EPT Warsaw 2007

Posted by Lasse Hamar 19/05/07

Europe's biggest poker tour, the European Poker Tour, continued to expand this spring with a stop in the Polish capital Warsaw. Even with the record turnout in Dortmund the week before, the expectations weren't that high. The tournament would not be televised, and with a lower buy-in than usual, most players expected nothing more than a regular tournament without any of the big stars. But the players in Warsaw were not disappointed. The casino did a great job looking after the some 300 players that had paid €3900 to enter.

Day 1

As usual there were two starting days. Day 1A saw 136 starting players. As usual in an EPT, the Scandinavian players were in majority. 41 percent of the field consisted of Scandinavians, and all three countries were alongside the UK the biggest nations represented in the tournament.

There were obviously also a lot of Polish players represented in this tournament. For the most part their names were unknown to most, but some of the locals made a real impression. Among them was Leszek Krawczynski. He brought 58,800 chips with him to day 2, enough to put him in the top 10. Norwegian Henning Granstad had the lead after the first day of playing. He is not the best-known Norwegian player, but has done good work in several international tournaments, and is highly respected in England, where he has made regular appearances in the biggest poker festivals the last couple of years. The Norwegian had 80,800 chips to his name at the end of the day, which was enough for him to be in the lead of the 93 players that went on from days 1A and B to day 2. A lot of the biggest stars didn't make it that far, though. Noah Boeken, Andy Black, Roland De Wolfe, Jan Olav Sjaavik, Theo Jorgensen and Johnny Lodden were among those who didn't make it to day 2. Lodden met his match in the Danish previous EPT winner Mads Andersen. This took place at what could only be described as the table of death in Warsaw. In addition to Lodden and Andersen, it seated players like Henning Granstad, Jim Kerrigan, Ramzi Jelassi and Andreas Hoivold. Before that Ken Lennaard and Tore Lagerborg were at the same table, which would have made a dreaded final table. But we were still only on day 1.

Among the other known players who made it to day 2 were Patric Maartensson, Sweden (79,000 chips), Andreas Hoivold, Norway (41,900), Bertrand Grospelier, France (35,500) and the always-smiling Ben Grundy, England (33,600).

Day 2

Like usual, the second day started with a lot of action and all ins. With 600–1200 blinds and an average stack of 29,000 the players don't have a lot of chips to work with. Those with less than 15,000 chips soon went all in and either made their way up the chips list, or found a seat in one of the cash games. Early on we saw the exit of players like the French veterans Paul Testud and Fabrice Soullier. They were both short and lost all in situations. Another well-known EPT player, Katja Thater, was also short stacked at the start of the second day, but the German beauty was about to give us all a lesson in how to play poker in a situation like that. She had only 11,800 chips, but refused to let go. She went all in a number of times without being called, before finally doubling up her stack. Now she could breathe easier, but this was not the last we were to hear from Thater in this tournament.

With such a large number of aggressive Scandinavian players on day 2, it came as no surprise that one of them were to take a formidable chip lead. His name was Peter Jepsen, a young Dane making his living playing online cash games, who has previously snagged a third position in the Caribbean Poker Classics. He worked his way up to 100,000 chips before crashing into Norwegian Thomas Mathiesen in a 200,000 pot. This happened after Mathiesen had had played up to 5200 from a mid position and Jepsen reraised to 17,000 before the Norwegian went all in with a total of about 100,000 chips. Jepsen now took a good long think before calling and turning over AK. He was in a surprisingly good shape opposite the Norwegian's A7. The flop was 3–5–6, and things looked up for Mathiesen. But the turn and the river came with no more help for him, and Jepsen won the 200,000 pot. At this point the average stack was 50,000, so Jepsen was in a definite lead.

But as if that wasn't enough another Norwegian took Mathiesen's seat. The young player Christopher Ulsrud, who is better known onlineas Lucky Ulsa. He makes his living playing high stakes No-limit on some of the highest courses online. Like his predecessor Ulsrud had a 100,000 stack. His first pot would also be his last at this table. Jepsen played up from the button, and Ulsrud called from the small blind. The flop was 10–2–5, and they both checked to see the turn card, a s6. And now all hell broke loose. Ulsrud bid and was raised by Jepsen. Ulsrud reraised, and Jepsen forced him all in with a total of 100,000. The Norwegian, who could flip over 1010 for a top set, immediately called this. This wasn't enough though, as the Dane had 34 and a nutstraight on the turn. A blank river enabled Jepsen to collect yet another 200,000 pot, and his stack was now more than 300,000 chips, almost six times the average stack.

Things were tightening now; we were down to 32 players, who were all in the money. Among those left were a still short stacked Katja Thater, chip lead after day 1 Henning Granstad, Bertrand Grospelier, Farid Meraghni and Peter Jepsen, the last two were both among the chip leads. The next player who would exit the game was Lukasz Wasek, who became the best Polish player finishing in 22nd place. Ramzi Jelassi (19th) and Bertrand Grospelier (18th) were next. The active Dane Fredrik Hostrup won a major pot where he played up and Sweden's Michael Westerlund went all in over the top with J10s. In between them was Henning Granstad, looking down on QQ from the big blind, and he also went all in. Hostrup had a decent hand for once, and had no problem calling with his AA. This was still the best hand after the five cards hit the table, and he sent his fellow Scandinavians out of the game.

The game was to continue until there were only eight players left. When they were nine, a strange situation occurred, a situation that was to be discussed at length in the casino the rest of the weekend. French player Farid Meraghni limped in early before Katja Thater went all in. Dennis Bejerdahl called, as did Farid. But Thater thought only one player had called her, and flipped over her cards, JQ. The other two players saw her hand, and she got a ten-minute penalty away from the table. The other two continued to play the pot, but without a side pot. The pot had about 90,000 chips and the flop came Q–Q–9. Both the other players checked and it seemed like Katja Thater would triple up with her three Queens. But the pot was far from over. On the turn came a 2, and Bejerdahl went all in, about 150,000 chips. The last player in the pot, Meraghni, called instantly and presented JQ, the same hand as Katja Thater. Bejerdahl shook his head and showed his AA. It all seemed very strange. He went all in with a pot where he knew he needed one of the final two Aces on the river to win. At the same time, Farid called with JQ in a pot where the opponent normally would have 22 or 99 for a full house, which would have both Thater and Farid beat. But the chips were in, and a blank river made for a split main pot of 90,000 between Thater and Farid, and a giant stack of 300,000 for the Frenchman after one of the strangest pots in EPT history.

The final table

Eight players were left in the game. One Norwegian, one Swede, two Danes, two Brits, one French man and one German woman. Farid Meraghni had a clear lead with almost one million chips. At the bottom was John Conroy of England with only 73,000. Peter Jepsen was still in the game, in the second position by now with 498,000 chips.

1. Fredrik Hostrup 288,000

2. Peter Jepsen 498,000

3. Marius Torbergsen 434,000

4. Andrew O'Flaherty 467,000

5. Farid Meraghni 971,000

6. Katja Thater 105,000

7. Patrick Maartensson 305,000

8. John Conroy 73,000

Conroy tripled his stack early on, and got back in the game again. He then doubled up against Marius Torbergsen when they saw the flop J–10–7. Conroy betted and Marius raised. When Conroy then went all in, Marius probably realized his AJ was beat. But it only cost him 50,000 to call in a pot of 400,000, so he called. Conroy had J10 for two pairs, and got a full house on the river.

The first player to leave the table was Frederik Hostrup. He got beat by Andrew O'Flaherty. The Dane went all in with K10, and got called by the Englishman, who had 1010. No help for Hostrup who ended up in 8th place, and could look for a nice cash game with his winnings of about €28,000.

After a quiet start at the final table, this seemed to really set the game off. A few hands later Patric Maartensson went all in pre flop with AK opposite Farid Meraghni- 's AQ. A Queen on the river sent the Swede home, and there were six players left. Too bad for the Swede, who with his achievement in Warsaw tied Ram Vaswani's record of three EPT final tables.

Farid Meraghni did not stop here. Just minutes later he knocked Andrew O'Flaherty out of the competition with JJ versus 22. And when Katja Thater left the competition in 5th place shortly after, with an all in with 22 opposite Jepsen's AQ, only four players were left in the game. Of the remaining players, Marius Torbergsen had the least amount of chips. He had 350,000, and the other players had 8–900,000. And Marius was the next player to leave the table when he had a free flop from the big blind with Q5. The flop came 4–5–6, and he went all in opposite Jepsen, who hit the nuts with his 78. Not long after this Jepsen also sent John Conroy out of the tournament. They went all in pre flop, and Jepsen was dominant with AA versus Conroy's AK.

Heads-up

Jepsen now secured a marginal lead before the Headsup duel with Farid Meraghni. With such an explosive final table, everyone thought the final duel would be swift. But this was not to be the case. There were in fact 35 hands in a row without a single reraise! People started wondering whether they had to wait for AA v KK or something like that to get to an outcome. But eventually they hit some big pots. First Peter played up to 60,000, and got called. The flop was 4–9–7 with two spades, and both players checked. The turn was a three of spades, Farid checked and Peter bid 80,000. Farid reraised to 240,000, and Peter called. The river was the Ace of spades, and Farid bet 290,000. Peter called with 67, the seven of spades, which held up to Farid's A9 and two pair. A few hand later Peter played up 65,000 and called the reraise to 140,000. The flop was 2–5–10, and both players checked. The turn was a five, and Farid betted 100,000. Peter raised to 300,000 before Farid went all in with his 23. He was called by Peter, who had 59, and won the pot and doubled up his stack. Farid was now down to 170,000, which he put all in in the next hand when he saw an Ace. Peter Jepsen called with 77, and when the flop had yet another seven, the game was over. Denmark won the tournament. Word had it that a Danish bookmaker gave Peter 500–1 in odds of winning this tournament. Not the greatest vote of confidence in a starting field of 300 players…

After four days of poker playing it was all over. Making Warsaw one of the new stops on the EPT tour was a good choice, and we're looking forward to returning next year, when they are able to receive an even bigger field of players.

Winner

Peter Willers Jepsen, 24, Denmark

Peter started playing poker after serving in Iraq and being sent home with an injury. Desperate to rekindle «the rush» of army life, he discovered online poker and in a relatively short time had worked his way up from low 0.5/1 NL Hold 'em to high stakes play, both cash and tournaments. In 2006, Peter won $165,000 at the Caribbean Poker Classic in St. Kitts. He is a member of Pokerteam.dk.

First runner up

Farid Meraghni, 22, France

Like his friend Noah Boeken, Farid was a keen player of Magic: The Gathering winning a professional tour event aged just 17. When he saw all his fellow competitors switching to poker, he made the move himself and quickly became an expert online cash game player. Although he qualified with Poker- Stars for last year's WSOP, he hasn't played many live tournaments: He finds them way too slow – and he hates having to stack his chips. 

Second runner up

John Conroy, 43, Ireland

John, a PokerStars cash qualifier, is – like his fellow final table opponent Andrew O'Flaherty – another Dubliner who lives in Leeds. He started playing poker 20 years ago; his first forays were draw and stud cash games in Dublin card rooms. He then stopped playing until the poker Internet boom kicked off two years ago. He made the final table of the Monte Carlo Millions consolation event but for no prize money. His biggest win to date was at the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour in Walsall for £10,800. He runs the Bad Beat hedge fund, which invests in high-roller poker players. 

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