Benny Spindler Wins EPT London Main Event 2011

PCA finalist Benny Spindler has won the PokerStars.com EPT London Main Event today for a £750,000 first prize, plus a stunning Shamballa Jewels bracelet worth over €10,000.

PokerStars player Spindler, 26, from Darmstadt in Germany, beat American Steve O’Dwyer, 29, after a brief heads-up battle. O’Dwyer, who had around a third of the chips in play, went all-in pre-flop with KJ - but was beaten by Spindler’s AK. Spindler cemented a massive chip lead early in the day after busting Martins Adeniya to claim half the chips in play with six players remaining.

His victory this evening came at the exact same moment as his friend Philipp Gruissem was winning the EPT London £20,000 High Roller event just two tables away. Gruissem beat fellow German Igor Kurganov to take the High Roller title and the £450,200 first prize. In fact, it was Germany’s day at EPT London as Khiem Nguyen from Wiesbaden won the £2,000 PLO just half an hour earlier and ********************** took down the £1k Heads-Up event.

This was Spindler’s second deep run in the EPT London Main Event – he finished 12th here two years ago for £28,000. That result followed his biggest ever cash - and his first brush with fame - when he came third at the 2009 PCA for $1.1 million. Spindler’s other huge result was second place in last season’s EPT Grand Final High Roller for €316,000 (the event was won by Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier).

Despite all these great results, Spindler is planning to ease up on live events for a while and concentrate on playing online Pot Limit Omaha. Spindler has moved from his native country and has been living in London for the last year. He said: “I wouldn’t say I crushed this final but I was running really well the whole tournament. I was also very lucky in the hand against Martins Adeniya. As for the money, I’m not planning to spend it; I’m going to save it for my future.”

A total of 691 players competed in the EPT London Main Event, creating a £3,351,350 prize pool. The event was filmed for television. Skrill is the Official Payment Provider Sponsor for EPT Season 8 and ran a last longer contest at EPT London won by German Andre Klebanov who came third for £265,000. Shamballa Jewels is the Official Bracelet Sponsor of EPT8 Main Events. Every Season 8 Main Event winner will receive a Shamballa bracelet worth around €10,200; the EPT Grand Final bracelet is valued at €25,000.

Team PokerStars Pro Juan Manuel Pastor, who has now cashed eight times on the EPT, scored his first final table finish busting in fourth place for £200,000 when he ran pocket nines into the aces of Spindler. PokerStars qualifier Miroslav Benes from the Czech Republic came eighth for £64,000 to score a huge return on his online investment.

More than 40 members of Team PokerStars Pro took part with Salvatore Bonavena, Humberto Brenes, Ana Marquez and Sebastian Ruthenberg also finishing in the money.

The EPT London Ladies event attracted a field of 52 players. The event lasted more than 14 hours with seven players making the money. The £8,700 winner was PokerStars qualifier Jan Combes from the UK who won her seat in a $44 satellite on PokerStars.

Name Country PokerStars status £
1 Benny Spindler, Germany, PokerStars player, £750,000 
2 Steve O'Dwyer, USA, £465,000 
3 Andre Klebanov, Belarus, £265,000 
4 Juan Manuel Pastor, Spain, Team PokerStars Pro, £200,000 
5 Mattias Bergstrom, Sweden, £155,000 
6 Kevin Iacofano , USA, £120,000 
7 Martins Adeniya, UK, £86,350 
8 Miroslav Benes, Czech Republic, PokerStars qualifier £64,000