EPT Dortmund Entries Beat Expectations

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Wednesday, January 30, 2008 mgowanbo.cc

The Pokerstars European Poker Tour Dortmund had a slightly delayed start this week for all the right reasons - more players entering than had been anticipated.

The first day of the German event involved a longer registration queue at the Hohensyburg Casino, but play eventually started in a Day 1A that saw 198 contestants, many of them top players such as Gino Alacqua, Juha Helppi, Alex Kravchenko, Julian Thew, Katja Thater, Internet whizz Sorel 'Imper1um' Mizzi and the young Italian pro Dario Minier.

The latter was unfortunately an early casualty, bundled out by Swiss player Claudio Rinaldi. Sorel Mizzi, the Internet champion, followed soon after.

Making it through to Day 2 was Juha Helppi together with Thater, Swedish pro Mats Iremark and 75 other players from an original Day 1 A field of 198. The starting field for the event is split into Day 1A and Day 1B, with the final table scheduled for next Saturday, February 2nd.

The German Open represents the start of the fourth EPT season, and a return to the March 2007 inaugural Hohensyburg Casino venue for the event. Last year the German Open recorded a total entry of 493 players and generated a prize-pool of Euro 2 317 100 from the Euro 5 000 buy-in for each entry. Norwegian Andreas Hoivold took the title and the winner's purse of Euro 672 000 on that occasion, defeating Italian Cristiano Blanco on the first hand of heads-up play. Blanco took home Euro 380 000 for his second placing.

In this year's event, a total of 97 entrants qualified online at the giant PokerStars website, including Internet players of the calibre of Mizzi and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. German's world famous former tennis champion and PokerStars ambassador Boris Becker is also scheduled to play in Dortmund.

The German Open is the seventh tournament to be held in this season's EPT, and follows events in Barcelona, London, Baden, Dublin, Prague and Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The average turnout for EPT events this season has seen 520 players competing at each stop, and the average first prize has been around Euro 850 000.

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Thursday, January 31, 2008 mgowanbo.cc

213 players signed up for Day 1B

Following the example of Day 1 A, the second Day 1 heat of the PokerStars.net EPT German Open was again well attended, with a liberal sprinkling of top international talent among the 213 players.

The total entry field for the event, being held at the Casino Hohensyburg in Dortmund, is now official at 411 - down on last year's total entry of 493 players.

The Day 1 B starting field included EPT Prague champion Arnaud Mattern, 2007 German Open champ Andreas Hoivold of Norway, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winner and Internet expert Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, World Series of Poker Europe Main Event champion Annette Obrestad, Marcel Luske, Thor Hansen, Pascal Perrault, Roland De Wolfe and Daniel Negreanu.

Early casualties included De Wolfe, and Mattern fell later in the day to Betfair's poker ambassadress Annette Obrestad. Other notable eliminations included Luca Pagano and Ram Vaswani of the Hendon Mob.

German Open champ Andreas Hoivold survived for the entire day, only to fall on the last hand after a tussle with Nicolas Levy, which means that there will be a new German Open champ at the end of this tournament.

Going through to join the Day 2 player list were Annette Obrestad, Daniel Negreanu and Marcel Luske all with significant chip stacks, and Thor Hansen, Brandon Schaefer, Rolf Slotbloom and Noah Boeken were still in contention.

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German Open Day 2

Friday, February 01, 2008 mgowanbo.cc

Euro 933 600 the prize for the ultimate winner

149 survivors of the Day 1 A and B entry field that totalled 411 players gathered for Day 2 at the Hohensyburg Casino in Dortmund to take their chances of rising to the next level....and the opportunity to compete for the ultimate prize purse of Euro 933 600.

Chipleader at the "shuffle and deal" start was Cyrille Chabot on 111 100, some 40 000 ahead of nearest rival Claudio Rinaldi in a survivor field that included high profile poker stars like Daniel Negreanu, Annette Obrestad and Marcel Luske.

Betfair ambassadress Obrestad was in aggressive mood, knocking out several players including Nicolas Levi before being eliminated herself late in the game.

Describing her exit, Obrestad said: "It is difficult to slow down, but maybe I was a little bit too aggressive this time. I had been folding for three orbits and got an opportunity when an opponent raised from mid-position and the button just called. I had what I thought was a decent chance that my opponents would lay down their hands, but I was wrong about the player on the button who called with a hand that held up."

Obrestad was not the only high profiler to head for the rail; Noah Boeken, Thor Hansen, Daniel Negreanu and Katja Thater were all bundled out as play continued throughout the day.

32 players now go through to Day 3, with Spanish ace Marco Diego Perez holding the chip lead at 361 600, 25 000 ahead of Canada's Michael McDonald. Other familiar names among the survivors are Claudio Rinaldi, Brandon Schaefer and Marcel Luske.

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Final Table Set In EPT German Open

Saturday, February 02, 2008 mgowanbo.cc

32 players started Day 3, all that remains of an entry field of 411

Day 3 of the PokerStars European Poker Tour German Open in Dortmund saw 32 survivors from a star-spangled original field of 411 left in contention for final table seats.

Spain's Diego Perez was in the lead chip position on 361 600, a comfortable 26 000 ahead of closest competitor Michael McDonald. But by the end of the day, when the final eight players had been decided, the positions had reversed with McDonald in the chip lead on  862 000 and the Spaniard trailing some way behind him on 744 000. Between the two was Johannes Strassmann, second only to McDonald on 827 000.

2005 EPT Deauville champion Brandon Schaefer was an early casualty, along with Sebastian Till and Andreas Sarling, a 19-year-old playing in his first international tournament who had done well in the early heats. Marcel Luske was another high profile name to head for the rail after a confrontation with Strassmann.

Many eliminations took place after the dinner break, including Aniol Alcaraz, Jiri Kulhanek, Manfred Hammer and Daniel Carter, and by the time Alexander Milano headed for the exit the final table had been decided as Mike McDonald, Johanes Strassmann, Diego Perez, Andreas Gülünay,  Torsten Haase, Christian Harder, Claudio Rinaldi and low man in chip counts Thibaut Durand.

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18 Year Old Canadian Wins German Open

Sunday, February 03, 2008 mgowanbo.cc

Not yet out of braces, "Timex" McDonald shows 'em how

After three tough days of poker involving a starting field of 411 hopefuls, the PokerStars European Poker Tour German Open in Dortmund ended this weekend in victory for 18 year old Canadian Michael "Timex" McDonald, who gave an outstanding exhibition of talented, disciplined poker to beat some of the biggest names in the business.

McDonald, who clearly has a brilliant future on present form, took home his first EPT title, the Euro 933 600 first prize and a seat into the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final with the win, convincingly beating German player Andreas Gulunay in the heads up at the final table. Gulunay's second placing earned him Euro 528 000, and Torsten Haase came in third for Euro 307 000.

The German Open starter field was slightly smaller than last year but the buy-in was larger, creating a total prize pool of Euro 3.16 million that was substantially larger than last year's tournament.

McDonald was among the top finishers throughout, playing calm, technical and smart poker to claim his second big win in weeks - he pocketed a cheque for $34 000 in the Pokerpro No Limit Hold'em championship at the Aussie Millions recently.

The Waterloo, Ontario player is well known on major poker forums like PocketFives and 2+2 and has recorded four hefty cashes in the last six weeks in Europe and Australia that have seen him pocket a total of over $ 2 million. He is now officially the EPT's youngest ever winner in a career that is still only six months old.

The day he turned 18, McDonald appeared on the player rolls for the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe in London in 2007. Having paid his ten grand buy-in he found himself at the feature table and was eliminated by 2006 World Champion Jamie Gold. Undeterred, he entered other events, and recorded his first cash in the EPT Prague in December. He finished 14th in the Czech capital, collecting Euro 20 200 before heading to Australia and the Aussie Millions festival, where a second and first place ignited his form. There was nothing stopping him and the EPT Dortmund confirmed his prowess.

Continuing to impress throughout the German Open, McDonald started the final table this weekend as the chip leader on 862 000, followed by Johannes Strassman of Germany on 827 000 and Spaniard Diego Perez on 744 000. Andreas Gülünay,  Torsten Haase, Christian Harder, Claudio Rinaldi and low man in chip counts Thibaut Durand made up the rest of the table.

Harder went to the rail first, one of five victims to McDonald's cool, calculating play, and short stacked Durand followed after a tussle with Haase, taking home the first six figure payout of Euro 120 000 for his seventh placing.

Strassmann was another McDonald casualty, going out in the number six spot for Euro 152 000 and after the dinner break he was followed by Claudio Rinaldi, who fell in fifth place for Euro 193 000 to Gulunay. McDonald took out the next victim when he sent Perez to the cashier in fourth place with a pay cheque of Euro 234 200. The young Canadian then knocked out Haase in third place (Euro 307 000) to set up the heads up with Gulunay with a three-to-one chip advantage.

The German Open championship was decided in less than 20 minutes of heads-up action despite a partisan spectator display of support for Gulunay - the German's second placing earned him Euro 528 500, but McDonald was the man, revelling in his record-breaking EPT triumph.