In what would prove to be a short day at the Casino Copenhagen, the European Poker Tour’s Main Event has determined its final table.
24 men came back on Friday to decide who would be the eight contenders who would vie for the most recent title on the EPT. Leading the way was veteran Team PokerStars Pro Pierre Neuville, who held a slight lead over Alexander Manson and Aage Floenes Ravn. Also in contention were the runner-up in the 2011 World Series of Poker Championship Event, Martin Staszko, and the defending champion of the tournament, Michael Tureniec.
The pace of play was lightning-quick, with players dropping from the tournament almost from the start of action. Within the first hour of play, the field had been whittled down to twenty players, with Neuville’s elimination of Metin Antar bringing the survivors down to that number. As the players reached the first break, Neuville was still in the lead, but Keld Volquardsen and Steve O’Dwyer had taken their spot in the podium positions.
Staszko would be dismissed from the tournament in classic fashion. After he had originally raised the pot, Staszko saw Lauri Varonen push out a three bet. Staszko put the remainder of his stack on the line and was called by Varonen, who turned up pocket Queens to Staszko’s Big Slick. The interesting monochrome flop of Q-J-8 (all spades) gave a set to Varonen, but left a big draw to the straight and a King high flush to Staszko. The board didn’t cooperate with the Czech, however, running with a four on the turn and another Jack on the river to eliminate Staszko in sixteenth place.
Tureniec rode a rollercoaster throughout the day of play, at one time seeing his chip stack drop dangerously close to the 200K mark. He would grind his way back into the mix before doubling up both Manson and Spencer Hudson around the mid-point of the day’s play. His attempt at becoming the first person to ever win two EPT Main Events ended late in the day, however, when he ran his A-K into the A-J of hearts of Bjarke Hansen and the board came with three hearts, eliminating Tureniec in eleventh place.
While this was going on, O’Dwyer continued to ride high on the leaderboard. He played steadily throughout the day, taking smaller pots from his opponents, but couldn’t seem to ever take down a big pot. When play was down to nine players, O’Dwyer was struggling to survive to the final table.
Ravn would make the big move with play down to the unofficial final table of nine, battling it out against Volquardsen. After a raise from Volquardsen, Ravn put out a three bet of 130K and was looked up. An innocent 9-10-2 flop came and Volquardsen attempted to push Ravn off his hand with a huge 350K over bet. Ravn simply stated, “All in,” which prompted a sheepish fold from Volquardsen. The roughly 650K pot pushed Ravn over the two million mark and into the chip lead.
That pot would lead to the eventual downfall of Volquardsen. After later losing to the flopped set of deuces of Jacob Rasmussen, Volquardsen – left with less than 200K – put his final chips to the center against Mickey Petersen. Volquardsen’s A-8 was less than intimidating against Petersen’s A-Q and a Queen on the flop all but guaranteed the hand. When the board paired on the turn, Volquardsen was drawing dead and eliminated in ninth place.
The final table lines up as such for Saturday’s final table at the Casino Copenhagen:
1. Aage Floenes Ravn, 2.458 million
2. Bjarke Hansen, 1.497 million
3. Jacob Rasmussen, 1.325 million
4. Mickey Petersen, 1.205 million
5. Pierre Neuville, 908,000
6. Niels van Alphen, 644,000
7. Steve O’Dwyer, 453,000
8. Spencer Hudson, 447,000
Although Ravn has a dominant lead, there are plenty of challenges facing him at the final table. Hansen and Petersen have been playing outstanding poker and there is the veteran of the group, Neuville, who had the Day Three lead. While he is short-stacked, O’Dwyer’s aggressive style also will present some difficulties for the remaining field. It should prove to be an interesting final table as the EPT Copenhagen crowns a champion.
