It has long been established at the European Poker Tour (EPT) that Ole Schemion is blessed by the gods. The reigning Player of the Year has won $6.3m in live tournaments since his debut in 2011, and he's as just about unbeatable as a poker player gets.
What we didn't really know until tonight in Barcelona, however, is solely how far his influence extends. Schemion has the facility of Midas too. Everything he touches turns to gold.
Four years ago, Schemion stood at the rail in Casino Barcelona, Jägerbomb in hand, and bellowed Martin Schleich to EPT success. This week within the same room, he handed his baseball cap to a different German player, Andre Lettau, and the second one Schemion horse wore it proudly as he galloped to victory tonight.
Lettau is the newest champion on Europe's most prestigious tour, taking down the 100th Main Event and dashing back to Germany with the title, €794,058 and a luxury SLYDE watch. It have to be noted (if it is not obvious enough) that Lettau played all of the hands himself inside the week and is a median talent in his own right. He had to keep his wits about him during one more titanic final table struggle at the EPT.
But Lettau also had probably the most boisterous rails ever assembled, which flirted with the limits of fine etiquette at times, but additionally provided the impetus for probably the most hard-fought victories at the tour. Sam Phillips, the solitary North American within the final 16, played near faultless poker throughout, creating a couple of jaw-dropping folds in particular.
But nobody ever folded his method to outright victory, regardless of how shrewd the plays turned out to be. Phillips' superlative performance could take him only to second -- although he did pocket the lion's share of the prize money, having negotiated a three-way deal when chip leader. He's going to make do with €1,021,275.
"I'm excited to have won," Lettau said. "I NEED to mention way to my rail." He confessed that he would have preferred the money to the title, but added: "It's ALRIGHT TO be an EPT champion."
Lettau deserved it. He was still alert, still composed and still keeping his supporters informed of each twist and switch because the clock in Barcelona ticked beyond 4am. He could be Schemion's boy, but he has beaten the phenom to the highest title, and has done so at his first attempt.
The final table, which convened at 1pm at Casino Barcelona, was greater than an hour old before the primary player departed -- and Slaven Popov (for it was he) handled the circumstances of his execution with nearly as good grace as you could hope.
Popov, who came to the overall table with a medium-sized stack, had dwindled right down to his last 1,750,000 when he found A♠7♠ under the gun. He shoved. It was folded around to Ji Zhang, who managed to outrage some of the viewers on EPT Live, let alone the commentators, by first inquiring for a count after which taking about two minutes before calling.
It was a 10 big blind shove and Ji had a stack of 5.3m. Oh, he also had Q♥Q♦.
Ji did call eventually, though, and the flop brought another queen. That was the tip of Popov, who left with €121,300 and no real hard feelings. He even made a dastardly, comedic swipe for the trophy as he left the stage.
Ji, because it happens, found queens again soon after and snap called another shove this time. However he was up against Andrey Shatilov's kings, so perhaps there's an issue for caution in spite of everything. He lost that coup, and he began something of a downward spiral from there.
Phillips, with $3m in online winnings and the purest pedigree of the eight finalists, seized control of the overall. Even the overnight leader Hossein Ensan was powerless as Phillips went in the course of the gears.
As Phillips continued to boss the table, not one of the short stacks desired to tangle. The outcome was that all of them found themselves entering perilous territory: any big pot often is the end of them.
So it was when Ji found A♦K♦ and Ensan had J♦J♣ they usually got it in pre-flop. In fairness, this was always getting into irrespective of stacks -- especially after the dealer flipped over J♥A♣9♦ at the flop. An anguished Ji rapped the elbow rail in despair, but this was the tip of the street. He took €171,600 for seventh.
Kiryl Radzivonau were one of the vital more animated players inside the past two days, and in addition probably the most recognisable. He were sneaking his lucky Barcelona strip, bearing his nickname "Angry Moron", past the protection guards into the casino on a daily basis.
He had rarely put a foot wrong in his journey to the general table, and watching experts (ie, Dominik Panka within the commentary booth) also considered it to be a normal play when he called for his last 2m or so with Q♠J♥ after Phillips open shoved the small blind.
Phillips, however, had K♣T♣, which stayed good and sent Radzivonau home. He did enough this week to disprove both claims made by that nickname, and in addition to earn himself €224,500.
Andrea Dato was the legitimate short stack before coming to the final, but had laddered up way to the demise of Popov, Ji and Radzivonau. He knew he needed to get his stack in eventually, though, and ended up calling it off with Q♣T♠ after Ensan's latest open raise.
He wasn't a huge under-dog on this spot and hit a 10 at the flop. That allowed him to live to fight another day. It also, because it turned out, allowed him to transport another place up the leader board because Shatilov was now the person under threat.
Shatilov got his money in with K♠T♠ but bumped into Lettau's A♠J♥. The German player was immediately delighted, and appeared to be happy even if the primary four cards of the board ran out 6♠8♣Q♣J♠ and offered Shatilov 17 outs at the river.
The T♣ was not, however, certainly one of them and the silent Supernova Shatilov ambled away in search of €286,600, while Lettau sprinted off in orbit of the tournament room whooping and high-fiving his way.
Lettau may also has been doing cartwheels as he looked on for the following passage of play, in which the 2 dominant leaders on the time, Ensan and Phillips, decided to get entangled in two enormous pots.
The first showed amazing gumption from Ensan, who raised from the button with J♠T♥ after which called Phillips' three bet to 1.65m. Phillips had A♣Q♥. The flop only really favoured one man when it came A♠8♥8♠, but there has been enough there to encourage Ensan to get tricky.
Phillips bet 1.5m, Ensan raised to 4.1m and already Phillips gave the impression to be in a tricky spot. Jake Cody had now arrived within the commentary booth and decided Phillips could only call, a choice with which Phillips eventually concurred. But Ensan wasn't done with this and after the 3♣ bricked the turn, which Phillips bet, Ensan bet another 3.25m.
Phillips tanked for so long as anybody on the final table, eventually finding a fold after five minutes of statuesque pondering. Ensan had suddenly regained the lead he had on the very start.
Unfortunately for Ensan, but gleefully for Phillips, there has been still some adrenalin coursing the veins after the audacious bluff. At the very next hand, Ensan found himself five-betting all in with A♥2♦, but Phillips had again found a large ace. This time he went nowhere together with his A♣K♦ and collected a huge pot to place him back into the large chip lead.
Even Lettau was momentarily silenced.
With matters taking slightly a turn for the random, the 3 players sagely started talking numbers. Tournament variance was beginning to play a dominant part in proceedings, prompting players (and players' backers) to need to fasten up their profit.
It took two lengthy confabs, including some judicious tournament directing from Toby Stone to forestall things getting out of hand, before they came to an agreement. Ensan's short stack was worth €652,667; Lettau was getting €704,058; and Phillips had locked up €1,021,275. There has been €90,000 to play for, plus the 100th EPT Main Event trophy.
The period immediately following final table deals is likely one of the most peculiar in major televised tournaments. One might expect a large number of shoving and calling light, nevertheless it can often actually become quite cagey. On this case, players started limping and Phillips even made a horny sensational fold -- again with top pair aces -- when the river brought a flush card.
However, Ensan had a brief stack and needed to get it in. He did. He doubled up. But yet again, the chips went back to their former owner almost immediately, when Lettau doubled back through Ensan. They then went to dinner with Lettau in control of the largest stack.
With deals done and food in bellies, the post-prandial phase will have gone in lots of different directions. We've seen final tables become soporific affairs in such circumstances while others transform crazy adventures. With Lettau's rail having taken on much more refreshment, and Phillips even now removing his Jedi hood, it seemed we'd be heading more towards Mercier/Lellouche territory than Buonanno/Salter.
But the aforementioned duo first needed to shed the third party, and Ensan couldn't find the cards to haul himself back into contention. Holding K♥9♥, he flopped second pair on a board of A♥K♦6♠, but Lettau had done similar along with his K♠Q♣. The queen played once they got all of it in, and that was the tip of Ensan.
He may have few complaints from a beautiful sensational festival. He kicked off this week by winning the primary seniors' event at the tour. He then cashed within the Barcelona Cup and won his Main Event seat in a satellite. En path to his €652,667 payday for third, he also showed some exceptional game, making one of the most dauntless bluffs and shrewd calls of any player. He could also be 50 years old, but there are 20-year-old whizzes who could learn so much from Ensan.
Ensan's departure left them heads up, and Lettau had something like a five-to-one lead. But before anybody could really get settled, the chips were within the middle. Lettau found an ace, but Phillips found two. The pocket pair held up and Phillips was back within the game.
The American player had run into aces during late stages of this tournament himself -- Ji's after they were right down to two tables yesterday -- but had patiently re-built his stack. This latest coup gave him the springboard to do the similar again, and it wasn't long until he retook the chip lead through some superlative heads up play.
But it wasn't even just about being over yet.
The best method to relive the entire hand-by-hand action, particularly on this extended heads up period, is to visit the principle EPT Barcelona page and have a look throughout the coverage within the panel on the top. It was all logged there, every blind steal and each small pot, during the night and into the early hours and beyond.
We lost count of the selection of double ups because the blind levels were shortened and the sides began to fray. Lettau, to his credit, seemed aware of his supporters overstepping the mark every now and again, and did his best to quieten enthusiasm. He also made some extent of being the primary to console with Phillips when the general card was dealt.
That came after the 2 of them had got their hastily dwindling stacks (there have been fewer than 40 big blinds in play) within the middle, with Lettau holding K♣T♠ and Phillips 7♦8♦. It was the 275th hand of the general table and the board ran K♦5♦2♥9♥K♥. The day was finally done.
"I played an overly tough opponent heads-up, it was up down, up down," Lettau said. "AM I ABLE TO go home now?" he added. Not before you've talked to Sarah Grant, of PokerStars.tv:
EPT11 Barcelona, Main EventDate: August 21-27Buy-in: €5,300Game: NLHE Entrants: 1,496Places paid: 240Prize pool: €7,255,600
1 - Andre Lettau, Germany, €794,058*2 - Sam Phillips, USA, PokerStars qualifier, €1,021,275*3 - Hossein Ensan (Germany) €652,667*4 - Andrea Dato (Italy) €362,0005 - Andrey Shatilov (Russia) €286,0006 - Kiryl Radzivonau (Belarus) €224,5007 - Ji Zhang (Germany) €171,6008 - Slaven Popov (Bulgaria) €121,300
*denotes three way deal
Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: European Poker Tour]
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