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The extended introductions and TV shenanigans are over, and cards are in the air.
Good luck, all.
2010 PokerStars.com EPT London
Main Event
Day: 5
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2010 PokerStars.com EPT London
Buy-in
£5,000
Prize Pool
£4,112,800
Entries
848
Level
33
Blinds
150,000 / 300,000
Ante
0
Level: 28
Blinds: 40,000/80,000
Ante: 5,000
John Juanda moved from Indonesia to the USA in 1990 when he enrolled at Oklahoma University. He went on to become one of the world’s most recognisable poker players and has so far accrued $10.5 million in tournament winnings. It’s a far cry from his days as a door-to-door salesman selling bibles.
Juanda has four WSOP bracelets to his name, including winning the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe event for £868,000. A few weeks after that, he came second to Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier in the London EPT £1 Million Showdown, earning £327,000. London is clearly a happy hunting ground for Juanda, and he looks set to make another big cash here today.
Bowker, "kwob20" online, is a pro whose live tournament winnings already total more than $800,000. He first came to notice when he had a deep run in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing 37th for $247,000. Just a few weeks later, Bowker made poker history when he became the first player to win two PokerStars World Champion of Online Poker bracelets in one year. First he took down the 2006 WCOOP Limit Omana Hi-Lo event for $103,162, then a week later he won the Seven Card Stud High/Low event for an additional $68,267. All those results were only a few months after he started playing on PokerStars where his winnings now total over a million dollars.
Vancouver native Kayvan Payman has been playing poker for around ten years. He's had some decent results -- his biggest online win was for around $40,000, and he has picked up a few other five-figure paydays -- but isn't a pro, making the bulk of his living trading in stocks instead. Most of his live results have been in his native Canada, but he finaled the €1,000 side event at EPT Tallinn, and cashed in the £2,500 six-max event at the WSOPE just a few weeks ago. Wherever he finishes here in London, this will be his biggest-ever live cash.
EPT regular Artur "wesylaa" Wasek won his seat to EPT London in a $22 re-buy satellite on PokerStars. He first came to notice earlier this year when he made the final of the debut EPT event in Berlin in Season 6, finishing fourth for €280,000. A few weeks later he came fifth in a €500 NLHE side event at EPT Snowfest in Austria. Wasek has been playing poker for over two years. His biggest online success was fifth place in the PokerStars Sunday Warm-up for $37,000. He is married with a six-year-old daughter Susanne.
Per Ummer was born and raised in Sweden but has lived in Cyprus for many years. His early career involved work as a software developer, and his familiarity with the internet was how he came across online poker. He used to play mainly cash games but in 2004 he competed at the Barcelona Open where he cashed in one of the preliminary, smaller buy-in events. The following year, he came 44th in the $25,000 Monte Carlo Millions. His best live result was final table of the WPT LA Poker Classic in 2006 -- he came 6th for a $200,000 payday. He was also a finalist in the Bellagio Cup in Vegas in 2008. He has cashed in several other tournaments since that time, including a 2007 World Series of Poker event.
Brito is a businessman who originally comes from Portugal and now lives in Brazil. The married father of four owns factories in Angola and “fazendas” (large farms) in Brazil. Brito first started playing poker a year and a half ago. He started playing online on PokerStars but also loves to play live. He's a NLHE tournament player and was the 53rd place finisher in the EPT Season 6 Grand Final. Brito is a regular on the LAPT circuit and has made several side event finals but has never cashed in main events. He is currently considering retiring from business in order to play more international live events. He is being railed here in EPT London by his Brazilian poker buddies from Team PokerStars Pro: Gualter Salles, André Akkari and Alex Gomes.
Tom Marchese is a name (and a haircut) that the poker world is still getting used to, but those who follow the tournament circuit have come to know him quite well. Primarily an online cash game grinder, Marchese spent the last few years fine tuning his skills as “kingsofcards” on PokerStars, zeroing the bankroll of many an opponent in the process. He started playing professionally around the age of 20 while still in college, and so far the decision has proven to be a wise one. Marchese has already earned well over $350,000 in online multi-table tournaments, though it wasn’t until January of this year that he nabbed his first career live result at the Borgata in Atlantic City. Marchese took 3rd in the $3,300 No-Limit Hold’em championship at the Borgata Winter Open, jumpstarting his live tournament career.
If that was the spark, the NAPT Venetian was Marchese's explosion onto the poker scene. Just 22 years old at the time, he bested a field of 872 runners to take the top prize, adding more than $800,000 to his wallet in the process. He went on to finish in fourth place in the €25,000 High Roller event at the EPT Grand Final, then notched two WSOP cashes in June, including a final table in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em World Championship. All told, Marchese has racked up more than $1.6 million just this year, and he's well on his way to improving upon that here in London. He's just had a birthday on Thursday, and grabbing his first EPT title this week would be quite a way to celebrate.
David has been playing poker since 2005 and turned pro after graduating from Edinburgh University (where he still lives) last year with a math degree. He normally plays NLHE cash games online at the 2-4 and 3-6 levels. He only just started playing live tournaments this year and has only cashed once before (a 106th place finish in the World Series of Poker $2,500 event this summer).
This is David's second EPT after Tallinn and, while it was always his plan to play as many EPTs this season as possible, a victory tomorrow will make this aim much easier. He is here with two friends who have both tasted victory this year. Nick Risk took down the PokerStars UK & Ireland Poker Tour Main Event in Edinburgh and Max Silver won UKIPT Dublin; it will be their turn to rail him today after he’s supported them through their victories.