Only the worst hack writer starts a sport report with a line of poetry, and the cliche only grows more abhorrent when the poet in question is Rudyard Kipling. But when you'll be able to keep your head when all about you're losing theirs...you'll be a man, my son!
Tonight on the Grand Connaught Rooms, the venue for the London leg of the 11th season of the eu Poker Tour, Sebastian Pauli, a 25-year-old German player, was absolutely the measure of calmness and serenity for the 11 hours it took to quash dreams, slay demons, deny history and outwit probably the most world's most celebrated poker talents.
Pauli never surrendered the chip lead from the instant eight players sat down today eyeing a primary prize of £499,700, and he never even looked flustered. He knew he must beat the irresistible Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody and deny him a second EPT title, and do the similar to the immovable object that was Kevin MacPhee.
He would even have to outlast a player supported by Ole Schemion, and another by a horde of onesie-clad Irish revellers. But still Pauli barely blinked, barely sweated, barely lost focus for even a moment. After which when the general card was dealt and the beasts have been tamed, he burst into tears of relief and delight.
It's been some time since we have seen a performance so composed and a reaction so emotional. What an immense week of poker we've seen -- and what a remarkable 100th EPT champ.
"It means the arena to me," Pauli said. "I USED TO BE really calm for the entire final table, but if I realised I'd won all of it came out and that i couldn't control my emotions."
The scene outside the venue at around midday today, before this six-day, £4,250 buy-in tournament reconvened for its final, made it look as though the Grand Connaught Rooms were hosting Mickey Mouse's funeral. 1/2 the folks standing at the pavement smoking cigarettes were wearing black suits and black ties -- a meeting of the freemasons, whose building we now have borrowed for the week -- and half were in furry, all-in-one, zip-out outfits, Kevin Killeen's railing department having raided Onesies Я Us at Dublin airport this morning.
The Irish Walt Disney contingent contributed the most important bellow because the players were introduced on the outset, given a run for his or her money only by the Brits in the home for Cody. Because the day went on, some big-hitters (Stephen Chidwick, Adrian Mateos Diaz, Igor Kurganov, Schemion, Martin Finger, among others) came by to rail MacPhee, Pablo Gordillo, Pauli and Artur Koren, while business on the bar remained brisk.
Ironically, there wasn't a huge amount for the rail-birds to get exited about within the opening stages, even though, unbeknownst to them, they were actually watching a clinic in disciplined poker. The viewers on EPT Live, who could see hole cards, knew precisely how well everyone was playing - one fold from Cody particularly had the purists gushing - yet hands rarely got to showdown and no-one within the building was any the wiser.
Indeed, we had made all of it the right way to the third level of the day before we lost our first player. Despite all of the support, Killeen was all the way down to his last 975,000, about 16 big blinds, and located pocket threes within the cut-off. He didn't think too long before open shoving. Gordillo, one seat to his left, was the one player on the table with fewer chips at that stage and he found A♥T♣.
Gordillo, who have been on a huge heater both live and online, made the proper call, but Killeen flopped another three and Gordillo was out. It was his second final table in as many EPT main events (plus that ridiculous Sunday), however the seek for a Spanish champion continues. He took £51,900 and can have a fair night's sleep before the Sunday grind tomorrow.
Killeen were at the ropes before on this tournament - he hit runner-runner flush to outlive late on Day 4 - but his survival instinct remained strong. He had also been chargeable for breaking today's dam, and the following player was swept away almost immediately.
On a table boasting such a lot of established stars, one of the crucial lesser-known players could only really hope to be party poopers. Few spectators could be actively rooting for them. Such was the fate of Jonathan Bensadoun, at 38 the oldest player on the final, but in addition one of the most least experienced on the biggest games within the world.
Bensadoun played a patient game, and will hardly be blamed for purchasing the last of his chips within the middle with A♦Q♣. It was only a shame for Bensadoun that Koren picked up K♥K♠ or even the queen at the flop couldn't save the Frenchman. He won £75,900 and we were all the way down to six.
Having followed the established pattern for London buses -- stay up for ages, then two directly -- the overall table within the British capital quickly reverted back to type. Double ups were the order of the day: Cody through Koren; Koren through MacPhee; then MacPhee back through Cody. It was the type of circuitous path to the similar destination those London buses appear to like so much.
All the while, Pauli have been sitting with greater than double his nearest rival and was picking up all of the pots nobody had enough chips or reckless abandon to contest.
Despite bagging the chip lead on the end of Day 3 on this tournament, Jakub Mroczek had largely managed to maintain himself out of the spotlight -- but he was no rabbit within the headlights either.
He managed to outrage most of the spectators within the vast void of the Twittersphere by some seemingly peculiar stalling tactics while a brief stack and heading right into a break. But a few of poker's sharpest minds explained what he was as much as to the dullards: he was looking ahead to the extent to finish so he could return with the button and better blinds to pick out up more equity for his shove.
In one sly move he proved he had more game than many had given him credit for, but certainly his table-mates knew he had some tools in his locker. How else to give an explanation for an enormous call from Killeen with fourth pair (fours) after Mroczek raised pre-flop, continued at the flop and stabbed the river with ace high.
The pot, worth a couple of million in chips, left Mroczek at the ropes. And he traded those ropes for the rail soon after when he shoved with A♠8♠ and bumped into T♥T♣. (It was Killeen again.) Dominik Panka had swung by to support his countryman, but returned alone to the intersection of the Polish/EPT winner venn diagram. Mroczek picked up £104,200 for sixth.
Until this point, it were just about plain sailing for Cody - as long as you needless to say the Team PokerStars Pro isn't more happy than when getting concerned in big pots with any two cards and in any position, then finding how to win them. But he isn't immortal, it turns out, and discovered a selected nemesis today in MacPhee.
The man referred to as ImALuckSac won what was essentially a race for his tournament life against Cody - A♥3♥ versus K♦Q♦ - after which the 2 former champions got interested in three critical pots against one another.
Cody raised from the small blind with Q♣J♣ and MacPhee shoved from the large blind with A♥8♥. Cody had approximately double MacPhee's stack on the time and sensed a tight chance to knock out his adversary. After with regards to three minutes within the tank, Cody called but couldn't win this one either.
Three hands later, they were at it again, with Cody now in danger. His K♦J♣ was racing MacPhee's 6♣6♠ or even though a jack flopped and a king turned, all five cards at the board were hearts. They chopped it up.
That was about nearly as good because it got, though, for Cody who lasted only two hands longer. Again he was given hope when his K♦T♦ connected delightfully with the flop of J♥K♣K♠. MacPhee called Cody's shove with Q♠Q♣. However the Q♥ at the turn drew a slight smirk from MacPhee and wiped the smile from Cody's face. He couldn't catch a miracle and headed home in fifth.
Cody, who won his first EPT final table in Deauville in Season 6, has now been back to the vaunted felt twice. Both times he finished fifth - within the Season 9 Grand Final, and now here in London. It will still take an excessively brave gambler to bet against another title soon for Cody.
He takes £133,800 for this one, and his biggest fan James Raddon will earn nearly £1,400 of that.
With MacPhee and Killeen resurgent and Pauli still sitting pretty on the top, Koren was the person in trouble. He found pocket kings, but couldn't persuade MacPhee to place a lot more within the pot with bottom pair, and that meant he was short when he shoved with pocket eights.
Killeen had no choice but to name together with his Q♣J♦ and he hit either one of those over-cards to send the German player to the rail. Koren had had the risk to place that name (or a version of it) at the winner's trophy for the third time, but instead he went out in fourth for £168,900.
With only three players remaining, they talked for the primary time about chopping it up. All of MacPhee, Pauli and Killeen seemed keen to have a conversation, however it foundered once they couldn't agree whether to separate in keeping with ICM or in accordance with chip-counts. Bryn Kenney swung by to advise MacPhee; Killeen had his backers/friends/men in onesies and novelty suits in his corner; and Pauli, the chip leader, was happy to symbolize himself.
But they couldn't reach unanimity, and so forth they went.
Three handed poker is strange, with such a lot dependent on chip stacks and data picked up by players about their opponents over what can amount to 5 or six days. Often it might probably become the instant for the opportunist to prosper, sneaking in and picking up pots that have been tussled over by the opposite two. Other times, it could possibly descend right into a series of petty squabbles between all three.
In this instance, it became a type of times when two become the bullies and the opposite is jabbed and pecked and knocked to the bottom. Killeen, in spite of the monster on his lucky woollen hat, couldn't frighten his adversaries away.
Killeen got his chips in with A♦7♦ and smashed into MacPhee's A♥Q♠. There has been a seven at the flop but a queen at the river. Nobody said this was a fun game.
And so there they were: Pauli against MacPhee. A management and economics student at Ruhr-University, Bochum, and the poker superstar, whose finest hour came in his opponent's back yard during Season 6. Pauli said he will not be in a position to come to the following event in Prague because he has to complete his studies, while MacPhee has barely missed a stop for approximately six years.
Not long before, MacPhee had raised two Churchillian fingers in direction of a waiter, requesting nothing greater than two bottles of water, however the image, captured by our photographer Neil Stoddart, immediately acquired the possible to become iconic. If MacPhee went directly to lock up his second EPT title, this throwaway moment would became remarkably prescient.
They talked briefly again about chopping the dosh, but there has been still some animosity from the stalled discussions three-handed. They agreed to play on.
And despite many previous heads-up duels at the EPT lasting long, long into tomorrow morning, this one turned out to be a technique traffic. MacPhee did exceptionally well to not go broke when he made a whole house with sevens within the hole and 3 eights at the board. The issue on that occasion: Pauli had pocket aces.
And the entire momentum stayed in Pauli's favour, because it were for no less than two days so far. MacPhee eventually got his chips in with A♦T♣ and ran smack into Pauli's A♣Q♠. There have been no miracles. There has been no double champion. There has been instead only one very, excellent player from Germany, one emotional wreck, and a 100th champion at the European Poker Tour.
"I was confident that I had an excellent chance with the chip lead," he said. "INDIVIDUALS ARE scared of the chip leader and that i knew I MAY apply numerous pressure...I'm not likely the party guy, I'll sit with my friends and discuss what has happened."
Plenty of others could be talking too.
EPT11 London, £4,250 NL Hold'em Main EventEntries: 675Places paid: 95Prize pool: £2,619,000
1 - Sebastian Pauli, Germany, £499,700 (and a Slyde watch)2 - Kevin MacPhee, United States, £308,5003 - Kevin Killeen, Ireland, £220,5004 - Artur Koren, Germany, PokerStars qualifier, £168,9005 - Jake Cody, UK, Team PokerStars Pro, £133,8006 - Jakub Mroczek, Poland, £104,2007 - Jonathan Bensadoun, France, £75,9008 - Pablo Gordillo, Spain, £51,900
Look back at our coverage of the EPT London festival via the primary EPT London page, where you'll review the hand-by-hand updates within the panel on the top and have pieces below. There's also an archive version of the live stream on PokerStars.tv.
Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: European Poker Tour]
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