Season 4 - European Poker Tour

Jason Mercier won the EPT San Remo event, after qualifying via PokerStars Steps satellite tournaments. The former teacher from Florida takes away €869,000 for his win and also gets a seat at the Grand Final in Monte Carlo. A pivotal hand came when Jason knocked out fellow PokerStars qualifier Eric Koskas, sensing that his pair of fives were good enough to beat Eric’s ambitious bluff.

Michael Schulze won the EPT Warsaw event, earning €609,782 and that all-important seat at the EPT Season 4 Monte Carlo Grand Final. The final table lasted over ten hours and those playing included four PokerStars qualifiers.

PokerStars FPP qualifier Tim Vance won the EPT Copenhagen event, earning first place prize money of €834,590. One of the key hands involved Tim making a perfect call against on opponent, accurately reading that his 9-9 was ahead. After a mammoth heads-up battle with Soren Jensen, Tim claimed victory and bragging rights as new EPT Champion.

Canadian Mike McDonald won the EPT Dortmund event, taking home the first place prize money of €933,600 after defeating local player Andreas Gulunay. At 18 years of age, maths student McDonald becomes the youngest ever winner of an EPT event, an achievement that will be tough to beat. The turning point came when he eliminated the ultra-aggressive German player Johannes Strassmann with a perfectly played pair of kings.

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure was won by Team PokerStars Pro member Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, who beat a field of 1,136 to take home $2,000,000. ElkY knocked out five players on his way to victory, including David ‘The Dragon’ Pham. The final hand came when runner up Hafiz Khan attempted an ambitious bluff with 9-3 off-suit. It was no match for ElkY’s pocket 8’s however; the hand held up and ElkY was given the title.

The EPT Prague event was won by 28-year old Arnaud Mattern. The Frenchman, who is also a champion backgammon player, was awarded €708,400 for his efforts, after beating Italian player Gino Alacqua heads-up.

EPT Dublin was taken down by Colorado-based player Reuben Peters, who qualified on PokerStars. Despite having started the final table as a short stack, Peters fought his way back and beat WSOPE Main Event winner Annette Obrestad in a tense heads-up battle.

October’s EPT Baden saw victory for respected British pro Julian Thew, from Nottingham. After having previously cashed six times since the EPT began in 2004, Thew’s first place prize of €670,800 was much deserved. His win came after defeating Hungarian Denes Kalo.

The EPT London event was won by PokerStars qualifier Joseph Mouawad, who managed to turn a satellite entry into £611,520. The turning point for Mouawad came when he called an all-in with A-K and flopped an ace, beating his opponent’s pocket 4’s.

A field of 543 players gathered in Spain for EPT Barcelona, with Sander Lylloff winning the €1,170,700 first place prize. The definitive hand came when he hit trip jacks, beating the pocket kings of runner up Mark Teltscher.  

Previous Season Highlights

Season 3 of the EPT generated a total prize pool of over €26,600,000 and attracted almost 3,500 entrants. The Grand Final was won by American player Gavin Griffin, who qualified via PokerStars. Griffin took away $2,400,000 and has found great success since. Jeff Williams was the Grand Final winner in Season 2, making him the first EPT dollar millionaire.

Since launching in 2004, the EPT has evolved into Europe’s richest tour. The events are broadcast across the globe and manage to attract the game’s best players. The facts speak for themselves; the first ever event had a buy-in of €1,000 and attracted 211 entrants. The Grand Final of Season 3 saw over 700 players compete and had a buy-in of €10,000.

For more information, visit the EPT site.

To view EPT Season 3 highlights click below.