January 2006 Archives

Word just came around the bend that PokerStars is trying out some bigger six-max tables. Taking a look under the hold'em section in the game lobby, I find new six-max games at $15/$30, $30/$60, and $100/$200.

So, if short-handed action is more your style and your bankroll is feeling healthy, that might be something to try out.

Don't miss the news at the bottom of this post

You just don't see this kind of thing every day--an online prize pool worth more than $1 million dollars. It appeared out of nowhere on Sunday afternoon when more than 2100 players showed up for the monthly $700,000 Guaranteed tournament.

Consider that for a moment. Just a regular Sunday afternoon at the end of Janaury. More than a million bucks at stake. Simply, amazing.

As you might expect, talk of a deal started early. With only four players eliminated from the final table, the remaining five started talking about a deal. It took just a few minutes to work out the details. The top four chip counts made out with more than $100,000 a piece and the man in fifth position, who went on to finish in second place, wasn't too far from $100,000 himself.

Here are the final table results.

PokerStars $700,000 Guaranteed Results
(based on five-way chip percentage deal that left $10,000 on the table for first place)

1. CoachMarshal (Beaver, UT) $122,479
2. wee artFRUIT (Donaghmore, United Kingdom) $88,812
3. Nxwill (Stavanger, Norway) $105,579
4. CrazyKatala (Riga, Latvia) $118,396
5. dostar (Lisle, IL) $118,340
6. Duff McGuire (Clarkston MI) $39,090.50
7. Highroller35 (Holland, PA) $29,582.00
8. AndersFriden (Austin, TX) $21,130.00
9. -db- (Moline, IL) $13,734.50

Now, for some exciting news. If you haven't already seen, the weekly $200+$15 has grown so much that PokerStars has upped the weekly guarantee. Now, every Sunday $200+$15 will have a guarantee of $750,000. For the past few weeks, the tournament has been drawing huge numbers. Just last week, more than 4000 people showed up to compete. Satellites for the weekly tournament are running every day.

See you on Sunday!

Since PokerStars started its VIP Club a few weeks ago, the talk of the online poker world has been the insane speed at which ElkY hit VIP Supernova status. Players watched ElkY as he barnstormed the tables and racked up an unlikely 100,000 VIP Player Points in just a couple of weeks.

Within another week, another name had emerged. Tibirin crushed the tables, crossed the Supernova threshold, and subsequently passed ElkY in VIP Player Points.

Now, lurking in the shadows is an online stalwart who many players will recognize from the $10/$20 NL tables. H@££INGGOL seems to be the next man on pace to hit Supernova. Straight out of Sweden, the young twenty-something is sports guy, with some prowess in hockey and soccer. A cash game specialist, H@££INGGOL could hit Supernova any time, given his current pace.

Last week, we had the pleasure of seeing ElkY and H@££INGGOL in the same place. Both players showed up in Copenhagen for the EPT Scandinavian Open.

With two Supernovas and H@££INGGOL on the way, I'm eager to see who will be next to step up to the plate. If you're close, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at blog @ pokerstars dot com.

1. Mads Anderson (Denmark) - 2,548,070 Kr
2. Edgar Skjervold (Norway) - 1,401,722 Kr
3. Philip Hilm (Denmark) - 716,636 Kr
4. Marc Naalden (Holland) - 557,384 Kr
5. Markus Gonsalves (USA) - 477,000 Kr (PokerStars qualifier)
6. Anina Gundesen (Denmark) - 398,000 Kr (PokerStars qualifier)
7. Shek Chi Hung (Denmark) - 318,000 Kr
8. Johan Bergquist (Sweden) - 239,000 Kr

Goodbye from Copenhagen. Next stop Deauville

Copenhagen: playground of the rich

Children should not play poker. But it would help if the casinos didn't turn their poker rooms into playgrounds. There were more see-saws, yo-yos, slides, swings and roundabouts on the final table of EPT Copenhagen than in all the Toys R Us warehouses around the world. I, like the eight players, the eight hundred spectators, and the millions who will watch this television broadcast, am dizzy.

Let's begin at the beginning, back when this classroom of eight went on an excursion to Casino Copenhagen to read, work and study their way to the top; before, in short, this high-stakes poker tournament became a ten-hour long recess.

Johan Bergquist, from Sweden, was carrying the lightest backpack, just 47,500 in chips weighing him down. He would have to take a stand against the bullies if he wanted to keep it and, wow, first round of the table he picks up aces, gets the chips in, gets the call he wants and doubles up. Can the poor boy make good?

Johan Bergquist: no room to manoeuvre at final table

Answer: no. He's still got to be crafty, stay on his toes and pick his way through the schoolyard, punching and running. His re-raise of Mads Anderson was a fine blow, but he runs right into Anina Gundesen, who's kings are like two head-masters, sending this ace-knave to the bottom of the class. He took 238,879 Kr, so can still probably give up the paper round.

Then there's Shek. That's Shek Chi Hung to those he has never met, the most senior member at the table. He owns a restaurant in Copenhagen having moved here 30 years ago from Hong Kong - and he is also riding the fastest bike in the neighbourhood. "RRR-aise, RRR-aise, RRR-aise," it goes. But Shek suddenly discovered that there's always someone with a fatter cigar and a faster car and Philip Hilm's two jacks were all over Shek's jack-ten. He departed in seventh, earning 318,505 Kr.

It was round about this point that Mads Andersen found his way to the slide. He sat on top, smiled a cheeky smile, and slid downwards fast, chips spraying from his pockets. Philip Hilm gathered a load when he turned a full house against the chip-leader from Denmark, then Edgar Skjervold, "radge" to his friends, grabbed a bunch with sixes in the hole.


Mads Andersen: takes an early dip

Quietly biding his time amid this carnage was Markus Gonsalves from San Diego. He'd never been shy of joining the ruck before, but his card-shaped helper had deserted him, forcing him to move in with ace-seven. Philip's gang is bigger - he has ace-queen - but soon there's reinforcements for Markus and his seven finds its twin to keep him alive.

The see-saw now began to rock. Mads Andersen came to the final table with more than a million in chips and was the only player trusted with the orange ones, worth 10,000 apiece. Each one of those represented the buy-in of each player in this tournament, but when they started appearing in the stack of first Philip Hilm and then Marc Naalden, it was easy to see that Mads didn't have quite the stranglehold it had once seemed.


Philip Hilm: the first to wrestle chip lead from Mads

Anina Gundesen wanted some. By this point, with six players remaining, she was already guaranteed to be the highest placed female finisher on the EPT, bettering Xuyen Pham's seventh in Dublin in season one. Her name was going on the honours board, her legend in the yearbook. But when she took a glance at a flop of king-jack-nine, knowing she had matched that jack in the hole, she'd been trapped by Philip and his two kings. The orange chips were staying with Hilm and Anina was out, the PokerStars qualifier taking 398,131 Kr for her troubles.


Anina Gundesen: the model of composure

Marc Naalden had been quiet, concentrated and studious. But as any mother will tell you, it's the quiet ones you have to watch and he soon came leaping on to the merry-go-round. He pickpocketed a couple of those orange chips from Mads and had his eye on whatever Markus had left. But as Markus was fearing the man to his right, it was Philip Hilm who sneaked up and busted the second PokerStars qualifier. Philip had sixes in the hole and Markus's ace-nine was not enough.


Markus Gonsalves: the game is up

Then things began to get very foolish indeed. The roundabout span, the see-saw see-sawed and the four remaining stacks were tied to yo-yo strings. Marc leads, Mads leads, Philip leads. No one able to take to the front and stay there for long. Then Mads, for so long the fulcrum of all this swaying, clicks into gear. He does some good, old-fashioned pushing and shoving, distracting us all from the real battle that will then emerge. Marc, the chess player from Holland, spies a check-mate move when Philip moves in on the button. Marc calls with ace-seven and it's good. Philip takes his leave.


Philip Hilm: takes half the crowd with him

Edgar Skjervold had stayed out of most of the massive skirmishes, but had also found himself up and down, peer pressure forcing him to follow the prevailing trends. He soon found his own crazed voice, however, when he was all in twice in quick succession. The first time his nine-seven cracked jacks, the second time his ace-queen was good enough for another double through. The Norseman was now ahead.


Edgar Skjervold: the first Norseman of the Apocalpse

The next to fall off the swing was Marc. Mads took care of him, first with pocket queens and then with nine-ten, that eventually became a flush. We were heads up between Edgar and Mads. Over in a flash? Not on your life.

This was one of those epic heads-up matches, the see-saw now loosed from its moorings, catapulting children high into the stratosphere, before seeing them plummet back down to earth. Edgar takes the first sizeable leap skyward, when a five on the turn gives his ace-five the edge over Mads's ace-queen. But he's on the deck a moment later, when Mad's ten-queen outdraws his king-jack. And we go on.


Edgar and Mads: heads up

The final table was ten hours long at this point. That's the longest in EPT history. The players are feeling the strain and the edge is all the spectators know of their seats. Their fingernails are nothing, however, compared to those of the organisers: the casino is obliged to close in half an hour. Will we really have to take this into the street?


What it's all about

No, thankfully not. The chip stacks are a little in favour of Mads when a pre-flop raising battle commences. No one is going anywhere and they get all the chips in, nearly three million, before the flop. Mads has ace-queen, Edgar ace-ten and, for once, the best hand holds up. It's all over, the marathon has been run.


Mads Andersen: EPT Copenhagen winner

First to break the tape was Mads Andersen, the local boy, and it was one long, long, thoroughly entertaining race.

EPT Copenhagen final result:

1. Mads Anderson (Denmark) - 2,548,070 Kr
2. Edgar Skjervold (Norway) - 1,401,722 Kr
3. Philip Hilm (Denmark) - 716,636 Kr
4. Marc Naalden (Holland) - 557,384 Kr
5. Markus Gonsalves (USA) - 477,000 Kr (PokerStars qualifier)
6. Anina Gundesen (Denmark) - 398,000 Kr (PokerStars qualifier)
7. Shek Chi Hung (Denmark) - 318,000 Kr
8. Johan Bergquist (Sweden) - 239,000 Kr

Report to follow.

3.10am --- It's all over. We have a winner. After a gruelling heads-up battle it all came down to big hand versus big hand, as it often does. Edgar had ace-ten, Mads ace-queen. Neither gave an inch in the pre-flop raising and while the flop came all hearts, Edgar holding the ten of hearts, the off-suit queen on the turn removed a couple of his outs, before a blank on the river ended it. Mads Andersen is the champion of EPT Copenhagen. Final table report to follow.

2.55am --- Straight away, Edgar is back on the ropes. Edgar moves in on a flop of 10-4-4. Mads calls and shows ten-queen, Edgar has king-jack. Mads has two pair, the queen on the turn improving it a notch. Now Mads is back in the lead.

2.50am --- Thomas Kremser announces that Mads has 1.8 million, Edgar 1 million shortly before it's all in the middle. Edgar has ace-five, Mads ace-queen. The flop is all diamonds and Edgar has the ace, then the five pops up on the turn to put him ahead and the Norwegian contingent erupts. He's in the dominant position now.

2.40am --- They're now posting blinds of 40,000 and 80,000, which has put Mads into overdrive. He's re-raising if he gets any chance, but is content just to raise if that's all on offer. He's the definite chip leader, but I fancy an "all-in" "call" is imminent.

2.35am --- It's going back and forth until a decent pot goes Mads's direction. He's made two pairs, jacks and sevens, beating Edgar's top pair queens. There are a lot of orange 10,000 chips in the pot. Mads leads.

2.25am --- Big pot for Edgar, who makes up the big blind, then bets the ace-high flop. Mads raises 250,000 and Edgar moves in. Mads folds - Edgar flashes an ace.

2.10am --- Edgar and Mads are heads up, with any pre-flop raise taking it down for the opening exchanges. But they're seeing a lot of flops - both are flat calling more frequently than you'd expect, then pushing one another around post-flop.

1.40am --- Down to two. Two huge pots and Mark Naalden is out. He moves in pre-flop and Mads Andersen, the short-stack calls all in. Mads has queens, Marc king jack and none improve. Then Mads makes another move, Mark calls with ace-queen and is ahead when Mads shows ten-nine. But he hits a ten on the turn and fills a flush on the river. Down to two.

1.25am --- The madness continues. Edgar is now dominant chip leader, having just got all his chips in with ace-jack and Marc calling with ace-two. The flop showed two jacks to end that one. (Although a furious Mads Andersen raked through the mucked cards to find his ten-seven. The ten-seven that would have made a straight.

Official chip count:
Edgar 1,372,000
Marc 831,000
Mads 624,000

1.20am --- Mads now doubles through Marc, when his five-six makes a straight against Marc Naalden's queen-jack. Mads is back to 820,000.

1.10am --- Huge double up for Edgar Skjervold, who finds all his chips in the middle with nine-seven. Mads Andersen calls with pocket jacks, but they're not good enough when a seven flops and a nine swims down the river.

12.55am --- Official chip counts with three players remaining:
Mads Andersen 1,155,000
Edgar Skjervold 870,000
Marc Naalden 800,000

12.50am --- Philip Hilm is out and Marc has his revenge. Marc first doubles through against Mads and then calls Philip's all-in button raise. The man from Holland has ace-seven, the button raiser nothing more than nine-four. The board improves neither hand and Philip joins his huge Danish following at the bar.

12.40am --- Still they refuse to fall. This one is a massive pre-flop raising battle between Marc Naalden and Philip Hilm. When the two shortest stacks showdown, Marc has ace-six, Philip has queen-five. The flop is six-six-seven and it's surely all over for Hilm. But the eight on the turn gives him an open ended straight draw and the magic nine falls on the river. Marc is now scratching the felt.

12.30am --- Huge pot, maybe the biggest of the night. Phil makes up the small blind and Mads checks. They see a flop of 3c-3h-8c. Phil checks and Mads bets 40,000. Phil raises to 120,000 but Mads is having none of that minimum re-raise and sticks in 200,000. The pot is now about 650 when Phil calls and checks the turn, a six of hearts. Mads moves in a Phil, who everyone seems to think had a three, folds. Mads consolidates chip lead.

12.00am --- We're going to be here all night. The stacks have evened right out after Mads goes on the rampage, re-raising Edgar, then Phil and hauling himself into the lead. Official chip counts as the players take a break:
Mads Andersen 821,000
Philip Hilm 812,000
Marc Naalden 100,000
Edgar Skjervold 462,000

11.45pm --- The double ups continue around the table as now Philip Hilm, who was down to his final 300,000 after a terrible run, gets them all in having flopped two-pair with his 9-4. There's no help for Marc's K-Q and the Dane returns to the fray. It now looks as though Mads might be back in the lead, with Marc, Edgar and Philip close behind.

11.40pm --- The stacks level out again as Edgar Skjervold doubles up through Marc Naalden. Marc raises on the button, making it 100,000 to play. Edgar moves in - 267,000 total, 167,000 more for Marc. He thinks, then calls and, after showing queen-nine, must see the only re-raising hand he wanted, a small pair. They're eights, but the snowmen look as though they're melting when a queen flops. However, Edgar picks up a flush draw on the turn and can hit any heart or any eight on the river to win. Out pops the eight and Skjervold is back.

11.30pm --- Big hit for the chip lead of Philip Hilm as Marc Naalden doubles up. Philip raises pre-flop, making it 90,000 to play. Marc moves in - another 348,000. Philip calls and shows a pocket pair: fours. Marc has a pocket pair too: aces. Although the flop and turn brings a straight draw for Philip's fours, the ace on the end finishes it off in the Dutchman's favour.

11.15pm --- Final four chip count:

Philip Hilm 1,177,000
Mads Andersen 902,000
Edgar Skjervold 468,000
Marc Naalden 271,000
Markus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) fifth (477,000 Kr)
Anina Gundesen (PokerStars qualifier) sixth (398,000 Kr)
Shek Chi Hung seventh (318,000 Kr)
Johan Bergquist - eighth (239,000 Kr)

11pm --- We're down to four after Markus hits the rail. He re-raised Phil's pre-flop raise of 60,000, all his chips - about another 120,000. Phil called with little choice and showed pocket sixes. Markus had ace-nine of diamonds. The flop was all spades and no ace nor nine in sight, and neither did they appear on the turn or the river. The final PokerStars qualifier goes out in fifth place, 477,757 Kr richer. That's just under $80,000 to take back to San Diego.

10.50pm --- Markus raises all-in, out of turn. Marc Naalden hasn't acted before all the PokerStars qualifier's chips are in the centre. Marc asks for a ruling and is told he can raise if he wants, but that the all-in will go. Markus's hands are still cupped round the chips and ready to shove them in if necessary, but Marc folds. Markus shows 9-7.

10.35pm --- Two notable hands. First, there's the rarest of occurances: the family pot. Everyone calls, then checks the ace high flop. The turn brings a third diamond and Philip bets. Everyone folds. Then, Markus, who is the short-stack by quite some distance now, survives another all-in, but only splits it. His ace-eight ties with Marc's ace-four. Still five.

10.15pm --- After a period of raising, then folding to a re-raise, Edgar Skjervold dishes out some of that punishment on Philip Hilm. Edgar makes up the big blind, Philip raises 40,000 and Edgar calls. The flop of K-8-4 is checked by Edgar, but then re-raised another 210 after Philip bets 70. Philip dwells, counts, folds.

10pm --- Back from the dinner break and, with the leaders' chip stacks having levelled out, so has the game. A pre-flop raise is usually enough to pick up the blinds, a re-raise draws audible gasps. Then everyone folds. There's been one flop: it came 5-2-2 after a pre-flop raise by Philip. Marc Naalden called that, then checked the low board, allowing Philip to bet. Fold.

8.45pm --- The five remaining players are on a dinner break. Their chips counts are as follows:
Philip Hilm 849,000
Mads Andersen 662,500
Edgar Skjervold 633,500
Marc Naalden 424,000
Markus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) 243,000

The players out have so far won the following:

Anina Gundesen (PokerStars qualifier) 398,131 Kr (€53,000)
Shek Chi Hung 318,505 Kr (€43,000)
Johan Bergquist 238, 879 Kr (€32,000)

and the players remaining are up for:

1st 2,548,070 Kr (€341,000)
2nd 1,401,722 Kr (€228,000)
3rd 716,636 Kr (€96,000)
4th 557,384 Kr (€75,000)
5th 477,757 Kr (€64,000)

8.30pm --- Anina Gundesen is out. Philip Hilm raises from under-the-gun, Anina re-raises from the button and Philip calls. The flop shows Kc-Jh-9h and Philip checks. Anina bets 100,000 and Philip moves in. Anina calls and shows jack-queen, for a pair of jacks, but Philip's king-queen has her dominated and she needs either a jack to win or a ten to split. It doesn't happen and Anina is out in sixth place.

8.15pm --- Edgar Skjervold doubles up through Philip Hilm. Philip raises pre-flop, Edgar calls from the big blind. The flop is king-high, rainbow, and after Edgar checks, Philip bets 65. Edgar calls, to see a seven on the turn. Edgar now moves in and Philip, who is sitting with king-jack for top pair, calls. Edgar shows king-seven, making his two pair on the turn, and he's up to around 600,000.

8.10pm --- Mads exacts some revenge on Anina, when her check on an ace-high flop allows him to bet and take it down.

8pm --- Markus Gonsalves survives a real scare. He's all-in with ace-seven, called by Philip Hilm's ace-queen. The seven on the turn saves the man from San Diego.

7.55pm --- Mads raises to 42,000 pre-flop, Anina calls from small blind. Flop comes ace-high and Anina bets 50,000 into a 100,000 pot. Mads looks skyward as he's forced to fold again.

7.45pm --- A tournament break, so here is the up-to-date chip count. We have a new chip leader.

Philip Hilm 1,475,000
Mads Andersen 787,000
Edgar Skjervold 294,000
Marc Naalden 264,000
Anina Gundesen (PokerStars qualifier) 262,000
Markus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) 161,000

They will return and post blinds of 7,500 and 15,000, with a 1,500 ante.

7.30pm --- Edgar Skjervold doubles up with pocket sixes, all in pre-flop, against Mads's ace-five.

7.20pm --- Mads Andersen just took the first sizeable hit to his sizeable stack when Philip Hilm made up the blind then checked the ace-high flop, two clubs showing. Mads also checked, then a third club - and another ace - turned. Philip bet, Mads raised and Philip called. The river was an off-suit deuce, checked by Philip, giving Mads the opportunity to try to take him off the hand. Mads declined and checked, leaving Philip to show ace-four, a full house (the four on the flop seeming innocuous). Philip made 400,000, but Mads got away.

Mads checks out Philip on the TV monitor

7.05pm --- We're Shek-less. The man from Copenhagen has played a fiercely aggressive game over the past three days and, having lived by the sword, has now died by it. With Mads Andersen to his left, he has had to put over sized raises in throughout this final table and moved all-in pre-flop three times in the past half an hour. Third time unlucky, however, as Philip Hilm called him with pocket jacks and Shek's ten-jack was dominated. Shek takes 318,505 Kroner for seventh place.


Shek-out

6.45pm --- That's the end of the first level and they're now removing the 100 denomination chips from play. After Johan's exit, most of the chips have flowed towards the dominating stack of Mads Andersen, with Shek Chi Hung, to his immediate right, feeling the pinch the most.

Latest chip counts:

Mads Andersen 1,201,000
Philip Hilm 476,000
Anina Gundesen (PokerStars qualifier) 288,500
Edgar Skjervold 263,000
Mark Naalden 248,500
Shek Chi Hung 230,500
Markus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) 111,000

5.45pm --- It was a quiet enough start until Anina moves into gear. Mads Andersen, huge chip leader, makes a 20,000 raise. Johan, the short stack, re-raises 40,000 and Anina makes it 100,000 to play. Mads folds but Johan, after asking Anina whether she has aces, makes the all-in call. She doesn't have aces, but kings are good enough to send Johan to the rail.

Markus Gonsalves: from San Diego business school to EPT final table
Seat 1: MARKUS GONSALVES, 21, United States
Markus, a 21-year-old from San Diego California, qualified for the London EPT event last year but requested a seat change to this tournament because he wanted to meet up with his Scandinavian buddies, most of whom he met playing the $10/$20 NL game on PokerStars. "It's been really gruelling so far, playing 10 or 11 hours at a stretch," says Markus. He is the baby of the table but if his online record is anything to go by, he is no novice. Chips: 156,000


Edgar Skjervold: radge on the rampage
Seat 2: EDGAR SKJERVOLD, 31, Norway
This is Edgar's second EPT final table appearance following his 7th place in Baden, Austria last October. The Norwegian was disappointed with his early elimination there and will be hoping to make more of an impact here. He identifies Mads Anderson as the main threat: "He has a ton of chips and isn't afraid of anything." Edgar won the 2004 WCOOP on PokerStars, so he certainly has the game to close the deal, but does he have enough chips to challenge here? Chips: 186,000


Philip Hilm: feeling confident
Seat 3: PHILIP HILM, 35, Denmark
Philip is from Copenhagen but recently moved to Poland, where his father was born. Two years ago he was selling coffee machines but discovered he could earn five times more money playing poker online. Just a month after taking up the game, he was playing full time and making a good living. He is playing more bricks and mortar poker tournaments now, after making his live debut at the 2005 WSOP, which suggests that Philip is not afraid of being thrown in at the deep end. With the second chip lead, he describes himself as "confident". Chips: 600,500


Shek Chi Hung: from Hong Kong to the final table
Seat 4: SHEK CHI HUNG, 46, Denmark
Hong Kong-born Shek, a restaurant owner from Copenhagen, is a familiar presence on the Danish poker circuit. He built up a massive chip lead on day one, when he swam against the tide with some impressively aggressive play. "I don't play the cards," he says, "I play my opponents." That may explain why his favourite poker hand is ten jack off-suit. No-one will want to tangle with Shek! Chips: 307,000


Mads Andersen: leading from the front
Seat 5: MADS ANDERSEN, 35, Denmark
Mads has a massive chip lead on this final table, and those familiar with his aggressive style make him the favourite to win the 2006 EPT Copenhagen title. He is the 2002 World Backgammon champion, but switched to poker soon after, quickly establishing a reputation as one of Europe's most successful cash game players. As if he needed any further help, this native of Copenhagen has his family coming to support him at the final table, and Mads is also wearing his lucky red jumper. "It's a great feeling having all those chips. It doesn't happen that often!" Chips: 1,023,000


Marc Naarland: not a grand master as previously reported (sorry all)
Seat 6: MARC NAALDEN, 37, Holland
Chess fanatic Marc started playing poker three years ago at a recreational level, but the more he plays the more he wins. Having started out playing only online, he is now planning on attending future EPT events, including EPT Deauville next month. Marc, who lives in the diamond capital of the world, is short of chips but remains positive: "I need to double up, and then we'll see." Chips: 273,000


Johan Bergquist: enigma turns final tablist
Seat 7: JOHAN BERGQUIST, 37, Sweden Playing high stakes poker is not everyone's idea of a good way to relax, but Johan plays the game as a stress release from his job as CEO of a successful IT business: "I am very focused on my job so this is just a hobby for me." The 37-year-old from Stockholm, Sweden, is a former maths teacher and believes the experience helps him understand the way his opponents think. He will need to pull off a miracle to make an impact his as he starts the final table with the smallest chip count. Chips: 47,500.


Anina Gundesen: turning $13 into significantly more
Seat 8: ANINA GUNDESEN, 29, Denmark
Anina is a law student from Odense, in central Denmark. She survived day two without ever building a major stack but made a late surge to make the final table. Her talent so far has been knowing when and where to pick her battles. Anina qualified for the EPT Copenhagen via a $13 rebuy tournament on PokerStars.com. With little to lose, she is relaxed at making her debut at a major televised tournament: "I won't be scared of any of my opponents because I have no idea who they are." Chips: 223,500

Before the prize fighters step into the ring later this afternoon, there was a pretty tasty bout on the EPT undercard where Ken Lenaard, Sweden's best-known poker star, took on poker's best-known bracelet in a heads-up match. This time, the World Series of Poker winner's jewelry was the model from 2003, earned as Chris Moneymaker elevated poker into the stratosphere with his $2.5 million cash, all parlayed from a $40 online tournament.

Ken Lenaard against...


...the WSOP bracelet

Moneymaker took one huge haymaker on the chin in the main event here, watching his top full house go down to David Layani's quad sixes, and there wasn't much better in store for the man from Tennessee in this heads-up clash. Chris had moved into an early lead and sensed the opportunity to knock Ken out when the Swede moved his final remaining chips into the middle behind an ace-seven. Moneymaker called with a jack-two, which didn't improve, and it was one-way traffic from there, Lenaard knocking out his adversary with top-pair kings to Chris's middle-pair tens.


The poker pugilists

One up, then for Sweden, but Anina Gundesen and Markus Gonsalves are up soon, to fight another good fight for PokerStars.

Don't tell this to anyone in Las Vegas, but no matter how many dollars you spend trying to disguise this fact, the inside of casinos all have a tendency to look the same. That's why it is sometimes worth exploring that peculiar place known by only a select few, commonly referred to as the "outside world".

As the final preparations take place for the finale of EPT Copenhagen (of which, more later) I decided to forsake the sight of cards, chips and spinning wheels for an hour or so and learn more about where life is led if life involves more than poker.

It was as though I had climbed through a wardrobe to do so.

Aslan, Copenhagen


"Meet me beside the lantern," said Mr Tumnus, the faun...


...shortly before Mr Tumnus was turned to stone


Another warrior, with the flag of Narnia in the background


The home of the White Witch?


"Mmmmm, danish pastry," said Edmund

Let's wrap day two by looking forward to day three. These eight certainly will be: Mads Andersen, Philip Hilm, Shek Chi Hung, Marc Naalden, Anina Gundesen, Edgar Skjervolt, Marcus Gonsalves and Johan Bergquist.

Those eight will take their seats tomorrow around the EPT Copenhagen final table, ready to thrash it out for the following prizes:

1 - 2,548,070 Kr (€341,000)
2 - 1,401,722 Kr (€228,000)
3 - 716,636 Kr (€96,000)
4 - 557,384 Kr (€75,000)
5 - 477,757 Kr (€64,000)
6 - 398,131 Kr (€53,000)
7 - 318,505 Kr (€43,000)
8 - 238, 879 Kr (€32,000)

They deserve it; it has been brutal today. Ninety-seven made it from their respective day ones, but we were down to eight in less than eleven hours. That's remarkable going for a tournament of this size, but I estimate that Mads, Philip, Shek and Marc must have accounted for around 40 scalps between them. They have been in inspirational form and take the four biggest stacks to the final table. Mads in particular will need a truck to shift his towards the felt.

Take a bow Anina Gundesen, who becomes only the second woman player ever to grace the final table of an EPT event. Far from being overawed in her first major live tournament, this PokerStars qualifier from Odense, Denmark, has been dishing out the kind of punishment that makes a total mockery of her own modest ambition. She'll take her seat tomorrow with the chance to turn her $13 satellite fee into something considerably larger.

Edgar Skjervolt knows no introduction to PokerStars players. To them, he is "radge", winner of the 2004 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) on the site. There, he bested 10,085 players to take the prize of more than $6 million. There is a huge Scandinavian contingent out here in, well, Scandinavia, and the Norwegian side has their money on Edgar.

Marcus Gonsalves is the second PokerStars qualifier who has made it to the final. This 21-year-old was once a student of business in San Diego, but turned to the online poker tables for, how can we put it, more immediate remuneration. He's translated his exceptional form to the live environment and will fancy his chances tomorrow.

We will return tomorrow with pictures of these eight, more about each of them, and then a blow-by-blow account of the final table.

End of day two chip count:

Mads Andersen - 1,023,000
Philip Hilm - 600,500
Shek Chi Hung - 307,000
Marc Naalden - 273,000
Anina Gundesen - 223,500
Edgar Skjervolt - 186,000
Marcus Gonsalves - 156,000
Johan Bergquist - 47,500

Thomas Kremser prepares the final chip counts

It always has to be someone, and this time that someone was Bad Girl. She moved in with queen-ten and Mads Anderson, whose chips are taller than this hotel, called with ace-king. A glimmer of hope in the form of a queen on the flop was snuffed out by the king on the turn.

Of the eight players at the final table, two are PokerStars qualifiers. They are Anina Gundesen and Markus Gonsalves. More about both of them tomorrow.

Anina Gundesen qualified for this EPT tournament, her first major live event, via a $13 re-buy event on PokerStars. Now she has just knocked out a former WPT winner.

Christer Johansson was the man who took the fall, unable to beat Anina's ace-queen. Hot on the heels of this, Hans Eskildsen perished to leave us with nine. These few all get to sit around one table but it is one of the cruelties of the EPT that this is not the final table.

Tomorrow, we will reconvene for the full television treatment but there are only eight spaces on the cast list of the stars. One of these will not be among them.

Mads Andersen 937,000
Philip Hilm 601,000
Shek Hung Chi 308,000
Marc Naalden 279,000
Anina Gundesen (PokerStars qualifier) 224,000
Edgar Skervolt 187,000
Marcus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) 157,000
Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham 67,500
Johan Bergquist 58,500

Thirteen players left, three thousand spectators.

Here are the chip counts...

Mads Andersen 540K
Philip Hilm 520K
Marc Naalden 260K
Shek Hung Chi 250K
Edgar Skervolt 230K
Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham 190K
Johan Bergquist 120K
Adam Nilsson (PokerStars qualifier) 105K
Anina Gundersen (PokerStars qualifiers) 140K
Lennart Nystrom 100K
Hans Eskildson 100K
Christer Johansson 79K
Markus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) 75K

... and here are the spectators

Update - Adam Nilsson's jacks just failed to beat Philip Hilm's queens. He's out, leaving two PokerStars qualifiers in the field.

Mads Andersen is running away with this. Here are his chips. Understand now why they're difficult to count?

We're down to two tables, with the players remaining as follows:
Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham
Mads Andersen
Philip Hilm
Edgar Skjervold
Adam Nilsson (PokerStars qualifier)
Johan Bergquist
Lennart Nystrom
Anina Gundersen (PokerStars qualifier)
Hans Eskildsen
Christer Johansson
Edgar Skjevold
Per Andersen
Markus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier)
Shek Chi Chung
Mark Naalden

The three PokerStars qualifiers are still battling, with Adam Nilsson, below, on a table with Bad Girl, Mads and Edgar Skjervold, who knocked out Doug Protz in a massive coup earlier (Doug had queens, Edgar had king-jack and made a flush).


Adam Nilsson

Ram Vaswani, the last remaining Hendon Mobster (of the two that made the trip), went out around about 18th place, just after Noah Boeken.

If you have ever read PokerStars blog before, perhaps from a previous tournament in any country around the world, you will have heard us talk about "commentator's curse" - a strange phenomenon that seems to ensure a player will be eliminated from a tournament the minute the report on how great they are playing is filed.

In Copenhagen, it has just been taken to a new level. Karin Lundgren has just hit the rail before I even managed to put pen to paper, or finger to key. But her story was in the pipeline - and here's the picture taken to illustrate it.

Karin Lundgren: our 20th place finisher

She was one of three women remaining in the tournament and was going to take pride of place in a short piece about that trio. So, apologies Karin, if you're reading this. I hope the 47,000 Kroner prize for 20th place softened the blow.

Anina Gundesen, the PokerStars qualifier from Odense, Denmark, still continues to turn her $13 re-buy prize into something considerably larger. She also deserves an apology: I have not yet managed to take a photo that is in focus of her all day. Here's the latest blurred attempt, but perhaps it will help stave off the curse.


Anina Gundesen: PokerStars qualifier continuing to make good

Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham is hidden behind a monstrous stack of chips and, mercifully for her, out of my camera's range. She is looking very good indeed, however, for a top-placed finish here, whatever I might write about her.

Twenty-two players now remain as we head into level 15. Three of those are PokerStars qualifiers: Markus Gonsalves, Anina Staunbo Gundesen and Adam Nilson.

The chip leader is still Marc Naalden, who has hardly relinquished that position all day, despite close attention from Christer Johansson earlier. Christer has dropped back slightly, while Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham continues to prosper. After knocking out Luca Pagano, she is sitting with about 180,000.

Mads Andersen is also surely worth a mention at this point. He started well, before beginning to haemorrhage chips late yesterday until it looked as though he was heading back to Sweden. But he's climbed back near the summit and is probably second at the moment, with 222,000.

The continued use of "probably" is not, by the way, a reference to Carlsberg, the Danish beer (although some of it has been in evidence, I confess). It's more to do with the fact that the players are currently sitting with several vast towers of chips, making accurate counts all but impossible.

But, good to the last, we'll be here bringing you our trademark approximate estimations until the very last card is dealt.

Anders Berg goes out on the bubble.

Anina Gundesen, Thomas Grundy, Adam Nilson, Marcus Gonsalves, all PokerStars qualifiers, make the money.

Luca Pagano, final Team PokerStars member, is out in 26th place when he flops top two pair against Xuyen Pham's top straight.

Payout structure (in Danish Kroner, rough euro equivalent in brackets)

Final table:
1 - 2,548,070 (€341,000)
2 - 1,701,722 (€228,000)
3 - 716,636 (€96,000)
4 - 557,384 (€75,000)
5 - 477,757 (€64,000)
6 - 398,131 (€53,000)
7 - 318,505 (€43,000)
8 - 238, 879 (€32,000)

9 - 159,252 (€21,000)
10-12 - 95,551 (€12,000)
13-15 - 79,626 (€11,000)
16-26 - 63,701 (€9,000)
19-27 - 47,776 (€6403)

It's bubble time: 28 players remain, 27 get paid. The next one out has worked for two days for no reward. It's not all fun on the European Poker Tour, although don't tell that to the railbirds who have flocked like vultures to pick the remaining flesh from the imminent sacrifice to the Gods of poker.

Casino Copenhagen awaits the bubble's bursting

Of those remaining, these are the familiar (at least to me) names:

Shek Hung Chi
Hans Askilsson
Anders Berg
Peter Davidsen
Morten Jensen
Edgar Skervold
Anina Gundesen (PokerStars qualifier)
Thomas Grundy (PokerStars qualifier)
Mads Anderson
Marc Naarland
Ram Vaswani
Julian Thew
Jesper Stolpe
Karin Lundgren
Marcus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier)
Philip Hilm
Christer Johansson
Luca Pagano
Adam Nilson (PokerStars qualifier)
Xuyen Pham
Noah Boeken

The more observant among you will notice that the above list does not number 28. There are still a few whose faces don't fit any name, but as the field thins further, we will be able to bring you more accurate chip counts. I think Christer Johansson, former WPT champion, is the current chip leader. He's running all over the featured table at the moment and has a stack that is impossible to count accurately.

Thomas Grundy: Flash, with or without the shades

This is Thomas Grundy. Players from the Grosvenor Casino in Wallsall might recognise him from the final table of a recent £300 freezeout, while anyone around the PokerStars rooms might know him as "tollamus". But no matter how familiar he is at either of those two locations, there are folk from the University of Warwick Poker Society who know even more about the man they call Flash.

For it is there that Grundy cut his teeth, joining the huge ranks of poker players financing their way through university with their takings from the tables. It's also there that he earned that nickname, turning up for the £10 games in a pair of sunglasses. High stakes, high fashion. "Flash" stuck to Grundy longer than the sunglasses did.

In fact, their fate was rather unseemly. Trapped in a friend's car after it was written off in a crash, the glasses were reportedly unscathed. That's before the car itself made its journey to the wrecker's yard, crushed for scrap with Flash's flash accessories inside.

No matter: Flash is one of just 36 players still remaining in this field. Nine from the money. He can buy a new pair - and maybe a degree while he's at it.

Simon Young tells Natalie Pinkham all about it

"I was Noah-ed," explains Simon Young, the Suffolk Punch floored by last year's EPT Copenhagen champion. "I'm trying to think if I made a mistake, but who calls a pre-flop raise with five-two?"

Such was the plight of the Sun man. Player in mid-position makes it 5,000 to go, Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham calls, Simon with ace-ten calls in the cut off. Noah also calls from the small blind. First position. Got to have something, hasn't he? The flop comes five-ten-five. Noah seems to like that and bets 7,000 and the other two get out of the way.

So, what does Young do now? He's got top pair, top kicker but the board is paired. But none of these can be either raising or calling with a five in the hand, unless they've now got quads.

Simon calls and when the turn is a blank, Noah fires again, this time moving in for about 50,000 covering Simon's remaining 30,000. Simon goes through the options. No pre-flop re-raise from Noah, ruling out a bigger pair. He might, just might, have pocket fives, but that's surely a check on the flop, especially with the super-aggressive Bad Girl still in the mix.

He's got a ten, Simon thinks. I think that's a good read - possibly more than can be said for the publication Simon represents - but that's a solid read. Noah must have a ten, which means Simon's ace is good. Call. The chips are in.

Noah, known as Exclusive on the PokerStars tables, shows his monster five-two and Simon is taking his tale back to the tabloids.

You couldn't make it up.


Noah "Exclusive" Boeken: on the charge on the feature table

Even by the brutal standards expected on the EPT, this afternoon's cull of players has been particularly harsh.

We're into level 12 and already we have just 46 players remaining. They're posting blinds of 1,000 and 2,000 with a running ante of 200.

Our qualifiers have taken a hit - we've lost Hans David Rognlien, Daniel Elkeslassy, David Layani, Christopher Hancock, Jason Young and Jim Hagan. News has also just reached us that Simon "Suffolk Punch" Young has just completed a riches to rags story: he was moved to the television table, beside Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham, but is now out the door. Details will surely follow.

The good news is that all these chips remain in the room, meaning many of them have found their way into the hands of some of our players. Doug Protz, who started the day with fewer than 10,000, is up to around 50,000, that Lazarus nickname just waiting to be attached. His brother Don is still in the tournament, but with just 15,000 and Ram Vaswani to contend with, he has some work to do.

Thomas Grundy has more than 70,000 and is still in with a shout, as is Markus Gonsalves, whose 65,000 is more than just respectable.

Luca Pagano's last count was just over 50,000, but swings are surely likely. The final remaining Team PokerStars member is sandwiched between Morten Jensen's 110,000 and Marc Naalden's tournament-leading monster stack of approximately 270,000.

It's late in a long, long day and there's a difficult decision to make. Your tired mind is not necessarily to be trusted; it's been making tough decisions for ten hours or more and it's spent. "Sleep on it," are the only words of advice that are usually proffered. But that's good advice. Sleep on it. Make up your mind tomorrow.

Hauling this whimsy back into a poker context, the short-stacks at the end of the two day ones have a difficult decision to make. They know they are going to have to stick all their chips in soon, looking for the double up that will either put them back into the chase or on to the snow-caked streets of Copenhagen. But what is a good enough hand to make the move? Ace-face? Any pair? Usually either of these things will do.

For this reason, anyone who has ever seen tournaments like this know what is coming very soon. Today, we're going to have to play down to eight from 97 and it we will surely still be here well into the early hours of Sunday. But playing down from 97 to about 85 will not take too long. All of those fresh minds will make the right decision very soon.

The chorus of all-ins has already begun to ring around Casino Copenhagen. We'll tell you who doubled up and who is out just as soon as it's calmed down a bit.

A picture being worth a thousand words, and all that, here are 12,000 words in pictoral form of some of the PokerStars qualifiers who are playing today.

Josef Shechter


Hans David Rognlien


Daniel Elkeslassy


Adam Nilson


Thomas Grundy


David Layani


Christian Grundtvig


Justin Drechsler


Chris Hancock


Oliver Vannelli


Jim Hagan


Markus Gonsalves

Counting out the chips of Marc Naalden, tournament chip leader

EPT Copenhagen is now two days old. The second bunch of 144 have been whittled down to 47, meaning 97 play tomorrow, down to the final eight. Twenty-seven will get paid, meaning 77 won't. What they win and when they win it will be posted here as it happens.

So, what of today? Well, a lot of day 1B was similar to what we saw on day 1A but significantly more was nothing like we have ever seen before.

Shek Chi Hung, for instance, is unique. The restauranteur from Copenhagen is third in chips at the end of the day having never been anywhere further down the leaderboard since an amazing call in the first hour.

In contrast to a disappointing Thursday for Team PokerStars, Luca Pagano has flown the flag with some pride in the second flight, reaching the break with 45,675. That's more than enough for him to do some damage tomorrow - and compensate for the late-night elimination of Joe Hachem. The World Series champion and newest Team PokerStars member showed some style on the featured table for much of the day, but everyone wants a piece of the seven-million dollar man and eventually he was worn down and out.

At the top of the leaderboard is Marc Naalden. No one knew a great deal about the man on table four until he found himself looking at trip eights and Ram Vaswani, the dominant chip leader, betting at him. Naalden took what was on offer to send the counters counting and the hacks hacking up some info. He's a chess grand master from Holland. And he has a lot of chips. Ram, despite butting into Naalden, is second at the end of the day. That's the place he finished this tournament last year, and few would bet against a repeat.

There's been mixed fortunes suffered by the PokerStars qualifiers. We lost William Fitzpatrick, Jonas Molander and Michael Lindblad really late in the day, but Doug Protz and Anina Staunbo Gundesen take chips into the fray tomorrow. As does Hans David Rognlien, who has been sitting between Vaswani and Naalden for a few hours tonight, but is right up there still with 38,850, as well as Markus Gonsalves, who finished just ahead of Pagano with 50,625.

Official chip counts are below. Join us again tomorrow. Play begins at 2.30pm.

Flight 1B

Marc Naalden 120,125
Ram Vaswani 72,825
Shek Chi Hung 66,975
Jesper Frolich 59,700
Lars Soderlund 54,850
Morten Jensen 51,325
Greger Aktell 51,200
David Berggren 51,075
Markus Gonsalves (PokerStars qualifier) 50,625
Luca Pagano (Team PokerStars) 45,675
Roy Tommy Vekseth 42,025
Jesper Stolpe 40,325
Christer Johanssen 39,050
Hans David Rognlien (PokerStars qualifier) 38,850
Lennart Nystrom 37,475
Nils Paulsen 34,525
Anders Osterstrom 33,025
Tony Chessa 32,850
Per Andersen 30,850
Anders Berg 30,750
Anina Gundesen (PokerStars qualifier) 28,650
Henrik Olander 28,025
Noah Boeken 26,925
Rainer Isaksen 26,775
Ken Lennard 25,950
Tom Jakobsen 24,450
Lars Bonding 22,300
Anton Thorarinsson 22,150
David McGeachie 22,000
Robin Reed 21,825
Jonas Svensson 20,100
Martin Iversen 16,925
Nicky Smits 16,650
Danni Schou 16,275
Rino Matthis 16,075
Ole Busberg Jensen (PokerStars qualifier) 15,200
Adam Berggren 14,275
Mark Boudewijn 12,900
Anders Lembing 12,625
Thomas Olavsrud 11,700
Kim Wittendorff 10,975
Johan Kretz 10,950
Torgeir Kopperud 10,925
Douglas Protz (PokerStars qualifier) 9,100
Rolf Woods 8,825
Brian Clausen 8,350
Janos Spada 5,050

I'll merge these with yesterday's qualifiers in the morning to give a full run down of those playing Saturday's Day Two. If you can't wait that long, click here for the list from yesterday.

Don, left, and Doug, right. Protz A and Protz B

"Is that a 'V' for victory or an 'L' for loser?" says Doug Protz, posing for the photograph above with one of the most richly deserved beers in the whole of Copenhagen clenched beside questionable finger-letter.

I, being an impartial PokerStars reporter, say V. Doug isn't so sure.

"I wanted to make it to day to with about the average stack, not about one third of the average," he claims.

His calculations are probably right. Doug has sat behind a short stack for much of tonight's play and will go into tomorrow with 9,100 in chips. They'll begin tomorrow posting 600-1,200 blinds, so there's no question he's got his work cut out to make the money.

But who can calculate the odds on this: Doug is not the only Protz who qualified for the EPT in Copenhagen on PokerStars. He's not even the only Protz who made the second day. The guy next to him is Don Protz, younger brother, who is also lining up in the final 95. That is pretty good going, no matter how high your expectations.

"It'd be good if you both got on the same table," I suggest.

"Good for me," says Don, who is taking 16,250 to the second day. "I know how he plays."

People with 9,100 tend to play the same way on the second day of tournaments like this. "All-in," might be uttered within the first round or so, then a couple of hasty prayers. But Doug has a chip and a chair. There is hope.

We'll all drink to that.

Full chip counts for the end of day 1B will be available soon.

I'm sure there are more, but here are four PokerStars qualifiers still battling as we near the end of the day:

William Fitzpatrick: owner of a never-ending short-stack

Doug Protz: clinging on to join brother Don on day two

Anina Staunbo Gundesen: success, on or off the featured table

Michael Lindblad: kissing the photo of the kids before moving all-in. It worked.

Tournament update: Joe Hachem is out. He lost a fairly sizeable chunk of his stack with a hand that he was too embarrassed to show, then was soon heading for the exit. The new chip leader is Marc Naalden, whose trip eights just lifted him above his adversary in that hand, Ram Vaswani.

We, or, more correctly, the 56 remaining players, have just entered the final level of the day. Within the hour we'll know exactly who will join yesterday's 50 to make the real Day Two line up.

Then, and only then, will we really know who is in with a shout here. Despite the fact that it's pushing 2am for the second night running here in Copenhagen, these still really are the early stages of this competition.

Until the moment all the counts are made official, here are four players it seems likely will be seen again tomorrow.

Stay with us for more details of stacks as and when we know.

Christer Johansson

Luca Pagano

Lars Bonding

Shek Chi Lung

It's another one of those days when patterns are emerging. Something about poker tournaments of this size seems to ensure we see the same things over and over again.

In this instance, it's to do with the chip flow. As players are eliminated, it is common practice for the poster of the big blind seat to be moved from a a crowded table to balance those with fewer players. This ensures as fair a distribution of the chips as possible; it's entirely random and pleases everyone. The player moving ducks the big blind obligation, which moves on to the player that would have had it next hand anyway.

Only sometimes, the chips all seem to be fitted with magnets and follow each other around the room. That's the case today, where the table that included the sizeable stacks of Ken Lennard (34,000), Luca Pagano (32,000) and David Berggren (47,500) was split, and they all found spaces on tables already full of chips.

One in particular is vicious. Ken Lennard, arguably the best-known of the Swedish contingent, largely because his participation in high-stakes poker pre-dates the internet boom, is now sitting beside Juha Helppi and Shek Chi Hung. Juha is the short stack of the three (he has 13,000). Ken still has more than 30,000 and Shek, well, Shek only has one gear and it's forward, at full throttle.

Ken Lennard

Moving round the table another seat, it is possible to miss Rolf Woods' 10,000 because eyes are drawn towards Hans David Rognlien's 30,000, Mark Naalden's 40,000 and Mika Paasonen's 40,000. Chips. With. Everyone.


Mark Naalden

Mika Paasonen

World Champion update: Joe Hachem has taken a hit and was down to his last 4,000 or so when he stuck them in with ace-queen. He was called by ace-three and despite the hopes of the entire room that a three would knock out the dangerman from down under, he lived to fight another pot.

World Champions draw the crowds and Joe Hachem, who flew in from the Aussie Millions to take his place on the Team PokerStars teamsheet on the EPT, is a World Champion. For the past two days, he's been performing his tricks amid the media circus; the Scandinavian press is all over the World Series winner and, as is the amiable Australian's forte, he's been only too happy to tell them over and over again what he plans to do with $7.5 million, how it has changed his life, what it means to be sponsored by PokerStars, etc.

Joe Hachem: eyes on another prize

Today, however, it's back to the real work - although he wasn't let off completely scott free. For the first five hours, Joe has been sweating it out under the studio lights of the featured table and, during his time there, watching his aces cracked by ace-king, then a couple of attempted moves not quite hitting the right spot. He was down to around 5,000 at one point today, but no one has earned one of those World Series bracelets without knowing how to get going when the going gets tough.

"He's been excellent value," mentioned one of the television crew, who has seen every hand played by every player on the feature table. "He can play."

Most of us already knew. Joe is back in the hunt now. Moved to a central table to give others a chance in front of the cameras, Hachem returned from the dinner break to a stack of 17,200. There's a lot of play left.

When a poker player is seen leaving the gaming room, clutching their mobile phone and dialling a number with their fingers in a blur, there is usually someone somewhere on the other side of the world who is about to hear a bad beat story. Especially if that player had more than 20,000 chips last time you checked.

Sorry to say that Sharon Goldman just made one of those calls. "I'm toast," she said, this particular tale going from Copenhagen to the Isle of Man, where it connects with husband Dan. "Pockets kings versus six-four."

Ouch.

Sharon Goldman: calling home

I dared to ask some more details. There are three limpers and Sharon looks down at the cowboys on the button. She makes it 1,200 to go and finds a customer in Hans Rognlien, a PokerStars qualifier from Norway. The flop comes six high and also includes a five and a three. That's good enough for Hans; he moves in with his top pair and an up-and-down straight draw. That is soon turned into the winner when the seven drops, leaving Sharon with no outs except the one marked exit.


Hans Rognlien: calling pre-flop raises with 6-4

She had Hans covered at that point, but was crippled and got her final 3,000 in with ace-jack. It lost to ace-seven. Of course it did.

Ten miutes before the dinner break and PokerStars corner on table four has lost its first player. It was one of those where the reporter arrives just in time to see the axe fall - there was a flop of Js-Kh-As-Jh-6d and a bet in front of Brent Wheeler, our qualifier from Chicago.

Shek Chi Hung, who is only actually sitting in just one seat but who seems to be involved in every notable pot, then stuck in the kind of sized raise that only the chip leaders can make. He slid forward a pile of brown 500 chips, but had enough of those to cover all of Brent's gold 1000s.

Brent looked as though he knew his game was up; he maybe had an ace, a straight, perhaps even a jack. Shek flipped pocket kings for a huge full house and Brent is on his way back to the Windy City.

Just to bring you up to speed, we've just entered level 5, where the blinds are 150-300. There are 112 players left from the 144 who began this afternoon.

Latest chip counts are scrolling across the top of the page.

Two of the tournament chip leaders, if not the tournament chip leaders, are sitting two seats away from each other on table 14. One of them you have already heard about - he goes by the name Pagano - but two to his left is Shek Chi Hung, slightly more of an enigma than Luca.

Shek Chi Hung: serving up chips on table 14

I intend to catch up with Shek when I get a chance, mainly to ask him a little bit about himself - then to find out how he calls a 6,000 bet on the river within the first hour of a €4,000 tournament with nothing more than a pair of nines. In an attempt to solve my first problem, I put "Shek Chi Hung" in Google and it seems as though he might own a restaurant in Copenhagen. Knowing the formidable reputation of restauranteurs around the poker table - and coupling that with the Scandinavian influence - we could have ourselves a player.

It might also explain that call. It was top pair, but there are about 130 other players in the room that might have mucked it. They, of course, wouldn't be sitting behind about 33,000 chips. It was good - the opponent had missed a draw. Luca has his hands full.

Warning to readers in the United States: shameless European soccer content below

You might not think it these days, but there was once a time when football wasn't on television. People tucked their rattles under their arms, put their bobble hats on their heads and spent Saturday afternoon watching 22 blokes kick a two-stone pigs bladder around a muddy field. Some people consider those to be the golden days. Some people are wrong.

The equivalent is also true of poker. Back before some wise-guy thought of putting a television camera beneath a table to peek behind the poker face, the game was scarcely noticed through the cigar smoke. If you had tried to put a poker game on television in the 1970s, the viewers most likely would have thought the cable for the aerial had fallen out the back of their set.

How things change. Footballers still turn up once a week to boot a bladder about a bit, but they're paid millions of pounds to do so. Poker isn't far behind. In fact, if you can't turn on the television and watch either poker or football or both, then you're living on a different planet to me. Footballers are the new poker players and poker players are the new footballers, something that has never been more true than here in Copenhagen, where Jan Molby, Stig Tofting and today Thomas Brolin have joined the EPT.

Molby and Tofting are Danish legends of the game. The former was a linchpin of the dominant Liverpool team of the late eighties, before going on to manage Swansea City. Tofting, also a Dane, played for Bolton Wanderers in the English Premiership, renowned as one of the hardest hard-men. Thomas Brolin was a Swedish centre-forward, one of the stars of the side that finished third in the 1994 World Cup in the United States. Today he made his debut on the EPT.

He might wish he hadn't bothered. This afternoon he met Luca Pagano, currently playing for Team PokerStars, but still dreaming of a call up for Juventus. The Italian had only been moved to table 14 for about half an hour when he picked up ace-king, raised, and found a willing caller in the former Parma, Leeds United and Crystal Palace forward. The flop had a king, jack and an eight and both players checked. The turn was an ace and now Luca bets, Thomas raises and Luca calls. The ace on the end wasn't bad for the PokerStars centre-forward, making him the full house, and when Brolin sticks all his chips in, he can't say call quick enough.

Luca Pagano: leading the line for the PokerStars select XI

Brolin, who England fans will remember as the man whose goal knocked their team out of the 1992 European Championship, showed queen-ten for the top straight. Not good enough.

Did he not like that.

The qualifiers gallery continues:

Jonas Molander, ninth in Dublin earlier this season, qualified again for Copenhagen


Morten Junior, left, and Val Lettieri. Val qualified for the PCA in the Bahamas


Edgardo Bellia. Cracked queens with suited connecters just as I arrived


Konstantin Sobel, from Canada


James Campbell. Over from the United States and straight to the feature table, two seats to the left of Joe Hachem


Brandon Sampson, also under the TV lights with th World Champion

There are another 144 players in Flight 1B today, 29 of them who booked their place on PokerStars. Those seeking EPT immortality today include:

William Fitzpatrick, from Erin, Canada. Second time on the EPT, having qualified for Vienna in series one. William is being followed by Jenn, Sam and Ben back home.


Doug Protz, elder brother of Don, who played yesterday and made day two. Reporter: "I'll take a photo of you both together if you qualify as well." Doug: "What do you mean, if?"


From left to right, Peter Berntsen (Sweden), Brent Wheeler (Chicago, USA), Finn Jensen (Denmark) - PokerStars corner


Hans Rognlien, the fourth PokerStars qualifier on table four


Anina Gundesen, from Denmark. Playing her first EPT event, she qualified via a $13 re-buy tournament

Take an ancient European capital, add a dusting of overnight snow and - hey presto - we're all living in a Christmas greetings card. Hallmark just might be interested in some of these images from this morning's stroll around the city.

University district, Copenhagen


Winter wonderland


Going nowhere fast


A bite to eat


Cherubs and icicles

Flight 1B of the Copenhagen EPT begins in about an hour and among those playing today we have Joe Hachem, Ram Vaswani, Noah Boeken, Marcel Luske, Cecilia Nordenstam, Thomas Brolin, Ken Lennard, David Colclough, Roland de Wolfe, Juha Helppi, Torstein Iversen, Luca Pagano, Christer Johansson, James Vogel, Mark Telscher

Before we begin Day 1B, here's a recap of how yesterday's first flight ended:

Xuyen Pham 89,625
Roy Von Der Locht 63,750
Thomas Grundy (PokerStars qualifier) 62,025
Dario Alioto 61,825
Christian Grundtvig (PokerStars qualifier) 58,350
David Davidsen 50,400
Jim Hagan (PokerStars qualifier) 44,850
Philip Hilm 43,650
Kim Frederiksen 42,925
Karin Lundgren 42,750
Johan Bergquist 40,850
Edgar Skjervold 39,925
Jens Lauritzen 39,550
Johnny Haard 38,700
Josef Shechter (PokerStars qualifier) 36,950
Olivier Vanneli (PokerStars qualifier) 36,750
Daniel Steine 35,725
Stian Haugerud 35,000
Daniel Elkeslassy 34,250 (PokerStars qualifier)
Henning Bolstad 32,750
Simon Young (Team PokerStars) 30,750
Bjorn-Erik Glenne 28,600
David Layani (PokerStars qualifier) 27,125
Julian Thew 24,300
Henrik Fruergaard 24,100
Jan-Erik Madsen 22,525
Dan Pedersen 21,975
Per Arne Dahl 21,225
Hans Eskilsson 20,925
Adam Nilsson (PokerStars qualifier) 20,725
Niclas Adolfsson 20,650
Mads Andersen 19,975
Travis Biziorek (PokerStars qualifier) 19,825
Ben Sprengers (PokerStars qualifier) 18,425
Chris Hancock (PokerStars qualifier) 17,175
Mikkel Haga 16,500
Don Protz (PokerStars qualifier) 16,250
Andreas Hurtig 13,450
Jason Young (PokerStars qualifier) 13,000
Justin Drechsler (PokerStars qualifier) 12,825
Peter Eichhardt 11,600
Ba Kildalen 10,950
Erik Franssohn 10,875
Jan Busch 9,550
Runar Runarsson 8,725
Ingemar Backman 7,825
Runar Pedersen 7,525
Christer Lovas 5,150
Birgitta Johansson 4,725
Josef Kollarits 4,075

Only in the modern poker world does the following sentence make perfect sense. Day one is over; see you tomorrow for day one.

That, you see, is a wrap for Thursday, the opening exchanges of the EPT Copenhagen. We started with 144 runners, we are down to 50, but tomorrow another 144 fresh faces enter the fray, each armed with 10,000 in chips for their 30,000 Danish Kroner.

As is expected when a bunch of poker players are given a bunch of chips and told to play, there's been some fireworks here today. Most of them exploded in the face of Team PokerStars - and the squeamish are advised to turn away now.

Chris Moneymaker thought his kings were good pre-flop. They didn't look under much threat when the first three cards were a seven, a two and a six. There's was no way that the former World Series champ could have known a set of sixes was being slow-played, and neither did it matter. The turn brought a king, the money went in, and Moneymaker was miles ahead. Cut to the chase: the case six on the river was a big, big card for someone. It wasn't Chris Moneymaker.

Isabelle Mercier had never got going. Not until she found an up-and-down straight draw, bet it, liked the call from Julian Thew, especially when her jack fell on the river. Not so fast, Miss Mercier. Julian was sitting with nought but king-high, until that jack filled his gutshot straight and sent No Mercy to the rail.

Hooray then for the Suffolk Punch. Simon Young, of The Sun newspaper, has been on the rough end of some peculiar decisions since he hitched a ride on the EPT charabang. The airline sold his tickets to someone else when he was flying to Dublin, the dealer stole his cards when he was all in in Baden. Just the usual bad beats and outdraws cost him his place in London. But, having flirted with the chip lead in Copenhagen when his aces stood up against kings, he's still there at the end of the day with 30,750 in chips.

The news is even better for the PokerStars qualifiers. Fourteen still remain, three of whom are among the top ten. When tomorrow starts on Saturday (not a joke), we'll be keeping a keen eye on Thomas Grundy, Christain Grundtvig, Jim Hagan, Josef Shechter, Olivier Vanneli, Daniel Elkeslassy, David Layani, Adam Nilsson, Travis Biziorek, Ben Sprengers, Chris Hancock, Don Protz, Jason Young and Justin Drechsler. They will all live to fight another day, with some in with solid claims to fight another day after that as well.

As for the rest, it's been a bad-girl day. Xuyen Pham is the tournament leader at the end of the first flight. She was uncharacteristically quiet for the first few hours, dribbling down to about 5,000 without any major stories. But you can't keep a bad girl down, and once she got some of those chirping chips, she was back to her former self, in every pot and winning every pot. Except the ones that she lost, but who remembers those?

Thomas Kremser, tournament director extraordinaire, has just finished putting together the official chip count. The full list is below the picture.

Thomas Kremser does the math

Xuyen Pham 89,625
Roy Von Der Locht 63,750
Thomas Grundy (PokerStars qualifier) 62,025
Dario Alioto 61,825
Christian Grundtvig (PokerStars qualifier) 58,350
David Davidsen 50,400
Jim Hagan (PokerStars qualifier) 44,850
Philip Hilm 43,650
Kim Frederiksen 42,925
Karin Lundgren 42,750
Johan Bergquist 40,850
Edgar Skjervold 39,925
Jens Lauritzen 39,550
Johnny Haard 38,700
Josef Shechter (PokerStars qualifier) 36,950
Olivier Vanneli (PokerStars qualifier) 36,750
Daniel Steine 35,725
Stian Haugerud 35,000
Daniel Elkeslassy 34,250 (PokerStars qualifier)
Henning Bolstad 32,750
Simon Young (Team PokerStars) 30,750
Bjorn-Erik Glenne 28,600
David Layani (PokerStars qualifier) 27,125
Julian Thew 24,300
Henrik Fruergaard 24,100
Jan-Erik Madsen 22,525
Dan Pedersen 21,975
Per Arne Dahl 21,225
Hans Eskilsson 20,925
Adam Nilsson (PokerStars qualifier) 20,725
Niclas Adolfsson 20,650
Mads Andersen 19,975
Travis Biziorek (PokerStars qualifier) 19,825
Ben Sprengers (PokerStars qualifier) 18,425
Chris Hancock (PokerStars qualifier) 17,175
Mikkel Haga 16,500
Don Protz (PokerStars qualifier) 16,250
Andreas Hurtig 13,450
Jason Young (PokerStars qualifier) 13,000
Justin Drechsler (PokerStars qualifier) 12,825
Peter Eichhardt 11,600
Ba Kildalen 10,950
Erik Franssohn 10,875
Jan Busch 9,550
Runar Runarsson 8,725
Ingemar Backman 7,825
Runar Pedersen 7,525
Christer Lovas 5,150
Birgitta Johansson 4,725
Josef Kollarits 4,075

Poker reporting is not rocket science. Visit a few casinos, count a few chips, throw a few words on the page and that's about it. Keep the readers up to date on the movers and the shakers, the leaders and the short-stacks, the stories and the non-events. Easy.

Or not. The other special assignment here on the EPT is to keep tabs on the PokerStars qualifiers, those who have either battled through mammoth satellite fields, double shoot-out sharp-shooters and those who have cashed in their FPPs for a stab at the big time. Every now and again, you find a player who fits in both camps, an online qualifier making all the right moves, challenging the chip lead. These players are surely top of the PokerStars blogger's hit-list. Watch their every move and report their every bet. They are the nut-flush, the triple word score, a reporter's check mate. You can't miss them. Surely not.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Thomas Grundy, from London, England. Thomas qualified to the event on PokerStars and now, as we approach the end of Day 1A, he has more than 60,000 chips. Surely I must have mentioned him before?

Thomas Grundy

The other PokerStars success story of the evening is Christian Grundtvig. The WCOOP final table finisher was down to about 3,000 at one point this afternoon, but he's now up near the summit after a succession of dream hands. Another one to watch tomorrow.


Christian Grundtvig

It's 1am in Copenhagen, there are 12 minutes left of level eight. The fifty-nine remaining players are posting blinds of 300-600 with a 75 running ante. It was nothing more than a leisurely stroll around the tables, but these were the sights:

Julian Thew's aces holding up against a shorter-stacked kings. Julian, who earlier showed no mercy to No Mercy, has a little more than 30,000.

Dario Alioto taking a huge chunk out of Mads Anderson's stack. As my notebook will testify, when I arrived at the table, Mads had 60,000+. But there's a thick, black cross through that number because when I left he was down to 28,000. Dario made two-pair on the turn, a lot of money went in, and Mads must have missed a draw. He mucked when Dario showed. Alioto, final tablist in Barcelona, has about 68,000.

Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham taking a relatively small knock to her chip-leader sized stack when Jim "hawk22" Hagan made two-pair with A-8 to beat her A-K. Jim has 53.

An amazing pass by Jonas Hellness, PokerStars qualifier, who lays down A-K on a king-high flop. His opponent shows him the straight with his Q-9.

A WCOOP final table rematch. Edgar Skjevold is sitting next to Christian Grondtvig. Edgar has 55,000, Christian has 11,000.

A good number of PokerStars qualifiers remaining:

James Hagan, Adam Nilsson, JW Davis, Olivier Vannelli, Jason Young, Don Protz, Chris Hancock, Christian Grundtvig.

Anyone in any doubt that poker is now big news* should take a peek into the Oslo Room of the Casino Copenhagen. For the duration of the EPT, this is doubling as the press centre and there are more chip-counters in there than there are chips to count.

Photographers, reporters, writers and hangers-on are populating the pages and websites of hundreds of news organisations, all battling to be the first with the news of the eliminations, sparring for the best metaphor for a bad beat. What sets the EPT aside from all other tournaments is the range of languages being spoken. At least it sounds like a lot; I, shamefully, being one of those people for whom there are only two languages in the world: English and not English.

Back to school on the EPT

This, however, should be the right place to learn. Not only does it sound like a classroom, it looks like one too. The laptop-topped tables are lined in neat rows, behind each a sedulous student of poker tapping out their latest dispatch. Right now, the talk is about Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham, who is now up to around 60,000 and must be near the summit. She's just found Barny Boatman as her new neighbour, on a table that also includes Jan Molby, the former Liverpool footballer and erstwhile manager of Swansea City.

Next to Molby is this man, Jim "hawk22" Hagan.


Jim "hawk22" Hagan: awake and ready to swoop

He's an FPP qualifier from Palm Bay, Florida, sitting behind 36,000. Not bad for a man who missed the first hour of the tournament having overslept. We'll follow the hawk like, you guessed it, a hawk. No prizes on media row for that similie, but as long as he's awake, we'll be awake, and keeping our eyes peeled.

*not that there is any doubt, but it made a convenient opening

You ever hear about Chris from Tennessee? You know, the kid who qualifies on PokerStars and takes the "live" fields to the cleaners. Sure you have. This is the guy, right, hiding beneath that cap?

Meet Chris from Tennessee

Well, yes and no. It's not Chris Moneymaker, if that's who you thought I meant. He's out. Read about his demise here.

This is Christopher Nile Hancock, originally from Memphis, now living in Las Vegas. I wonder what took him there?

Currently, this Chris is sitting behind a stack approaching 40,000, which, considering they started with 10,000 and there are three days left, is not bad at all.

Here too is Don Protz, another PokerStars qualifier who has his eye on the big bucks.


Don, of Doug and Don, Protz

The boy from Canmore, Canada is now carving through Copenhagen. He's here with his brother Doug, who plays tomorrow. I have a feeling we might here more about one or both of these boys.

The players are taking their dinner break, which gives us the chance to catch up on a few newsworthy tid-bits that have otherwise gone unreported.

Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham is now challenging for the chip lead. She has about 35,000, much of it thanks to what can only be described as an intruiging pre-flop call with the 8-6 of clubs. The flop of 8-8-6 makes that more telepathic than intriguing.

Don Protz, who is a PokerStars qualifier from Canada, is also right up there, sitting with approximately 36,000. His brother Doug also qualified and plays tomorrow. I was saving up their story for later, but now Don is making waves it has forced my hand. Photos and some more information to follow.

Gus Hansen, known as the Great Dane, is not going to win his home tournament. He had been scratching the felt for the best part of three hours and is now all in and all out - a rivered straight from his opponent accounting for the local boy.

Barny Boatman, on a rich vein of form after his fourth place finish in Dublin last week, is sitting pretty with 22,000+

Meanwhile, Julian Thew has been moved to Simon Young's table. "That's livened it up a bit," confessed the Suffolk Punch.

We're now entering level six, with the blinds shifting to 150-300 with a 25 running ante. We're playing another five levels, taking us to 3am local time. Ninety-four players remain of the 144 that started today.

Stay with us.

If you have ever had the fortune to look at a recent picture of "Team PokerStars", you will notice some very familiar faces. The last three world champions for instance - Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker, for those who have spent the past five years in the jungle - as well as the likes of Isabelle Mercier and Luca Pagano.

Since the London EPT event, however, there has also been what at first glance looks to be a definite imposter. There he is - a proud grin atop a PokerStars shirt - but who on earth is he? More to the point, what's he doing in such exalted company? Can he even play poker?

Step forward Simon "Suffolk Punch" Young. For it is he. Simon is another one of those characters that inhabit the hive of scum and villany that used to be known as Fleet Street. It's nearer Wapping these days, in East London, but much else remains the same.

Simon "Suffolk Punch" Young: making a splash

By day, Simon is the deputy news editor of The Sun, Britain's top-selling daily newspaper. By night, for the last eight months at least, he has been a poker player. And now, Simon is one of the chip leaders at the EPT.

It had a lot to do with aces. Last hand before the dinner break, Simon looks down on the bullets. He puts in a small raise on the button and, joy of joys, gets a small re-raise from Peter Holst, our media tournament winner.

Now, the man known as the Suffolk Punch shows some of the guile renowned of those who write beneath the Red Tops.

"How much have you got?" he asks.
"About 6,000."
"Make it 3,000," Simon says.
"All in."
"Call."
"Did you say call?"

Simon shows the aces, Peter shows kings. In this instance, the aces are good. And that's a sucker punch.

A certain day in a certain month in the year of 2003. A certain online player from a certain poker site is sitting in a certain casino in a certain city in Nevada. He is changing the course of poker history. Certainly.

Chris Moneymaker won $2.5 million when he took first place in the main event of the World Series at Binion's that year, but the real amount of money made for players around the world will never be known. It's too much to even comprehend. You see, Moneymaker's success was the spur to countless poker careers, both online and off, and tournament poker as we know it today - including the EPT - owes an awful lot to that young man from Tennessee.

Not that you'd know it from the hand that just happened over on table 14. Moneymaker is sitting three seats to the left of David Layani, a young player cast from the same mould as the man who wears the platinum bracelet. Layani is a PokerStars qualifier from France who won his trip here on the site. He also just won a pot worth 22,000 chips when he rivered quad sixes, useful if you're all in and the former World Champion has a set of kings.

How about that river?


David Layani

That is what is known as biting the hand that feeds. Who's the money maker now?

Moneymaker update: he's out. He was crippled from the hand described above, got all his chips in with a straight draw, and missed. Chris has vowed to play more tournaments in the coming year, so I don't expect it will be long until he's back in the cash.

Who are the good guys in poker? It all depends who you ask.

Take Julian Thew, for instance. Ordinarily, you could ask just about anyone in any casino or card room in any country around the world and they wouldn't have a single bad word to say about the softly-spoken Nottingham-based player. Good guy? Look it up in the dictionary, and you'll see a picture of Julian Thew.

But that particular page might just be ripped out of Isabelle Mercier's copy. No Mercy is out of this tournament - and the man responsible is none other than Mr Thew.

Julian Thew. Good guy? There's no such thing

He makes a small pre-flop raise and Isabelle calls. The flop, which comes A-10-9, is checked by both players, before a blank on the turn. Isabelle bets now, Julian calls, and the river is a jack.

At this point, if I were a television director, I would show my audience what is in Isabelle's hand. Imagine the cut to the under-the-table camera reveals a seven and an eight. Her bet on the turn was with an up-and-down draw and now she's hit the top end. There's no surprise when she bets. She's a short stack and it all goes in.

"Ca