The European Poker Tour’s eighth season got underway with the kickoff event in Tallinn, Estonia. It continues in beautiful Barcelona, Spain. While both events are must-stops at some point in your poker career, all eyes are already focused on the first giant poker festival from London in Season 8.
The PokerStars EPT released the schedule for the London Poker Festival. Running September 30-October 6 at the Hilton Metropole in London and the Grosvenor Victoria Casino, EPT London will host a whopping 31 events.
As always, the highlight of EPT London will be the £5,000 + £250 main event. Players are also getting excited about the £2,150 European 8-Game Championships, a £5,000 Heads-Up event, and the £20,500 High Roller tourney. The ladies will find the £550 PokerStars Women Live event on October 2. EPT London will be introducing some unique formats at his year’s festival. Players will be able to play a £550 5-Card Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo (PLO8) tourney, a £330 No Limit Turbo „Win the Button!” event, and a £330 No Limit Turbo „Rivers” event, where each player receives their own river card, plus a £120 No Limit Hyper Turbo tourney offering 10,000-chip stacks and 10-minute levels.
The inaugural phase of the European Poker Tour (EPT), the one held in Tallinn, crowned its champion who is none other than the Swiss player of 21 years, Ronny Kaiser. His excellent performance during the fourth day of competition allowed him to reach easily the victory. Indeed, Kaiser was one of the 24 semi-finalists and he managed to get an advantage in chips after having eliminated Michael Graydon. Kaiser was then qualified for the final table and has even picked up the place of chipleader. Note that Kaiser is a player used to play poker cash games and he specialized in Pot Limit Omaha. And he took advantage of his experiences because he was able to confront the many players of the final table like the poker online pro player Keloporo Sami, the winner of the Pot Limit Omaha tournament of the World Series of Poker Las Vegas 2011 Ben Lamb and also Grzegorz Cichocki.
Kaiser emerged triumphant, although he found it amusing that he hardly played a pot against Cichocki before reaching heads-up play – even though the Pole had been to his left for the final two days of the event.
Next up is the EPT Barcelona, which returns to its traditional end-of-summer slot with a €5,000+€300 main event that runs from August 27 to September 1 at the Gran Casino.
Top 10 placing and payouts from the EPT Tallinn main event:
1. Ronny Kaiser (Switzerland) – €275,000 (£240,000)
2. Gregorz Cichocki (Poland) – €180,000 (£156,400)
3. Raigo Aasmaa (Estonia) – €110,000 (£95,600)
4. Jani Sointula (Finland) – €80,000 (£69,500)
5. Stuart Fox (UK) – €55,000 (£47,800)
6. Erlend Melsom (Norway) – €45,000 (£39,100)
7. Sami Kelopuro (Finland) – €35,000 (£30,400)
8. Arvi Vainionkulma (Finland) – €25,000 (£21,700)
9. Johan van Til (Netherlands) – €17,500 (£15,200)
10. Vicenzo Apicella (Italy) – €17,500Cel de al optulea sezon al EPT a debutat în Tallinn, Estonia, şi continuă cu minunata Barcelona. Deşi ambele evenimente reprezintă un punct de reper în cariera oricărui jucător de poker, toţi ochii încep să se îndrepte către primul mare festival de poker din Sezonul 8 – cel de la Londra…
PokerStars EPT a dat publicităţii programul London Poker Festival. Acesta se va desfăşura în perioada 30 Septembrie – 6 Octombrie, la Hilton Metropole din Londra şi Grosvenor Victoria Casino şi va găzdui un impresionant număr de 31 de evenimente.
Ca de obicei, punctul de atracţie al EPT Londra va fi Main Eventul de 5000+250 lire sterline. Jucătorii sunt entuziasmaţi şi de European 8 Game Championship (2.150 lire sterline), Heads up event (5.000 de lire sterline) şi High Roller Tourney (20.500 lire sterline). Doamnele vor avea ocazia să participe la Poker Stars Women Live (550 de lire sterline) de pe data de 2 Octombrie. EPT Londra va introduce formate noi la festivalul din acest an. Jucătorii vor putea plăti 550 lire sterline pentru turneul 5 Card Pot Limit Ohama Hi/ Lo (PLO8), 330 de lire sterline pentru No Limit Turbo “Win the Button” event, precum şi suma de 330 de lire sterline pentru No Limit “Rivers” event, unde fiecare jucător primeşte propriul card river. De asemenea, participanţii se vor putea bucura de No Limit Harper Turbo tourney (120 de lire sterline), cu miză de 10.000 de jetoane şi nivele de 10 minute.
Etapa inaugurală a EPT, cea de la Tallinn, l-a avut invitat pe campionul suedez de 21 de ani, Ronny Kaiser. Excelenta sa performanţă din cea de a patra zi i-a dat posibilitatea să câştige cu multă uşurinţă. Într-adevăr, Kaiser a fost unul dintre cei 24 de semifinalişti, însă a reuşit să obţină avantajul la jetoane şi să îl elimine pe Michael Graydon. Kaiser s-a calificat apoi la masa finală şi chiar a preluat poziţia de leader la jetoane. Trebuie specificat faptul că Ronny Kaiser obişnuia să joace poker cash games şi s-a specializat în Pot Limit Omaha. A profitat de experienţa acumulată şi a înfruntat mulţi jucători la masa finală, precum Keloporo Sami sau câştigătorul turneului Pot Limit Omaha din cadrul World Series of Poker Las Vegas 2011, Ben Lamb, precum şi pe Grzegorz Cichocki.
Kaiser s-a descurcat uimitor, deşi s-a amuzat de faptul că a reuşit cu greu să joace potul împotriva lui Cichocki înainte de a ajunge la heads up.
Următorul eveniment va fi EPT Barcelona, ce revine la tradiţionalul Slot End of Summer, cu un main event de 5000+300 euro, event ce se va desfaşura în perioada 27 August – 1 Septembrie, la Grand Casino.
Clasamentul jucătorilor şi payouturile main eventului EPT Tallinn
1. Ronny Kaiser (Switzerland) – €275,000 (£240,000)
2. Gregorz Cichocki (Poland) – €180,000 (£156,400)
3. Raigo Aasmaa (Estonia) – €110,000 (£95,600)
4. Jani Sointula (Finland) – €80,000 (£69,500)
5. Stuart Fox (UK) – €55,000 (£47,800)
6. Erlend Melsom (Norway) – €45,000 (£39,100)
7. Sami Kelopuro (Finland) – €35,000 (£30,400)
8. Arvi Vainionkulma (Finland) – €25,000 (£21,700)
9. Johan van Til (Netherlands) – €17,500 (£15,200)
10. Vicenzo Apicella (Italy) – €17,500
