We have a winner!

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EPT Update No. 43

We have a winner - it's the charismatic Frenchman Pascal Perrault. Now that Andreas had relatively few chips left, he could not afford to wait anymore. He made a move with a king-jack, with the usual raising and reraising that we have become so accostomed to, but Pascal had him dominated with ace-jack, and that held up. After an interesting and exciting final table, we have an excellent winner in the man who they call The Bandit. He had taken a little time off poker because of the birth of his daughter (appropriately named "Vegas"), but he will be more than happy that he is back in the action now. "Bandit" Pascal Perrault has beaten his young and inexperienced, but dangerous and highly aggressive opponent from Sweden, and in the end was rewarded with flowers, the trophy - and hey, before I forget, a whopping €184,500. From Vienna, I say: Thank you guys for following the action. See you all again in just a couple of days - when we will be in Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Final.



2. Andreas Harnemo (Sweden) €101,400
1. Pascal Perrault (France) €184,500

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EPT Update No. 42

We are witnessing some exciting poker, guys - most of all because both players are not exactly playing scared. In fact, they are both true action men! First, Andreas limped on the small blind / button (SBB), and when Pascal then raised to 75,000 from the big blind, the Swede came over the top - with Pascal folding. But Pascal fought back first by bluffing Harnemo's 66 out of the pot with just a J4 on a KQ9x board, and then by winning a massive pot to level things. First, he flatcalled on the SBB, then Andreas raised 50,000 more. Now Pascal decided to raise 100,000 more, with the Swede calling. Flop: 997. Andreas checked, Pascal bet 100,000, now Andreas check-raised to 270,000, and then Pascal reraised all-in! After all this action, the young man finally decided to fold, and suddenly the stacks were about even. And then, in another raised pot, Pascal would actually gain himself a superb lead. Once again, Andreas went for the check-raise on the flop, this time from 150 to 370,000, and again Pascal moved all-in! This time, Andreas decided to call with his top pair (J7 on a 743 flop), but Pascal had an overpair, two nines, and that held up. With now just 246,000 left, Andreas was in serious trouble for the first time this final. He maged to double ip to about 400,000 when his middle pair survived against Pascal's bottom pair (76 vs. 85 on a Q65 flop), but still Pascal seems like a massive favorite to win now. Still, I have promised myself not to make any predictions anymore, so I guess I will simply stick to the reporting. We've got some exciting action, guys - back in a moment.

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EPT Update No. 41

The first hand after the dinner break, we immediately lost our first player. On the button, Mika raised to 55,000, Pascal reraised to 150,000 from his big blind, and with slightly over half a million in chips, the Fin decided to move in. But when Pascal called him within a heartbeat, Mika knew his fours were no good - and indeed, the Frenchman showed him a higher pocket pair (queens). No surprises on the flop, and we are heads up between Andreas Harnemo with 1,750,000 in chips (approx.) and the Bandit holding about 1,250,000. So much for my prediction that things could well take a long time, but this time, with the blinds still at 7,500-15,000 plus 700 ante, the ante pressure should be low enough to guarantee that this final will last a little while. Before the players prove me wrong again, I say: Bis bald, talk to you guys later.



3. Mika Puro (Finland) €51,800

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EPT Update No. 40

And local favorite Joachim is out as well! My former Concord colleague again went all-in, as he had done so many times before, this time with pocket fours. After a raise and a reraise, he decided to just stick it in. The reraiser turned out to have been messing around a little with his reraise, holding a mere king-seven, but he had too much money invested already to fold. When not just one but two kings came on the board, the sympathetic Austrian was out. We are three-handed, all players holding big stacks in relation to the limits - meaning that in contrast to the past 45 minutes, action may turn very slow again.



4. Joachim Sanejstra (Austria) €40,500

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EPT Update No. 39

The limit increase has done miracles to the game! Suddenly, we have an action-packed, fast and exciting game. And the game is just four-handed, as just after the elimination of Josh and David, we have lost Tim Ramsey as well. He came over the top of Andreas' raise, going all-in with pocket sevens for 199,500, and Andreas decided to call him with an ace-nine, after he specifically asked Tim if he had sevens. To make a long story short, Ramsey kept the lead until the river: an ace fell to sent home the American, and to give our chip leader even more ammunition. The chip counts:

Joachim 127,500
Pascal 799,000
Mika 527,000
Andreas 1,500,000

5. Timothy Ramsey (US) €34,500

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EPT Update No. 38

And suddenly, we've got our second and third victim as well! Josh Schiffmann's effective system backfired when he ran into a good hand of chip leader Andreas. Josh had made the first raise, and when Andreas on the button reraised him to 120,000, he decided to move all-in, despite his relatively marginal king-jack of clubs. Andreas had ace-queen of clubs, and with both an ace and a jack on the board, the best hand held up. And on the immediate next hand, we lost David Clayton as well. In the small blind, he made a move with an ace-five, but Pascal in the big blind had a relatively big hand that he could not get away from: ace-jack. With an ace on the board, the Bandit's kicker played, and in just a couple of moments time, we are now suddenly five-handed. The 410,000 total pot gave the Frenchman even more ammunition to threaten the other very large stack at the table, owned by young Swede Andreas Harnemo.

7. Josh Schiffmann (US) €23,000
6. David Clayton (UK) €28,800

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EPT Update No. 37

We've got our first victim! After a limp by Pascal, Simon moved all-in 107,000 from the button. From the small blind, Mika called him with nines, and when a nine came on the flop, Simon's A7 offsuit had no more outs. Other than this, the action is far from exciting. Chip leader Andreas has folded twice after having first raised himself, but has won two decent-sized pots as well, and both Joachim and (epecially) Josh use the effective simple of simply moving in their entire stack, and then winning uncontested. In 75 minutes of play, this has worked 3 times for Joachim already, and no less than 5 times for Josh - and of these 5 times, two of them were over-the-top raises. Blinds have now been raised to 7,500-15,000, with a 1,500 ante.

8. Simon Nowab (UK) €17,300

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EPT Update No. 36

We have started playing! The first 30 minutes of play have not been that interesting to tell you the truth, with not much more than the usual "raise and take it" situations. Quite a few players, most notably Timothy Ramsey and chip leader Andreas Harnemo, seem to be somewhat intimidated by the atmosphere. Anyway, once any interesting developments will occur, you guys will be the first to know.






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EPT Update No. 35


We are just two hours away from the start of the televised final table of the sixth stop of the highly successful European Poker Tour. A record 297 players had entered two days ago, and now we are down to the final eight. As in the last event in Deauville, we've got lots of unfamiliar faces, and in fact most of the biggest favorites had been busted out right after the event had just started. Young Swede Andreas Harnemo has a commanding chip lead, carrying over 25% of the chips in play, but both Pascal Perrault as well as Mika Puro are not that far behind. There will probably be a redraw for seats (I am not 100% certain of that, but I assume that this may be the case - and this can have serious impact on the chances of winning of course, because of the position that the large stacks may or may not have on other large stacks), and it is also probable that the limits will either stay at their current level for a while, or else that the limit increases may be slowed down - at least for a while. I will be there for you again at the start of the final table, which is in about two hours time, at 5 p.m. local time.

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EPT Update No. 34

After two hours of extremely careful play, we have our final eight players. The first one to bust out was the probably best player at the table, Lothar Landauer. With Pascal in the 10,000 big blind, Mika Puro raised to 40,000 in early position, and on the button Lothar reraised all-in to 200,000 with pocket queens. Mika decided to call with an ace-queen of spades, and was a big dog to win. But an ace came on the turn to give Mika a big stack again, and to send home the excellent German. And a little later it was Jeffrey Rogers who would be today's bubble boy, just missing out on tomorrow's televised table. When Simon Nowab raised, he came over the top with 33, and Simon called all-in, holding big slick. A king on the board gave Simon a big pot, and left Jeffrey with just one chip. On the next hand, it was over for the Brit. He called all-in in early position, and Timothy Ramsey, Mika Puro and Andreas Harnemo all knew what do do in this situation: limping, completing or checking - but by no means betting or raising. In the end, Andreas' ace was good enough for the pot, making the eight final players:



Joachim Sanejstra (Austria) 129,500
Tim Ramsey (UK) 152,500
David Clayton (UK) 287,000
Pascal Perrault (France) 641,500
Josh Schiffmann (US) 197,500
Simon Nowab (UK) 301,000
Mika Puro (Finland) 450,500
Andreas Harnemo (Sweden) 821,000



10. Lothar Landauer (Germany) €6,930
9. Jeffrey Rogers (UK) €11,500
All in all, lots of unfamiliar faces - just as in the previous event in Deauville. The televised table will start at 5 p.m. local time - now, I hope you will all be there. Goodnight from Vienna, and see you all tomorrow.