Martin Finger tonight won the first ever EPT London £50,000 Super High Roller becoming the first player to claim two exclusive EPT title Shamballa Jewels bracelets, while also joining an elite clique of players with two EPT major titles to their name. Congratulations also to Tobias Reinkemeier who scored his second big money runner-up Super High Roller finish. Find out how Finger won at the PokerStars Blog.
Kevin Vandersmissen has been eliminated. The Belgian ran jacks into kings when he felt none of his options were great, even though his gut told him to fold.
There was an open to 1,125, Dhru Patel called in middle position, and Ben Martin three-bet to 3,400 on his direct left. The action folded back to the original raiser, who folded as well, and Patel called.
The dealer fanned , Patel check-called a bet of 3,500, and both players checked when the paired the board on the turn. The river was the , Patel opted to lead out for 11,200, and Martin tank-called.
Patel mucked his hand, and Martin raked in the pot without showing down his hand.
We've lost the (relatively) short-stacked Sofia Lovgren, Max Greenwood and Fabrice Soulier. At least the last of these three won't have too far to travel back home.
Meanwhile there's differing Swedish fortunes at the tables, Full Tilt Poker Professional Viktor Blom is down to 15,000 already while former EPT winner Michael Tureniec has shot up to 80,000.
Team PokerStars Pro's Marcin Horecki confessed to mucking a hand during level one when he was actually due half of a chopped pot. It was a rare lapse in concentration for someone whose previous career had him flying down mountain sides strapped to skis. PokerStars Blog caught up with Horecki to talk about focus in poker (as well as fast cars and £300,000).
Mario Chiang Guanilo and Jonathan Duhamel both checked on a board of . The turn was the , Guanilo tossed out 3,000, and the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event champion called.
The UK’s John Shipley has been a staple in the poker world for nearly two decades, with his first cash coming back in April of 1994 when he finished ninth in a £500 No Limit Hold’em event at the Irish Poker Open for £500 – that’s right, he broke even. Over the next decade, Shipley notched numerous four and five-figure scores, including a seventh-place finish in the 2002 World Series of Poker Main Event for $125,000.
Shipley, who was a part of the groundbreaking Late Night Poker, then made history as the first-ever EPT London winner in October 2004. That year 175 runners paid the £4,000 buy-in and created a prize pool of £763,379. Notables Marcel Luske and Noah Boeken both made the final table, but finished in seventh and sixth respectively for £14,800 and £16,800. As you know, Shipley prevailed and captured the £200,000 first-place prize.
Since then Shipley has continued to play poker and rack up cashes, most coming at the WSOP in Las Vegas. For instance, in 2008 Shipley finished ninth in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event for $56,782, and three years later he placed third in the 2011 WSOP $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship for $369,575 – his biggest career score. Most recently, Shipley finished 472nd in the 2012 WSOP Main Event for $24,808.