Riding a wave of knockouts at the final table, Germany’s Benny Spindler cruised to the championship at the European Poker Tour’s stop in London, while Philipp Gruissem made EPT history by winning the High Roller event at the Hilton Metropole Hotel.
In the Main Event, play was down to five players with Spindler holding a huge lead over his fellow competitors. With ten million in chips, it was pretty much guaranteed that Benny would make it to the heads up fight. What was up for discussion, however, was which of the four other men remaining – Andre Klebanov (3.775 million), Mattias Bergstrom (3.09 million), Team PokerStars Pro Juan Manuel Pastor (2.13 million) and Steve O’Dwyer (2.08 million) – would face Spindler for the title.
After O’Dwyer doubled up through Klebanov, the American would be responsible for the next elimination. After a raise from Spindler, Mattias Bergstrom would push his remaining chips to the center of the table. Perhaps shocking Bergstrom, O’Dwyer made the call and, after Spindler stepped out of the way, tabled a pocket pair of tens against Bergstrom’s suited J-10. The board came double paired, 3-3-9-9-2, knocking out Mattias Bergstrom in fifth and pushing Steve O’Dwyer over the five million mark.
Juan Manuel Pastor attempted to remain viable in the match but he couldn’t defeat Spindler when he needed to. After pushing all in with pocket nines, Pastor watched helplessly as Spindler showed pocket Aces to dominate the Spaniard. Although the turn would provide some possible saves for Pastor, once the river blanked he was out in fourth place.
Down to three players, Spindler was dominating the tournament with almost fourteen million chips against O’Dwyer’s 4.8 million and Klebanov’s 2 million. O’Dwyer handled Klebanov to reach heads up play, Spindler and O’Dwyer discussed the possibility of a deal and, after the discussions ended without success, decided on breaking for dinner. Two hands after the dinner break, Spindler would end the tournament when his A-K held up over O’Dwyer’s K-J, giving the EPT London championship to Benny Spindler.
1. Benny Spindler (Germany) £750,000
2. Steve O’Dwyer (United States) £465,000
3. Andre Lebanon (Germany) £265,000
4. Juan Manuel Pastor (Spain) £200,000
5. Mattias Bergstrom (Sweden) £155,000
6. Kevin Iacofano (United States) £120,000
7. Martins Adeniya (United Kingdom) £86,350
8. Miroslav Benes (Czech Republic) £64,000
The final two players earned their positions well. Between the two of them, Spindler and O’Dwyer eliminated every player at the final table.
While the Main Event final table was playing out, the £20,000 High Roller championship was being determined. With four players remaining, a deal was worked out to guarantee nice paydays for the men, with some cash set back for the final three positions.
Olivier Busquet left soon after the deal was struck and, down to three handed, there were attempts by the three remaining players – Philipp Gruissem, Rob Akery and Igor Kurganov – to amend the deal. Although those discussions failed to come to fruition, the players battled on to determine a champion. Akery’s elimination in third place opened up the negotiating window once again and also were futile.
In heads up play, Gruissem held a large lead over Kurganov and, although he was able to grind some chips out of Gruissem, Kurganov couldn’t overcome the disparity. On the final hand, Kurganov pushed with a Q-6, only to find himself behind Gruissem’s pocket nines. After the board ran dry for Kurganov, Philipp Gruissem captured a historic High Rollers championship.
1. Philipp Gruissem (Germany) £450,200*
2. Igor Kurganov (Russia) £318,300*
3. Rob Akery (United Kingdom) £205,500*
4. Olivier Busquet (United States) £171,200*
5. Adrian Bussman (Sweden) £102,250
6. Joel Nordkvist (Sweden) £72,950
7. Sam Trickett (United Kingdom) £68,800
8. Michael Tureniec (Sweden) £58,400
* – reflects final table deal
With the championship, Philipp becomes the first ever repeat champion in EPT history and arguably in its most difficult event, the High Roller tournament. Philipp was the champion of the High Roller tournament in August at the last EPT stop in Barcelona for €234,500. Between the two tournament wins, Gruissem has won over $1 million (U. S.) in the last two months and also had a strong finish (28th place) in the 2011 WSOP Championship Event for another $242K payout.
Now that the EPT London has wrapped up, players have headed across the Channel to open up play at the World Series of Poker Europe in Cannes, France. But congratulations have to be extended to Benny Spindler and Philipp Gruissem, the latest champions of the European Poker Tour!