Pokerstop.com report from the EPT in london

European Poker Tour London Won by Dramatic Comeback

The 2008 European Poker Tour London Main Event ended in dramatic fashion as American Michael Martin staged one of the greatest comebacks in recent history to win the GBP 1 million first-place prize.

The EPT London tournament featured yet another record-setting field.  556 players each chipped in GBP 5,200 to generate a prize pool of GBP 3,349,200. Only 56 of those players would make it into the money. Among those who got paid in London included such famous names as Vanessa Rousso (39th), Erik Friberg (35th), Scotty Nguyen (32nd), Beth Shak (31st), Sorel Mizzi (27th), “November Niner” Peter Eastgate (18th), Max Pescatori (15th) and David Benyamine (12th).

EPT London Final Table

On the last day, the final table setup was as follows:

Seat 1 — Eric Liu (USA) — 1,308,000
Seat 2 — Johannes Strassmann (Germany) –434,000
Seat 3 — Philippe D’Auteuil (Candaa) — 476,000
Seat 4 — Antony Lellouche (France) — 1,022,000
Seat 5 — Michael Tureniec (Sweden) — 1,331,000
Seat 6 — Alan Smurfit (Ireland) — 396,000
Seat 7 — Marcin Horecki (Poland) — 309,000
Seat 8 — Michael Martin (USA) — 718,000

After Johannes Strassman dismissed Antony Lellouche in 8th, Strassman himself exited in 7th. Michael Martin would then take care of Alan Smurfit, after the 66-year-old Irishman ran into Martin’s jacks. Canadian Philippe Dauteuil would finish in 5th, after running 8-8 into the kings of Team PokerStars Pro Marcin Horecki.

During four-handed play, Martin found himself down to just 95,000 in chips, with 80,000 committed to his big blind, looking up to Eric Liu, who had more chips than his three opponents combined. Martin picked up 8-8 and tripled up to 250K, followed immediately by wins with pocket nines and aces in back-to-back hands. The flurry of action left Martin with chip lead and Liu done in 4th. After Horecki was bounced in 3rd place by Swedish PokerStars qualifier Michael Tureniec of Sweden, the table was set for one-on-one play.

The heads-up battle would sway severely in Martin’s favor, after he called Tureniec’s bluff on a jack-high board with second pair. Later, Martin’s pocket fours would improve to a set on the turn, eliminating the Swede and his K-9. Martin took home GBP 1 million (~ $1.75 million USD) for the win, while the online qualifier was able to collect GBP 525,314 (~ $925,000 USD) for finishing as runner-up.