46, near Raleigh, North Carolina, USA – PokerStars Frequent Player Points qualifier – 972,000 chips
Jonathan Schroer won his seat to EPT Snowfest in a Frequent Player Points satellite on PokerStars – which means his first ever trip to Europe has cost him nothing at all. Schroer is one of the few amateurs in the Snowfest final; by day he is the head of a Montessori School in North Carolina. Schroer is an international master at chess and is a poker veteran having been playing online for nearly ten years. He normally plays limit cash games, and also satellite tournaments.

Seat 4: Johannes Strassmann, 25, Berlin - Team PokerStars Pro - 2,034,000 chips
Originally from Bonn and now living in Berlin, Strassmann is a poker pro who – like ElkY and many other poker pros – has switched from the strategy game Starcraft. He made an initial deposit online of $5 and has never looked back. He now has one of the best EPT records of all time, currently lying sixth in the EPT Tournament Leader Board. He has eight EPT cashes (including two finals) and also bubbled two final tables. His best result was €152,000 for sixth place in Dortmund two years ago; his most recent was 23rd place in Berlin two weeks ago. Overall he has made more than $750,000 at EPTs.

Johannes and Austrian pro Markus Golser are soon launching a German poker coaching site. He said: “I can’t imagine that I’ll be playing professional poker when I’m 30 years old, so I think it’s a good time to start a business.”

Seat 5: Lukas Baumann, 24, Austria – PokerStars Frequent Player Point Qualifier - 728,000 chips
Baumann is the last remaining Austrian in the tournament and hails from Leoben in Styria, three hours’ drive from Hinterglemm. He is currently about half way through a materials engineering course at university. Like Schroer, Baumann won his seat in a Frequent Player Point tournament on PokerStars so his seat at EPT Snowfest has cost him nothing. He is thrilled and amazed to have made the final table, surrounded by pros, and merrily puts it all down to luck. However he does have results – he came fourth in a $50,000 guaranteed tourney on PokerStars for $4,000 and is also the current official Styrian University poker champion, a title he’s held since December.

Seat 6: Brent Wheeler, 24, from Chicago, Illinois – PokerStars player - 3,096,000 chips
Wheeler is a full time poker pro who mainly plays online. He says the only job he has ever had other than playing poker was being a golf caddy. Wheeler says his “favourite” live result was coming fourth for € 57,000 in the PokerStars Italian Poker Tour event in San Remo last month. A huge Chicago Bulls Fan, he also came 86th at EPT Berlin two weeks ago for €12,000 and had a deep run at the PCA in January, coming 39th for $35,000.

Seat 7: Allan “Sifosis” Baekke, 27, Denmark – PokerStars player - 4,688,000 chips
PokerStars SuperNova Allan Baekke is a well-known internet pro who has made his name playing the biggest buy-in - $5,000 - heads-up sit and gos on PokerStars. He competes in the major Sunday tournaments as well but his biggest hit to date was second place in the $25,000 PokerStars WCOOP High Roller Heads-Up event last September. He has been chasing an EPT title for quite a while, having competed in 15 events. He has cashed twice - 48th place in Budapest last season and 28th at EPT4 Copenhagen. However in Berlin two weeks ago, Baekke came second in the €2,000 side event – his best live result before reaching this Snowfest final table. For last season’s Copenhagen event, Baekke joined forces with PokerStars to write strategy tips for the leading newspaper Ekstrabladet on how to win EPT seats via steps satellites. He is being supported in Hinterglemm by his girlfriend Kirstine.

Seat 8: Daniel Van Kalkeren, 25, from Hengelo, Holland - 396,000 chips
Van Kalkeren has been a full-time professional poker player for the last two years but is here in Austria playing his first ever EPT. He took up poker while studying IT and communications at university. He plays online – invariably No Limit Hold’em short-handed cash games at $2/$4 and $3/$6 stakes. His best live result was reaching the final of a tournament in Budapest last year where he cashed for more than 18,000. Daniel is being supported from home by his girlfriend of eight years – as well as his new dog Tommy. Daniel and his friend Huub Verdonschot, who also made the final nine, both recently got new dogs and were teasing their friends who have bust that this is why they made the final.