Allan Bække Wins the 2010 PokerStars.net EPT Snowfest! (€445,000)
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The day started at high speed with four players busting in around two hours. But with the excellent structure and a lot of chips in play, Bække would have to endure a three-hour-long three-way and a two-hour heads up match before he could claim the title.
The 27-year-old Danish pro, who plays online as "Sifosis", took a massive chip lead way back on Day 3 when he found aces on the last hand of the night to beat Paul Valkenburg's pocket kings. He never looked back. Bække remained chip leader coming into the final table, and although he lost it a few times - the final four spent several hours swapping the chip lead between them - Bække never lost focus and fought his way back to the top.
At one point in the heads up match Bække had a 7:1 chip lead over Russell Carson and had him all in and dominated. Carson got lucky that time to stay in the game, and then doubled up again not long after to bring the stacks back to even. But Bække, the online heads-up specialist, remained calm and got it all back in the end.
Bække has every reason to be over the moon with his first big live win, but to be honest there are few people in the Alpine Palace right now who will be overly disappointed with their week here in the Austrian Alps. Poker aside, the good folks at PokerStars and the Alpine Palace have treated everyone to a frankly astoundingly luxurious week full of great skiing, amazing food, glorious scenery and the last word in hospitality. It is with the utmost reluctance that everyone will be trudging home in the morning, but we know that we'll be back here next year.
PokerNews.com will be back on the EPT trail in San Remo in just about two weeks, but until then, from all of us here in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, it's over and out.