Back in 2010, 19-year-old Matthias Habernig from Klagenfurt, Austria made poker headlines when he topped a field of 364 players to win the Latin American Poker Tour Season III Florianopolis Main Event for $247,491. It was an exciting moment for Habernig, who had been playing online poker since he was 18. Prior to it, his career highlights include an $11 re-buy win on PokerStars and cashing in a $1,000 side event at LAPT Lima.
As if things couldn’t get any better, Habernig was back at a LAPT final table a month later. That’s when he navigated a field of 258 players to make the final table of the LAPT Season 3 Grand Finale in Rosario, Argentina. Habernig was looking to follow in Team PokerStars Pro Nacho Barbero’s footsteps by winning back-to-back LAPT titles, but that dream ultimately came to an end in sixth place for $49,400.
Since then Habernig has essentially disappeared from the poker landscape. In July 2011 he finished sixth in a €300 no-limit hold’em event at the CAPT Velden Open for €1,390, and in August 2013 he placed 25th n the IPT Nova Gorica Main Event for €3,300. Other than that, Habernig has stayed out of the poker eye.
That said, the poker eye is a keen one, and we happened to spot the now 22 year old, who will be celebrating his 23rd birthday on June 27, here in the EPT Grand Final field. Habernig was kind enough to inform us that since his win he has been focusing on his studies at the University of Graz, though he still enjoys playing poker.
He hopes to make it out to the World Series of Poker for the first time either this year or in the future, but for now his focus is on his education. In the meantime, he’ll remain content playing European events. Well today he’s playing arguably Europe’s most prestigious tournament, and only time will tell if the Austrian can find himself the last man standing once again.
That said, he’ll face an uphill battle as he’s already down to 16,000 in chips. “I donked off a little,” Habernig said with a smile.
The World Series of Poker is exactly one month away with players from all over the world readying to trek to Las Vegas for a summer's worth of tournaments and bracelet chasing.
"Here's one for the archives!" laughed Thomas Wahlroos.
The Finn proceeded to explain a three-bet pot between Olivier Busquet and Kirill Zapletin. The flop was and Busquet had check-raised Zapletin's 1,700 bet to 6,000. The Russian responded by going all in and Busquet made the call.
Zapletin:
Busquet:
The suddenly gave Busquet a number of outs to win the pot outright and he hit the on the river to eliminate a shocked Zapletin.
After a player opened for 400, Germany's Thomas Rintzel three-bet to 1,400 from the button. Libya's Mohamed Almani then four-bet to 3,000 from the small blind, though the original raiser did not see it. He announced raise, and because of his error he was forced to make it 4,600 to go.
Rintzel then moved all in, Almani called off his starting stack, and the original raiser folded.
Rintzel:
Almani:
Almani wanted to go with his Big Slick, and he paid the ultimate price after the board ran out a dry .
Johnny Lodden bet 2,050 on a board reading and was called by the under-the-gun raiser. They both checked the turn and when it was checked to Lodden on the river a bet of 4,200 saw another pot shipped his way.
Yingui Li had opened the betting and Mohamed Almani had three bet to 1,350. Iosif Beskrovnyy then made it 2,725 to go. Yingui Li now bet 4,200 and back on Almani he shoved all in for 28,000. Beskrovnyy made the fold pretty quickly but it looked like Li had a tough decision to make and he was mulling it over.
Almani, the all-in player, soon called the clock and when the floor arrived the dealer said that he had had sufficient time.
“No, it’s only a minute and a half.” Max Greenwood spoke up. He said that as players at the table had been taking a while to make decisions he’d been keeping an eye on the clock, and this wasn’t a long time to make a decision.
Nevertheless the floor told Li that while he wasn’t on the clock he would need to make a decision soon, which Li accepted with good grace. Another 45 seconds passed and Li folded.
Almani said the dealer could turn over one card at random which was the . “Jacks?” asked Almani? Li grinned and nodded.
The Super High Roller has come to an end and it was a battle of two Heads-Up online specialists Daniel 'Jungleman12' Cates and Daniel 'MrGr33n13' Coleman. Jennifer Robles has the update as well as who advanced from Day 1a and how many to expect for Day 1b.
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and Busquet had check-raised Zapletin's 1,700 bet to 6,000. The Russian responded by going all in and Busquet made the call.
suddenly gave Busquet a number of outs to win the pot outright and he hit the 
on the river to eliminate a shocked Zapletin.
.
and was called by the under-the-gun raiser. They both checked the turn 
and when it was checked to Lodden on the river 
a bet of 4,200 saw another pot shipped his way.
.
turn and 
river changed nothing since nobody had a spade. Sammartino tripled up, Laborda was eliminated and Tato was left with around 2,000.
. “Jacks?” asked Almani? Li grinned and nodded.