Seat 2: Rainer Kempe, 26, Berlin, Germany, now UK – PokerStars qualifier
Rainer Kempe must be getting pretty used to the limelight at EPTs. He’s now made back-to-back Main Event finals, after finishing fifth in Barcelona for €320,400. He’s been thriving ever since the Season 12 debut event; not only did he qualify online for Malta (again in a €320 Deep Hyper-Turbo), he has also had time to nip up to Nottingham where he had a small cash in a £300 NL Deepstack.
His most recent cash came only a few days ago though when he finished 16th in the one-day EPT Malta €10k High Roller for €20.405. Kempe is one of numerous German players who have moved to the UK to play online. Most settle in London but Kempe has relocated to the seaside resort of Brighton on the South Coast, a city which is also home to EPT Berlin champion Robert Haigh and British pro James Dempsey. Kempe, who hails from Berlin but studied at the University of Potsdam, has live tournament winnings of $636,731, which include his seventh place finish in the $1,111 Little One for One Drop in Vegas for $90,189.