Season 8 on the European Poker Tour was one for the ages. Not only were 13 champions crowned and millions of dollars won, but also, numerous memories were made. We’re here to talk about some of those memories, specifically the most memorable ones as we see them. It’s important to point out that these are in no particular order. Let’s get to it.

We’ll start all the way back to EPT London and Benny Spindler’s big win, which took place at the end of September and beginning of October in 2011. Spindler was often regarded as one of the best young players in the game, but he hadn’t won a major title to really solidify his stance. He had previous deep runs in all kinds of events across the EPT, the World Series of Poker and also the World Poker Tour, but no major victories.

When the final table in London began, Spindler was third in chips. He assumed the chip lead early on at the final table after picking off a big bluff from Mattias Bergstrom. Then, he won a massive flip with start-of-the-day chip leader Martins Adeniya to get a massive stack. When heads-up play began, only American Steve O’Dwyer stood in the young German’s way. Spindler had the lead to start the battle and it didn’t last too long.

Many were saying that because of Spindler’s previous close calls, this victory knocked the monkey off his back. When asked if he felt like he had a giant weight lifted off his back, Spindler simply shook his head and responded, “No.”

Speaking of EPT London runner-up Steve O’Dwyer, he had one heck of a season on the EPT and that brings us to the next memorable moment. He banked numerous cashes including two big final table appearances in London and then in Copenhagen. In London, O’Dwyer scooped £465,000 for his second-place finish to Spindler and in Copenhagen he took seventh for DKr 290,000. He also had a second-place finish in the EPT Campione High Roller for €74,000. Not a bad season for the American, who really broke out over on European soil.

If we’re going to talk about players who broke out during Season 8 of the EPT, the biggest of them all was German Philipp Gruissem. When it came to High Roller events, Gruissem always had his hands on a massive amount of chips deep at a final table it seemed.

Things all started when Gruissem took third in last season’s EPT Berlin €10,000 High Roller for €67,000. He then went on to win the EPT Barcelona High Roller for €234,500 and beat Igor Kurganov in the EPT London High Roller to win the title and £450,200. Along with those impressive scores, Gruissem took fourth in the EPT San Remo High Roller, third in the EPT Prague High Roller and cashed in the EPT Berlin Main Event. All of that came before he went on to final table the EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller and take third for €266,000. Basically, Gruissem is the resident EPT high roller and we can’t wait to see the results he puts up in Season 9.

It’s always been known that no player has ever won a second EPT title. In Season 8, Kevin MacPhee nearly did it twice and each time everyone was pulling for him to become the first to do so.

A former EPT Berlin champion, MacPhee’s first real shot in Season 8 came in San Remo when he found himself at the final table. Unfortunately, the short-stacked MacPhee couldn’t gather any momentum and bowed out in eighth place. From there, he recorded a few in-the-money finishes with aspirations of a second title, but the second really big push didn’t come until Berlin.

In the same city he won his first EPT title, MacPhee found himself still alive on the penultimate day with the field down to 24 players. With this being the last stop before the EPT Grand Final and the culmination of the season, MacPhee had a second EPT Main Event trophy dangling right in front of him. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards for MacPhee as he was eliminated short of the final table in 19th place.

Even with hopes of a two-time champion in MacPhee falling, Anton Wigg and Vladimir Geshkenbein were two other former champions still in the mix. As the day wore on, it looked at though both of them may make the final table, but then Wigg fell in 14th place and left only Geshkenbein carrying the torch to a would-be two-time champion. But just like his fellow former champions fell before him, Geshkenbein headed to the rail short of the final table in 10th place to open up the throne to a brand new title winner.

One of those players remaining after Geshkenbein’s exit was Belgian pro Davidi Kitai. Although there may be some skepticism about the defining criteria behind Kitai’s WPT Celebrity Invitational win, he technically had a WPT title to go along with his WSOP gold bracelet coming into the final table and that made him eligible for poker’s Triple Crown achievement. Even though the excitement of having a two-time EPT champion crowned in Berlin was washed away with the eliminations of MacPhee, Wigg and Geshkenbein, Kitai could still win the Triple Crown and steal the headlines.

Kitai had a tough group of competitors in front of him, but he gathered a ton of chips early on in the final table to really put a stranglehold on things. From there, he seemed to cruise to victory and win a massive payday of €712,000 along with a prestigious EPT title.

While on the topic of close calls, plenty of big-name pros had their fair share of them this season, including many Team PokerStars Pros. Eugene Katchalov took third in Barcelona before fellow Team Pro Juan Manuel Pastor took fourth in London the following stop. Luca Pagano, who is arguably the best overall performer on the EPT since its inception, took seventh in Deauville and Pierre Neuville finished runner-up to Mickey Petersen in Copenhagen.

Speaking of Petersen, as if all those final table runs by team players weren’t good enough, the PokerStars Team Online member went out and won his first major title at EPT Copenhagen. Petersen seemed to use his youth, energy and aggressive online nature to beat down the older Team Pro until Neauville just couldn’t hold on any longer.

Prior to Copenhagen, another Team Pro had a major result and that was Viktor Blom. He conquered the elite field that came out for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 Super High Roller for his first major victory and $1,254,400. The final table was jam-packed with poker power, including some of the biggest names in the game maneuvering their way to the final five spots that were all in the money. Daniel Negreanu and Jonathan Duhamel finished in fifth and fourth place, respectively, and then Galen Hall fell in third before Blom dismantled Dan Shak to win the trophy.

Besides Blom winning his first major title, the other name that sticks out from the 2012 PCA was Duhamel’s. After scoring fourth in this event for $313,600, the 2010 WSOP Main Event champion took fifth in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo event for $17,990, won the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event for $239,830 and then finished runner-up to Leonid “Alex” Bilokur in the $25,000 High Roller for $634,550. Altogether, Duhamel scored over $1,200,000 from his trip to the Bahamas and shot his way to the top of nearly all Player of the Year leaderboards around the community.

Duhamel may have won over seven figures from his four cashes in January, but between the PCA and the EPT Grand Final alone, nine players had seven-figure scores. Those players included Blom and Bilokur for the aforementioned wins at the PCA along with John Dibella and Kyle Julius, who took one and two in the PCA Main Event. The rest of the list is made up by Justin Bonomo, who won the EPT Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller, the second-place finisher from that event, Tobias Reinkemeier, the EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller champion Igor Kurganov and then places one and two from the EPT Grand Final Main Event, Mohsin Charania and Lucille Cailly. Just think about this for a second: nine people had a single score of seven figures or more just from the PCA and EPT Grand Final in Season 8. We, too, just said “wow” out loud.

The final moment we’re going to talk about was from the EPT Grand Final and it’s only fitting that arguably the most memorable moment from the entire season came at the final stop in Monaco. Everyone knows the name Justin Bonomo. He’s young, he’s solid and he has plenty of results on record. No week will compare to the one he had in Monaco, though, at the EPT Grand Final.

Things didn’t start off in the right direction for Bonomo, as he found himself firing in a second €100,000 bullet in the Super High Roller. Went it came time for the final table, Bonomo had a massive lead on the rest of the field. He rode that chip lead all the way to a victory and one worth a whopping €1,640,000 — easily the largest score of his career.

From there, Bonomo took his run good to the Main Event and worked his way into the money. We kept an eye on him at all times and he was playing with a massive amount of confidence coming off the big win. He ended up finishing in 28th place for €35,000, but we had yet to hear the last from him. After that very deep run from the field of 665 players, Bonomo entered the €25,000 High Roller and again found himself making a big splash. He bobbed and weaved his way down to the final eight and was at a second major final table within a week. Bonomo eventually fell in fourth place, but it was worth another €266,000 in prize money to put his weekly total at €1,941,000. Easily one of the best weeks of poker we’ve ever seen.

As much fun as Season 8 of the EPT was, we had a great time reliving all of the big moments with you here. When August rolls around, it’s going to be time for Season 9 of the tour and things will be kicking off in Barcelona. With all of these amazing moments from Season 8, Season 9 sure has a lot to live up to, but we’re confident things will be bigger and better than ever.

Tags: bahamas | belgian poker series | berlin | daniel-negreanu | festival | london | napt | news | planets | russian | wpt

It was déjà vu all over again. Here we were at a SCOOP final table. It was a $2,100 event. They were playing Stud Hi-Lo, and Shaun Deeb was dominating. Was I in some sort of time warp or didn’t I already write this article two days ago?

If Deeb made history two days ago then what was left to say today when he did it all over again? Today, Deeb won his third SCOOP title of the series without raising a sweat. It was the fourth of his career, and in doing so, made a mockery of the SCOOP Player of the Series race. Deeb could probably take a day off, but somehow, I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Today’s event was SCOOP Event #26-H $2,100 Stud Hi-Lo which attracted a field of 74 runners to create a prize pool of $148,000 — almost double the original guarantee.

Among them were previous SCOOP champions, Sunday Millions winners and a host of professionals including Team PokerStars Pros Alex Kravchenko, Bertrand Grospellier, Ville Wahlbeck, George Danzer, George Lind III and Anders Berg.

With the top 12 players getting paid, Team PokerStars Pros Theo Jorgensen and Kristian Martin snuck into the money, but missed the final table which was formed after about 9.5 hours of play:

Final Table Line up
Seat 1: DazzleO (29772 in chips)
Seat 2: slammedfire (41988 in chips)
Seat 3: shaundeeb (82890 in chips)
Seat 4: Fred_Brink (31916 in chips)
Seat 5: caprioli (52541 in chips)
Seat 6: kasparov007 (28460 in chips)
Seat 7: E. Katchalov (64571 in chips)
Seat 8: PerpCzech (37862 in chips)

It was arguably the toughest SCOOP final table line up ever assembled with each player holding exceptional poker credentials.

Daniel “DazzleO” Ospina was a previous SCOOP champion, Fred_Brink held a Razz WCOOP title while slammedfire was had a previous SCOOP runner-up result to his credit. Kasparov007 won a SCOOP title back in 2009 in this very same discipline, while PerpCzech had multiple SCOOP final tables this series including a win in Event#19-M Triple Stud.

Then we move onto Rodridgo Caprioli — one of the finest SCOOP players in history — with two previous SCOOP wins including a win in Event #4-H Badugi earlier in this series. Throw in Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov with a previous WCOOP title in 2009 to go with WPT and WSOP titles as part of $7 million in live tournament earnings.

And then there was Shaun Deeb. The runaway SCOOP Player of the Series leader had already caused a stir on Mother’s Day when he won his second title of the series. That stir would near seven on the Richter scale if he could do it all over again today.

First to go was Daniel “DazzleO” Ospina. He three-bet on third, bet and called a raise on fourth, before his last chips were all in by fifth street. Ospina started with a pair of tens and could only improve to two pair on a board of [Td][Th][9c][2h][Qs][2d][6s] as kasparov007 started with a low draw but spiked trips to scoop the lot with a board of [3h][7d][6d][5c][Ah][5s][5d]. Ospina took home $4,810 for 8th place.

Despite claiming the first victim of the final table, kasparov007 was still one of the short stacks. kasparov007 dropped further after losing a solid pot to PerpCzech, before the antes got hold. With kasparov007 all in on third street, Shaun Deeb and Fred_Brink continued betting throughout and ultimately chopped up the pot. Deeb made a flush for the high, Fred_Brink caught an eight-six low, as kasparov007 couldn’t only muster a pair of eights with an eight-seven low. kasparov007 collected $6,290 for 7th place.

Fred_Brink was on the short stack but it was slammedfire who was next to go. Slammedfire led the betting on every street before Shaun Deeb raised it up on the river to put his opponent all in. Slammedfire made the call with [3c][5s][5c][5d][7s][Kd][4c] for trip fives as Deeb caught a full house with a board of [9d][Qh][Qs][3d][3s][4s][Qd]. Slammedfire missed out on that elusive SCOOP title but $7,770 for 6th place should be some consolation.

Fred_Brink landed a double up with a six-high straight to scoop against Eugene Katchalov’s pair of aces as Katchalov was in the danger zone. But he held on long enough to outlast Fred_Brink who clashed with Rodridgo Caprioli with a raising war on fifth street seeing Fred_Brink’s last chips committed. Fred_Brink could only manage [2d][Js][Ah][Jd][7d][8c][Kc] for a pair of jacks which wasn’t enough to better Caprioli’s [Qc][9c][Ac][5d][Qs][5s][8d] two pair with queens and fives. Fred_Brink added $10,360 to his bankroll for 5th place.

The pressure was now on Katchalov, but he couldn’t hang on any further. Just moments later, the Team PokerStars Pro stuck his chips in on fourth street with his board running out [Kc][2c][5c][Ks][5d][Qs][7c] for kings up, but Caprioli bettered that with [4d][As][Ad][Tc][5h][Th][2h] for aces up. Another impressive SCOOP run for Katchalov ended in 4th place for $14,060 in prize money.

Caprioli held the chip lead in what was a tight contest, with three very experienced and talented Stud players. The lead swapped around on several occasions, with Deeb surging into the front, before PerpCzech won two back-to-back scoops to take control. The second of those saw PerpCzech sustain heavy warfare from Deeb, while holding just a pair of jacks:

That hand sparked some interesting banter between the two:

PerpCzech said, “i just read shaun deebs soul”
shaundeeb said, “play everyhand”
shaundeeb said, “and call down 100″
shaundeeb said, “youll be right sometimes”
shaundeeb said, “we can play after if you want”
PerpCzech said, “only gonna read your soul once”
PerpCzech said, “once is good”
shaundeeb said, “and the 7 times you called me dwn dead”
shaundeeb said, “i said nothing”
PerpCzech said, “never mind then”
shaundeeb said, “dunno why youre such a **** online”
shaundeeb said, “and so nice in person”

The banter seemed to focus Deeb as he commented that he was determined to win all of the Stud SCOOP titles. He mounted a small comeback before PerpCzech proved his soul-reading abilities were no fluke with another impressive call down to sixth street with just a pair of deuces for the high and no low hand:

PerpCzech said, “am i allowed to talk sith now?”
shaundeeb said, “i mean if i bet i win”

Again the banter seemed to spark Deeb as he kicked up the aggression before PerpCzech was able to scoop consecutive pots once again to take over the chip lead.

While PerpCzech and Deeb continued to duke it out, Caprioli was caught in the middle of the storm. Caprioli got short and pushed his last chips on fifth street against Deeb. He started with a low draw, picked up some high cards, but ended up with neither as his board ran out [8d][3s][Ad][Jh][Kc][9h][2c]. Deeb tabled [5d][4c][7s][7c][Jc][2s][Qc] for just a pair of sevens which was enough to take it down and eliminate Caprioli in 3rd place for $20,720.

Heads-up chip counts
PerpCzech (250217 in chips)
shaundeeb (119783 in chips)

The two continued to throw friendly barbs in the chat box as Deeb landed the first significant blow, scooping a pot with a single pair of kings.

That was soon followed by the biggest pot of the tournament:

The action got very heavy on fifth street before slowing down by the river with Deeb’s two pair enough to take it down and assume the ascendency. But PerpCzech wasn’t going to just lay down. He fought back to even things up before Deeb collected back-to-back 100k pots, one with a very nice wheel straight, to leave PerpCzech crippled.

Moments later PerpCzech was all in on third street with his board running out [Kd][6d][9h][Ah][5s][Ts][8c] for just ace-high as Deeb made a pair of threes on his board of [Tc][2s][Kh][4h][3h][3d][8h] to claim the win! PerpCzech continued his fine SCOOP series with another $27,380 score as Deeb made history (again) to win his third SCOOP title of this series, the fourth of his career and another $40,300 in prize money.

Number of entrants: 74
Places paid: 12

Final Table Results
1st shaundeeb (Mexico) – $40,330
2nd PerpCzech (New Zealand) – $27,380
3rd caprioli (Brazil) – $20,720
4th E.Katchalov (Ukraine) – $14,060
5th Fred_Brink (Denmark) – $10,360
6th slammedfire (Canada) – $7,770
7th kasparov007 (Germany) – $6,290
8th DazzleO (Colombia) – $4,810

Looking for more SCOOP reporting? Visit our special SCOOP 2012 coverage section.

Tags: australia | estrellas poker tour | eureka poker tour | france | italian | latin-america | planets | rio | theo jorgensen | wpt

Over one thousand thirsty PLO fanatics flocked to Event #18. Despite the blood-curdling suckouts associated with short-handed Omaha, strangers from all over the world embraced the high-risk, high-reward element of nonstop combat with their only weapon — four cards.

In the amusement park of poker games, PLO is the ultimate adventure ride. It’s not for squeamish folks, rather PLO is catered to hardcore adrenaline junkies. Short-handed PLO gives the you an intergalactic boost of euphoria on par with extreme sports like jumping out of airplanes or skiing off the jagged side of a mountain. And the best part of short-handed PLO is that you don’t even have to leave your own home to get that instant burst of adulation.

Event #18-M $109+R PLO (6-max) attracted 1,146 thrill seekers. They created a total prize pool worth $364,700, which included 1,584 re-buys and 917 add-ons. The top 144 places paid out prize money with $61,087.31 set aside for the champion.

Notable players who cashed included Team PokerStars Online Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen (132nd) and Team PokerStars Pro Martin Staszko (115th place).

With seven remaining, action was hand-for-hand with one table playing three-handed and the other playing four-handed. Ceewyl from Hungary bubbled off the final table in brutal fashion by getting Aces cracked. Ceewyl made a valiant stand with [As][Ad][Qh] against Päffchen’s [Ah][Ks][Ts][6s]. The board ran out [Jd][9c][2d][Tc][6d] and Päffchen caughting running cards to back-door two pair. Ceewyl ‘s Aces were snapped off, which meant a seventh-place exit.

Event #18-M PLO 6-max – Final Table Chip Counts:
Seat 1: BQNNEN (2,395,544)
Seat 2: Fred-wpt (3,279,371)
Seat 3: Fiskin1 (2,131,624)
Seat 4: Päffchen (2,335,510)
Seat 5: Paolo69 (458,268)
Seat 6: Efan123 (2,174,683)

When the final table commenced, action was at Level 32 with 15K/30K blinds. Fred-wpt held the lead with almost 3.3 million. This particular final table had a little history: Paolo69 won a SCOOP event last year, Efan123 final tabled a PLO SCOOP event last year, and Fiskin1 advanced to his second SCOOP final table this year.

SO WHAT: Paolo69 eliminated in 6th place

Took almost thirty minutes before someone busted. Short-stacked Paolo69 had approximately a 500K in chips when he made his final stand.

Fred-wpt opened with a min-raise to 80,000, Paolo69 re-raised to 260,000, and Fred-wpt called. The flop was [Jh][8d][5s]. Paolo69 moved all-in for his last 246,536. Fred-wpt called with [As][Qd][5d][4s]. Paolo69 was ahead with [Ah][Kd][Ks][Tc]. The [4c] spiked on the turn, which improved Fred-wpt to two pair — fives and fours. The river was the [Td], which did not help Paolo69 and his Kings were cracked. Fred-wpt won the pot and improved to 3.5 million. Paolo69 was knocked out and won $10,941 for a sixth-place finish.

BLUE IN GREEN: BQNNEN eliminated in 5th place

BQNNEN entered the fray with a raise to 100,000. Fred-wpt bumped it up to 350,000, and BQNNEN smooth called. The flop was [5s][4h][3h]. Fred-wpt fired out 750,000, BQNNEN bombed it all-in for 1,211,001, and Fred-wpt called. Fred-wpt was ahead with [Ah][Qh][9s][2s] for a Wheel and a nut-flush re-draw. BQNNEN showed [Ks][8c][6c][3s] for a higher straight draw. The turn was the [7h], which gave BQNNEN a straight, but it also filled in Fred-wpt’s flush. The river was an innocuous [8d] because BQNNEN was drawing dead. Fred-wpt won the pot and surged to over 5 million. QNNEN busted out in fifth place, collecting $15,645.63.

ALL BLUES: Päffchen eliminated in 4th place

Efan123 opened to 175,000 and Päffchen called to defend his big blind. The flop was [Td][5h][2c]. Päffchen checked, Efan123 bet 375,000, Päffchen shoved all-in for 1,440,040, and Efan123 called. Efan123 was ahead with [Kh][Kd][Qd][9s] against Päffchen’s [Ac][Qh][Qc][3h], although Päffchen picked up a gutshow draw. The turn was the [8s]. Efan123′s pair of Kings still led, but he picked up an open-ended straight draw. The [Js] on the river filled in Efan123′s straight, and he won the pot. Päffchen’s queens were no good. He finished in fourth place and took home $23,705.50.

With three players left in the hunt for the SCOOP title (and a snazzy new watch), Efan123 seized the lead (albeit by a slim fraction) with over 5 million. Fred-wpt was not far behind with 5 million and Fiskin1 brought up the rear with 2.7 million.

FREDDIE FREELOADER: Fred-wpt eliminated in 3rd place

When the final six players took their seats at the final table, it appeared as though big-stacked Fred-wpt was the favorite to win based on the amount of chips he held. He certainly did not expect to bow out in third place, but then again, PLO is brutal and merciless.

Efan123 opened to 180,000 and Fred-wpt called. The flop was [Ks][Jc][Jd]. Efan123 fired out 360,000 and Fred-wpt called. The turn was the [Qd]. Efan123 bet 1,080,000 and Fred-wpt responded by shoving all-in for his last 1,524,388. Efan123 snap-called with a boat — Kings full of Jacks — and holding [As][Kd][Kh][9s]. Fred-wpt showed [Ad][Jh][Th][2h] for a meager straight. A meaningless [5d] fell on the river. Efan123 won the 4.1 million pot. Meanwhile, Fred-wpt, from the Netherlands, hit the road in third place with a $34,646.50 score.

HEADS-UP: Efan123 (Germany) vs. Fiskin1 (United Kingdom)
Seat 3: Fiskin1 (3,545,889)
Seat 6: Efan123 (9,229,111)

Efan123 was ahead by almost 3-1.

FLAMENCO SKETCHES: Efan123 eliminated in 2nd place; Fiskin1 wins SCOOP title

On the 16th hand of heads-up, Efan123 coughed up the lead.

Fiskin1 opened with a min-raise to 1,20,000 and Efan123 called. The flop was [Ah][Kd][Qc]. Efan123 bet 240,000 and Fiskin1 called. The turn was the [7s]. Efan123 bet 720,000 and Fiskin1 called. The river was the [7c]. Efan123 fired out 2,160,000 and Fiskin1 shoved all-in for 2,465,889. Efan123 called with [Ac][Kh][4c][6h] for only two pair. Fiskin1 won the hand with [Qs][Qh][Td][9h] for a full boat. Fiskin1 seized the lead 7M to 5.6M.

On the 28th and final hand of heads-up… Fiskin1 tried to limp in, but Efan123 bumped it up to 180,000, so Fiskin1 called. The flop was [Kh][8h][5c]. Efan123 bet 360,000 and Fiskin1 called. When the [2c] appeared on the turn, Efan123 fired out 1,080,000. Fiskin1 retaliated with a raise to 4,320,000. Efan123 shoved for his last 5,203,222, and Fiskin1 called. Fiskin1 showed [Kc][Qd][Jh][2s] for two pair. Efan123 only had a pair of deuces, but risked his entire tournament life on a nut flush draw with [Ah][Tc][9s][2h]. The [7d] on the river did not help Efan123. Fiskin1′s two pair held up and he won the pot. Efan123 busted out in second place and won $45,587.50 for a runner-up performance.

Fiskin1 made a deep run last night and advanced to a final table in Event #13-H NL Knockout, but fell short of a SCOOP title. Tonight, he shipped Event #18-M for his first SCOOP crown and also padded his bankroll with a $61,087.31 first-place prize. Congrats!

Event #18-M PLO – Final Table Payouts and Results:
1. Fiskin1 (United Kingdom) – $61,087.31
2. Efan123 (Germany) – $45,587.50
3. Fred-wpt (Netherlands) – $34,646.50
4. Päffchen (Germany) – $23,705.50
5. BQNNEN (Denmark) – $15,645.63
6. Paolo69 (United Kingdom) – $10,941

Visit the SCOOP home page to view the remaining schedule of events, including satellite information Also, don’t forget to check out the stats page and see who is sitting atop the leaderboard.

Tags: Battle of the Planets | ept | extreme-sports | france poker series | italian | micromillions | netherlands | tcoop | united-kingdom

There’s a famous New Yorker cartoon, featuring two men, clearly residents of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, which has its de facto northern boundary at 14th Street. One says, “I haven’t been north of 14th Street in 20 years.” The other thinks for a moment, then replies, “I’ve never been north of 14th Street.”

Sometimes the poker world, and its heroes, can be like that. Particularly for the youngsters among us, it’s easy to get completely wrapped up in this game and its milieu. Especially if you’re one of those chasing SuperNova or SuperNova Elite status, and/or you follow the various online forums, track the SCOOP results, and so on – suddenly it seems like there’s not much time left for anything else.

Then there’s Barry Greenstein. I’ve known Barry since the late 80′s, when we played in the same cardroom (Garden City in San Jose, California). That’s not to say we were playing at the same table; Barry was playing in the biggest games and I was in some of the smallest. But the point is that 25 years ago, Barry was plying his trade, and that’s pretty much how he’s supported himself and his family since.

But along the way, even while becoming a world-class cash games player and major tournament winner, Barry has studied and learned the world around him.

This was brought into sharp relief yesterday when Barry was kind enough to spend a couple of hours chatting with his fans in the SCOOP Fan Club¹. When the questions were typical (“Do you feel good about making play X on televised hand Y?”), Barry’s answers were more or less what you’d expect from a serious professional player. But I knew he had a broader range and threw some non-standard queries at him. For instance, “Discuss the strategic importance of U.S. President Obama publicly supporting same-sex marriage in an interview yesterday.” Barry’s replied that it would force Obama’s likely opponent in November, Mitt Romney, to face up to the question of “equality for all Americans” during the campaign. Clearly he was aware of that interview and had thought about its implications.

Then another member of the club asked Barry about his mathematics background. Barry said something about “(W)hile I was working on my PhD in mathematics…” That surprised me; while I knew he was a serious computer scientist and programmer, I didn’t know he had that advanced background in math. Hearing that, I asked Barry for his Erdös number (a measure of a mathematician’s publication-fu). Somewhat to my surprise, he said, “Well, I thought it was going to be 2 (an impressively low number), but I didn’t get author credit on (a paper) I did some computer work on, so I guess it’s infinite.” This impressed both me and the math-geek who’d asked Barry the original question.

Other questions elicited uncharacteristic (but wonted for Barry) replies that showed his forward-looking nature. “What was your favourite poker moment?” “I don’t know – it hasn’t happened yet.” This from a guy who has WSOP bracelets, WPT titles, and has been inducted into the poker Hall of Fame.

But lest you think that this has distracted him from his day/night job, you should have seen the discussion about his session lengths. “I generally average 16-hour sessions… Given my age, I’m trying not to go over 20-hour sessions.” Barry takes his job very seriously, and yet somehow finds time to inspect both the world around him and himself.

Perhaps we got a glimpse of how he does that on a recent EPT broadcast. He said he was reading a book on (I believe it was) “etiology”. When broadcasters James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton sounded confused, he explained that one of his kids was taking a philosophy class and Barry had a standing offer to read any text book that his kids had to use in school. Thus did professional poker player Barry Greenstein find himself wading through a philosophy text.

This method of supporting your kids has the excellent side effect of occasionally throwing a new and different subject in your face. While that may not hold specifically for dry philosophy tomes, I suspect that in general, PokerStars Team Pro Barry Greenstein relishes the opportunity to stretch his brain and learn a new thing or two. That’s how one keeps his Renaissance Man chops up to date.

¹ The SCOOP Fan Club is in Home Games club #634789, invitation code “scoopfan”. It’s open to everybody and we’ve already visitors such as Talonchick, Nanonoko, and David Williams. There’s plenty of room for new members so come on in.

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Alex Gomes, the Brazilian poker rock star, is now a Spring Championship of Online Poker champion. He won $282,240 in Event 1-High a $2,100 NLHE 6-max contest that pitted him against some of the best players in the world. It was his first SCOOP title and another important box ticked on his resume. He’s a man who has a WPT title and WSOP bracelet. One of his biggest goals is to win an EPT and pick up his Triple Crown.

That’s the way a mini-profile of the Brazilian should read. He puts it another way.

“I’m just a normal guy trying to make some money on the poker scene,” he said with a smile. “I used to be a lawyer here in Brazil, but now I just play poker.”

That phrase, “used to be” is one Gomes could emphasize more than a couple times, because…well, there is an elephant in the room, isn’t there? A big, noisy elephant with a Brazilian flag draped over is shoulder.

See, Gomes also used to be a Team PokerStars Pro, and on any normal day a couple of years ago, that first paragraph would’ve started with “Team PokerStars Pro Alex Gomes…” For people who have followed this blog for any length of time, that missing prefix on Gomes’ name may seem a little off-putting. I’m here to tell you, it shouldn’t be.

The business of poker sponsorship and Team PokerStars Pro is something that happens for more reasons that we can list here. Similarly, relationships end for as many reasons as they begin. As it happened, Gomes was an admirable dude before he joined Team Pro, he represented himself well while in the stable, and he’s still an admirable guy since he left the Team. The point is this: while we have an admitted bias toward the people who fly the flag of the Big Red Spade, we don’t lose sight of the people who have been good to the game. Gomes is one of those people.

What you should know about Gomes today is that he barely had time to play poker over the past year. His wife was pregnant with their son, Bruno. It was an anxious time in the Gomes’ home, one that distracted the Brazilian from the game in ways he had never been distracted before.

In recent weeks, he’s been able to focus a little bit more. Nonetheless, he didn’t even intend on playing the first event of SCOOP. It was a last minute decision that end with him more than a quarter-million dollars richer.

“All high SCOOP events are really tough, especially this one, in my opinion, as it’s a six-max no-limit hold’em event with a great structure,” Gomes said. “So I can compare it maybe with the toughest win of my career. That was the WPT Bellagio.”

Gomes is, indeed, a champion’s kind of champion. A ready smile, a winner’s stare, and enough major titles to put him among the elite in the game. It’s not enough yet, however. The man from Brazil is going to be getting a lot of European ink on his passport.

“I’m now back in business and looking forward to my Triple Crown,” he said. “And that’s the main reason that I’ll be focusing for now mostly on EPTs.”

It’s not an easy road, this poker game. It’s made even tougher when you have a new baby in the house. Gomes intends to make it all work. If his performance in SCOOP so far is any indication, it looks like he is well on his way, and walking a lot faster than that elephant ever could.

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No matter how many poker tournaments you cover, in no matter how many casinos around the world, the fact that this place has a self-cleaning toilet is amazing bubble time is always kind of tense.

It might be counter-intuitive to most casual observers, however, to learn that the higher the buy in in an event, the less on edge the players tend to be as these notoriously fraught period arrives. If you can spare $25,000 for a high-variance poker tournament, you’re not going to be new to this whole thing, and neither are you going to be ruined if you don’t make that min-cash.

So it was just now in Monaco, where the High Roller has just played into the money. It was Andrey Pateychuk who did the decent thing and was knocked out, finding out the hard way that aces don’t always win the day.

Pateychuk was one of a handful of short stacks when we reached our final 15, but he opted only to make a standard opening raise after looking down at [ah][ac], allowing Justin Bonomo to call from the small blind. (Many lesser players would have just shoved with those aces to be on the safe side.)

The flop came [6s][js][10h] and Bonomo check-raised Pateychuk all in. Pateychuk called and saw that Bonomo was holding [as][2s] for the flush draw. The [3s] came on the turn and that was the end of that for Pateychuk.

He’s had an amazing season, winning EPT San Remo for €680,000 and adding a WPT title in Prague. But Pateychuk is our bubble boy here. We’re now pushing on to the final table.

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With a room full of superstars, a deep stack and a good structure, this High Roller tournament is tailor made for some intriguing action.

And when the stars align like that, our thoughts turn to “A Round With…”, the (increasingly) occasional series in which we follow every tiniest piece of action for an entire orbit.

The table under today’s microscope is the one featuring Lex Veldhuis. It also features Sorel Mizzi. And Mike Watson. Oh, and Jonathan Duhamel and Ivan Demidov too.

Two of those guys have been heads up for the World Series Main Event – Duhamel in 2010, which he won, and Demidov in 2008, when he finished runner up to Peter Eastgate – another (Watson) has a WPT title and Mizzi has 11 six-figure cashes to his name. Lex is just Lex, which might be even better than all the above.

We join the table for the last 30 minutes of level four, at the end of which the chance to re-enter is no more. Not that any of these guys were under serious threat. Their approximate stacks are as follows:

Seat 1 – Lex Veldhuis – 29,000
Seat 2 – Ognjen Sekularac – 65,000
Seat 3 – Sorel Mizzi – 64,000
Seat 4 – Ivan Kudriavtckv – 93,000
Seat 5 – Mike Watson – 24,000
Seat 6 – Unknown Player – 49,000
Seat 7 – Jonathan Duhamel – 30,000
Seat 8 – Ivan Demidov – 66,000

Blinds were at 150-300 (25 ante)

Hand one – Sorel Mizzi on the button
Folded to Lex Veldhuis in the hijack, he raised to 700. Ognjen Sekularac called in the cut off and Ivan Kudriavtckv called too from the small blind. All of a sudden, this hand had become a reporter’s nightmare. Look at all those consonant clusters.

Anyhow, the three of them saw a flop of [8h][kc][5c] and (Apple+C, Apple+V) Kudriavtckv checked. Veldhuis bet 1,500 and Sekularac called. Kudriavtckv, however, check-raised, making it 3,400. Veldhuis let the two difficult names go at it alone.

The [jh] turned, Kudriavtckv bet 7,000 and that was good enough to win it.

Hand two – Kudriavtckv on the button
After taking down the last pot, Kudriavtckv was now on the button. But he wasn’t allowed to make any of his positional advantage pay as Sorel Mizzi and Ognjen Sekularac opted to go for it.

Sekularac opened to 600 from the hijack and Mizzi bumped it to 1,500 from the cut off. Sekularac four bet to 4,400 and Mizzi called, all the others having got out the way after the three bet.

The two of them took a flop of [6s][2h][8d] and a bet of 6,025 took it down for Sekularac.

Hand three – Mike Watson on the button
Jonathan Duhamel opened from under the gun and no one wanted to tangle with the Team PokerStars Pro. They all folded.

Hand four – Unknown Player on the button
Ognjen Sekularac was in this one again, opening to 800 from early position. Kudriavtckv called in the cut off and Ivan Demidov now decided to join the party from the big blind. That meant that three of them saw a flop of [4d][3c][9s], which Demidov checked. Sekularac bet 1,125 and both Kudriavtckv and Demidov called.

The [3d] turned and they checked it through, bringing a [3d] river.

Demidov threw out one blue chip, worth 5,000. He announced something in the region of a 3,000 bet. Sekularac asked for a count of Demidov’s remaining stack, but before he even got an answer, raised to 8,025. Kudriavtckv folded.

Demidov, though, wasn’t going away quickly. He went into the tank for a good long while, and eventually emerged with a call. Sekularac turned over [ac][2c] for the turned straight. Demidov flipped [ah][2h] for the same hand.

Hand five – Jonathan Duhamel on the button
It was folded round to Duhamel on the button, and he opened to 600. Ivan Demidov, in the small blind, bumped it to 1,400 and Duhamel called. This has the scent of a hand in which neither player had anything at all.

Anyway, the flop came [ks][jh][kc], which they both checked. That brought the [10s] turn. Demidov fired what looked like 2,700 and Duhamel folded. — HS

Hand six – Ivan Demidov on the button
Mike Watson, with the shortest stack at the table, opted to get this one started, raising to 750. It made it way round to Sekularac in the big blind, and he asked for a count of Watson’s stack. It was about 22,000. Sekularac called from the button, but folded after Watson bet 1,050 on a [5c][js][7d] flop.

Hand seven – Lex Veldhuis on the button
Unknown Player opened to 800 and after everyone else folded, Sorel Mizzi called from the big blind. They both checked a [7c][6c][9h] flop, and they also checked a [ah] turn. Mizzi bet 800 at the [4s] river and Player called, focing Mizzi to table [6s][3h]. Player’s pocket jacks started best and finished the same.

Hand eight – Ognjen Sekularac on the button
Jonathan Duhamel opened from mid position and that won him the blinds.

That was the last hand of the “A Round With…” during which Ivan Demidov made a good call to chop a pot, Ognjen Sekularac was by some measure the most active and Lex Veldhuis was barely involved.

Word reached soon after the hand that Jonathan Duhamel had busted early into level five, narrowly missing the chance to rebuy. That means he is gone from that table and won’t be back for this event.

Lex Veldhuis also perished soon after. Alex Gomes and Patrik Antonius took their seats. It doesn’t get much easier.

We should have some payouts information soon-ish.

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Tomorrow night someone will win €1,500,000. Count the zeroes, it’s a hell of a lot money. Enough to let you buy a small fleet of Bentleys, a flat here in Monaco (they do not come cheap) or possibly even a round at Jimmy’z nightclub. Of course, there is a strong likelihood that there will be a deal between the final two players that will see both of them winning in excess of €1,000,000. That really is life changing money whether you’re an amateur or a pro. Jam it into securities and play the occasional tournament or bankroll yourself to play the next 20 seasons of the EPT. It’s your money, it’s your choice.

The previous seven champions have largely taken the pro poker player route, some grinding live and some online. Last year’s champion, Ivan Freitez, hasn’t exactly followed his win with a string of scintillating results despite being a regular fixture on the tour. He’s made one cash: 12th place in a £400 turbo bounty at EPT London for £750. He seems largely to be the exception to the rule, although he has had less time to score follow-up results.

Season 1: Rob Hollink, Netherlands
€635,000 (total live winnings $3,253,404)

Season 2: Jeff Williams, USA
€900,000 (total live winnings $1,963,268)

Season 3: Gavin Griffin, USA
€1,825,010 (total live winnings $4,636,754)

Season 4: Glen Chorny, Canada
€2,020,000 (total live winnings $3,535,814)

Season 5: Pieter De-Korver, Netherlands
€2,300,000 (total live winnings $3,288,350)

Season 6: Nicolas Chouity, Lebanon
€1,700,000 (total live winnings $2,686,136)

Season 7: Ivan Freitez, Venezuela
€1,500,000 (total live winnings $2,456,071)

Season 8: tbc

Nicolas Chouity has cashed in three EPT main events since his win here in Monaco as well as enjoying prodigious online success. Pieter De-Korver has had plenty of cashes since his win three years ago but only one major, a $1,000 6-max score of $110,050 beating Kevin Eyster and Mike Leah to book first place.

Gavin Griffin followed his Grand Final victory with a WPT title which completed his triple crown, the first player to ever do so. Four other players have followed in his footsteps since; Roland De Wolfe, Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier , Jake Cody and, just last week, Davidi Kitai.

Jeff Williams’ 2006 win here in Monaco was his first live cash, he still wasn’t old enough to play in casinos in his native US after all. That changed a couple of years later and Williams tore into the WSOP twice narrowly missing out on bracelets but booking large six-figure scores nonetheless.

After Glen Chorny’s 2008 title there’s been moderate amounts of live tournament scores but it’s all been Stateside with no live scores after 2009. He’s still alive I’ve been told but beyond that we know little.

This year’s winner will get to line up against some of his forerunners. I’ve been told De-Korver, Chouity and Freitez are among those confirmed for Tuesday’s Champion of Champions.

Tournament snapshot
Level 26: blinds 20,000-40,000, ante 5,000
Players: 14 of 665
Average stack: 1,425,000
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Eight players remain in the EPT Berlin main event with the title and a first prize of €825,000 at stake when the final table gets under way today a 12 noon local time.

But while the action begins in the Hyatt Hotel in central Berlin at that time, the live broadcast, which you can watch on EPT Live, starts at 1pm, the full works, complete with hole cards and the expert commentary you have come to expect from EPT events such as this.

Berlin

Chip leader coming into the day is Davidi Kitai, from Belgium, whose profile, along with those of the other finalists, are below:

Seat 1: César “CesarSPA” García, 22, Las Palmas, Canary Islands – PokerStars player – 1,485,000
Law student García is currently ranked the number one online tournament player in Spain. He was runner-up in the Sunday Million in August 2009 for €208,845 (his biggest score) and has also finished fourth in a $1k SCOOP re-buy event, fourth in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up and won a $200 re-buy.

García first took up poker after watching the EPT on TV. He and fellow students started playing home games in their university dormitory and he played his first live tournament at university in 2008, coming second. The following year, he played the same tournament again and won it for €6,000. This is his sixth EPT but his best live result to date.

Seat 2: Pratyush Buddiga, 22, Colorado Springs, USA – 1,280,000 chips
Buddiga is fast making a name for himself in poker after already becoming a star in the Spelling Bee world. He won the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee contest in 2002, two years before his younger brother took down the same title.

This is his first EPT final, less than two years after taking up the game. He turned pro a year after graduating from Duke University where he studied Economics. He plays MTTs online and he’s benefited from the coaching he receives from EPT winner Mike McDonald, who’s also been railing him here this week. This is his biggest live result to date although he racked up four WSOP cashes in 2011 in his first visit to the Series.

Seat 3: Mario Puccini, 23, Hamburg, Germany – PokerStars qualifier – 2,065,000
Economics student Puccini has been playing poker since 2007. He’s well known in the German poker community for winning nearly a hundred tournaments on PokerStars in the last four years, including the Super Tuesday in 2009 for over $60,000.

This is his fourth EPT main event cash; his best result so far was eighth place at EPT Loutraki in November for €27,000. He also finished 32nd at EPT6 San Remo for €26,000. He’s also had three final tables in EPT side events – his best being third place in the EPT5 Dortmund €2k event for €42,000.

Seat 4: André Morath, 40, Cologne, Germany – PokerStars qualifier – 1,940,000
Morath has been playing poker since 2007 and initially started playing MTTs until he decided he was too old for multi-tabling and started focusing instead on playing online satellites to qualify for live events like the EPT. His best live results to date are seventh place in the €4,000 European Championship in Baden in 2009, for €25,000, and 84th at EPT Berlin last season for €10,000.

Morath thinks of himself as a recreational player; his main job is as a field sales manager. He qualified in his third satellite for EPT Berlin, has already won his trip to Monte Carlo and also booked his flight to Las Vegas.

Seat 5: Andrew Chen, 24, Ontario, Canada- 3,600,000
PokerStars player Chen is a well-known Canadian online pro and an EPT regular since Season 5. He has made numerous live final tables including the LAPT San Jose in 2008, third at EPT Prague in Season 6 and runner-up in a $1,500 WSOP side event in 2009. Chen came fifth in the Season 6 EPT Grand Final and the following January snagged his first major title, winning the $5k Bounty Shoot-out at the PCA for $263,100. At this year’s PCA, he was runner-up in the PCA 6-Max High Roller for $191,984. His live tournament winnings now total more than $2 million.

Seat 6: Davidi Kitai, Brussels, Belgium – 5,695,000
Davidi Kitai is already top of the Belgium All-Time Money list, having accrued nearly $1.8 million in live tournament winnings, nearly half of that on the EPT. Davidi Kitai is known as a fearsome player and is the only Belgian who has won both a WSOP bracelet ($2,000 PLO) and WPT title.

This is Kitai’s second EPT final – he came third at EPT Barcelona in Season 5 for €455,000 – his best live result to date. According to his professional profile, Kitai has all the qualities of a good tournament player: “cool, confidence and a touch of madness”. As well as tournaments, Kitai is also an online cash game specialist, mainly PLO.

Kitai perfected his poker skills during a trip to Los Angeles in 2003. He had gone to the States to learn English, but it was Texas Hold’em that he mastered. Kitai goes into tomorrow’s final as chip leader giving a good chance of joining poker’s elusive elite “Triple Crown” club.

Seat 7: Bahadir Kilickeser, 33, Bremen, Germany – 4,640,000
Kilickeser, who works in wholesale and export trades, won his seat to Berlin in a €550 live satellite at the Spielbank casino on Monday. He took up poker five years ago in the Weser Poker Lounge in his home city of Bremen. The Lounge now plans a big EPT final table party tomorrow in his honour – with a giant screen showing the EPTLive webcast.

This is his Kilickeser’s first ever EPT and by far his biggest result. Kilickeser, who is married, is also a successful amateur football player and now plays now for FC Union 60 Bremen in the sixth highest league in Germany.

Seat 8: Marc Wright, 25, Liskeard, Cornwall, UK – 1,540,000
Wright, 25, has been a professional player for more than four years after quitting his job as a Retail Manager for the Co-op supermarket after nine months to concentrate on the game. Formerly from London, he now lives in Liskeard, Cornwall, with his girlfriend and step-daughter. Earlier this month, he went deep in the Irish Poker Open, being chip leader with 15 players remaining but ultimately cashing out in 12th place.

On the urging of his girlfriend, he travelled to Berlin this week to play his first EPT event, deciding even before he took his seat that he would begin to play more live events from now on. His result tomorrow will be the biggest live cash of his career.

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The great thing about Germany is that everything works; the transport infrastructure, the system, it all runs smoothly, and even when you find it doesn’t bend at all, normally when you’re leaning on it, you come away knowing that you were not unnecessarily hindered at all. The problem was you, not them.

Take the flight to Berlin, for example. The plane taxied into Berlin Tegel Airport, came to a halt and turned its engines off. There came a silence as the engines powered down, a few seconds before the all clear ping sounded. It wasn’t until then that passengers unclipped their seat belts, a far cry from some countries where passengers take it upon themselves to unpack their overhead luggage as the rear wheels hit the runway centre line, while making a telephone call.

Then there are the taxis. Our bags wouldn’t fit into the first taxi, an Audi, that was next in line, but this was no concern. An adjacent line of bigger taxis was a few feet away. Sure, this meant giving up Vorsprung durch Technik for the heat treated plastic moulded convenience of an Opel, but it got the job done.

The streets of Berlin are neatly organised, bringing you in quickly from the airport along Stresse 17 June, past the Tiergarten, the Siegessäule and the Brandenberg Gate, turning right along the line in the pavement that used to be the Berlin Wall, to Potsdamer Platz, where pipelines, built above ground rather than below, are painted bright pink, as if transporting cold war strawberry milk to the west.

This is also where you’ll find the Hyatt Hotel and its neighbouring Spielbank Casino 30 yards away, host to the third incarnation of the EPT Berlin festival, the penultimate event of this eighth EPT season.

Ich bin ein berliner

In past years this has, quite frankly, been an eventful occasion. In its inaugural running Kevin MacPhee won a million Euros and turned his name into a headline, brushing aside the antics of a few idiots with a preference for McDonalds, who didn’t count on a man named Roman and several dozen security cameras. Then last year, Ben Wilinofsky talked his way to a first title, defeating Max Heinzelmann heads-up (who then came second again in San Remo) to collect a cheque for €825,000.

MacPhee will be here, as will Wilinofsky, fresh from his third place finish in WPT Vienna yesterday. Joining them will be a field of up to 1,300 players, potentially the biggest field in EPT history (beyond the PCA), split between the Hyatt and the Spielbank across the street.

It sounds like a logistical nightmare, but as I said, it will nevertheless work perfectly.

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