Poker Polish Open Tournament
Polish Open
Peter Willers Jepsen, a former soldier in the Danish army who left the service after suffering a serious injury in Iraq, won the European Poker Tour (EPT) Polish Open in Warsaw on March 17th. The main event, a €4,000 NLH, saw 284 players vying for the prize-pool which exceeded €1 m. The four day tournament was held by Casinos Poland in the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Many well known faces made the journey to Warsaw including EPT Dortmund winner Norwegian Andreas Hoivold, Finns Aki Pyysing and Juha Helppi, Johnny Lodden, Marcel Luske, Daniel Larsson, Praz Bansi, Roland de Wolfe and Dave Colclough. Henning Granstad from Norway led the way at the end of day one and ended up cashing in 16th place for €12,390. Other notable cashes included Priyan de Mel in 14th for €16,520 and Betrand Grospelier in 18th for €8,260.
The final table was an interesting mix. Chip leader was Frenchman Farid Meraghni who held 971,000. Next was Peter Willers Jepsen with 498,000 - a member of Pokerteam.dk he also cashed for $165,000 at the Caribbean Poker Classic in 2006. Norwegian Marius Torbergsen, an online qualifier, held 434,000. Although a full time student his main source of income is through poker. Swede Patrie Martensson held 305,000 and has made three EPT final tables in the last 18 months. Chairman of the Danish Poker Federation, Fredrik Hostrup, held an average stack of 288,000. Dubliner Andrew OFlaherty was low chipped with 168,000 as was female poker pro Katja Thater from Germany who held 105,000. The short stack was John Conroy from England who held 73,000. He runs the Bad Beat hedge fund which invests in high-roller poker players.
Frederick Hostrup was first to depart for €29,130 after his Ks-10s came up against Andrew OFlahertys 10-10 which held up. Patrie Martensson was next after his A-K was outdrawn by Mergahnis A-Q - he took €40,574. Mergahni went on to send OFlaherty to the rail after he called his all-in with J-J against the Dubliners 2-2. The Irishman took €50,978 for sixth place.
Peter Jepsen disposed of the last female standing after calling Katjas all in with A-Q against the German pros 2-2. Katja took €62,995 for her fifth place finish. Marius Torbergsen was out in fourth after calling Jepsens raise on a board showing 5h-4c-6s with Qh- 5d - unfortunately Jepsen was holding 7h¬8h for the straight. The board did not improve and Marius was out in third taking €76,204.
Jepsen and Meraghni fought out the heads-up for nearly two hours. After the chips passing backwards and forwards the final hand came down to Jepsen holding a pair of sevens and Meraghni holding A-5. A board of 7-5-9-4-2 gave Jepsen the title, €325,633 and an entry into the Monte Carlo final. Meraghni took €182,063 for runner-up.
Jepsen, who served in the Military Police, was acting as a body guard for visiting diplomats when he was involved in a car bomb incident in 2003, leaving him with a serious injury to his left knee. While convalescing at home in Copenhagen, Jepsen struggled to adjust to a less active life - and took up poker as an outlet for his energy.
Winning money is great but I really, really wanted to win this. I made $165,000 at a tournament in St Kitts last year, but I didnt win it - its important to me to have this title.