EPT Berlin Final Table 2011 Determined
The EPT Berlin Final Table for 2011 has been decided with 8 seats and 6 different country representations. Three of the eight finalists reside in the host country of Germany.
The PokerStars.comsponsored EPT Berlin made headlines last year when a brazen armed robbery occurred just as the final table was winding down. Let’s hope there is not a repeat of that situation this year. All suspects in that robbery have since been captured.
Seat 1: Max Heinzelmann, 20, Heubach, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany - 4,970,000 Heinzelmann is a familiar sight on the European Poker Tour and reckons he has played around 20 events. His best result to date was 41st at EPT London in Season 6 for £12,800 and he has also final tabled two side events – runner-up in the EPT San Remo €300 Turbo last season and sixth in the EPT Vilamoura €1,000 NL event in September. He’s been playing poker for around two years – a friend sent him a few dollars to deposit and, after a few false starts, he’s been doing well ever since. He used to play Sit and Go Heads-Up tourneys but now plays a range of events, anything up to $1,000 or $100 rebuys. He won the PokerStars Sunday 500 a few years ago for $91,000 as well as the $100 Daily rebuy tourney for $86,000. His online winnings now total more than $450,000. He said: “I’m feeling pretty good about my game at the moment. I’ve played well so far and I hope it’s going to continue!”
Seat 2: Martin Jacobson, 23, Sweden, PokerStars qualifier - 2,085,000 PokerStars qualifier Martin Jacobson is having a phenomenal EPT Season 7 and has already had two runner-up finishes - at EPT Vilamoura in September for €297,985 and EPT Deauville in January for €560,000. Overall Jacobson has won more than $2 million at live tournaments but has only ever won a single live event – a A$600 satellite in Adelaide, Australia. In addition to his big EPT hits this season, Jacobson also finished third at EPT Budapest in Season 5, was runner-up at WPT Venice last year and came fourth in the World Series $1,500 side event last summer. A month ago he came third in the Nordic Masters of Poker, Stockholm. Jacobson is currently leading the EPT Online Qualifier of the Year race.
Seat 3: Vadzim Kursevich, 24, Minsk, Belarus - 4,345,000 Vadzim Kursevich is a professional poker player from Belarus. He has been playing for four years and his normal game preference is live Pot Limit Omaha ring games. He takes breaks from these games to play live MMTs and big online series like the upcoming SCOOP on PokerStars. His biggest cash to date is for $65,000 after winning a tournament in the Ukraine. Kursevich became best friends with Team PokerStars Pro Vadim Markushevski after they met at university and the two travelled here together. He is looking forward to his friend commentating on him tomorrow on EPT Live. Away from poker Kursevich likes to unwind by watching ice hockey and singing karaoke.
Seat 4: Darren Kramer, 27, Cape Town, South Africa - 2,235,000 Darren Kramer might not be that well-known in Europe but he has a bunch of results from South Africa and Swaziland and is currently ranked third in Africa’s All Time Money list. His wins include the 2008 PokerNews Cup for $ 140,575 and the All Africa Poker Tournament in Swaziland for $ 134,710. He’s been playing poker around seven years, the last five years as a pro, and is friends with the British posse that includes Sam Trickett and James Akenhead. He plans to spend a month in Europe - playing Berlin, San Remo and the EPT Grand Final and hanging out in London. Last October he won one of the nightly £300 Turbos at EPT London. He said: “I only play Omaha cash games online but live events are just awesome. You get to see the place, meet people. It’s a good vibe.”
Seat 5: Armin Mette, 25, Heidelberg, Germany - 2,125,000 Economics student Mette is celebrating his biggest ever live cash here in Berlin, which is also his first EPT. He took up poker around five years but has only played a few live tournaments – in Vienna, Bratislava and also LAPT Rio a few years ago. Online, he favours multi table tournaments, winning a big event last year and also coming second in a SCOOP event. When EPT Berlin was down to 24 players, Mette’s friend David and girlfriend Bettina decided to jump in a car and drive 600 km to support him. He said: “I explained to them I could bust but they came anyway.”
Seat 6: Joep van den Bijgaart, 24, Amsterdam, Netherlands – Team PokerStars Pro - 1,060,000 Van den Bijgaart – known as Pappe_ruk online - studied Facilities Management at college but soon switched to playing poker. He is now considered one of the biggest up-and-coming poker talents in Holland and this year alone has played more than half a million hands online. He’s a regular in PokerStars’s major tournaments and won $69,234 for runner-up place in the PokerStars Sunday 500 in January 2009. His best live result was in November that year when he came third in a Master Classics side event. He also came 39th at EPT London this season and 34th at EPT Deauville in Season 5 as well as as finishing seventh in a World Series of Poker $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout.
Seat 7: Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky, 22, London, Ontario, Canada – PokerStars qualifier - 5,225,000 Up until EPT Berlin, talented internet pro Ben Wilinofsky from Canada had never had a live cash before. At the end of Day 2, he wrote on facebook “RIP legendary Hendon Mob page” in reference to his totally blank page on the Mob’s database. Now he's storming Day 4 of EPT Berlin and goes into the final as chip leader with 5,225,000. Online, Wilinofsky has made more than a million dollars including winning the PokerStars Super Tuesday event last November and the PokerStars daily $100 rebuy event six times in the last two years – those events alone amounting to more than $300,000.
Seat 8: Jonas Gutteck, 30, Berlin, Germany - 1,025,000 Economics student Gutteck has been playing poker for three years. It’s only a hobby but his results so far have been impressive. Berlin is his fourth EPT and third cash; last season he finished 21st here for €23,500 and in Prague this season he came 70th for €8,000. Gutteck likes traveling with his girlfriend Silke and she is railing him here at Spielbank Berlin. Jonas also has a lot of good friends in the German poker community, so it’s likely a lot of big names such as Nasr El Nasr, Philipp Gruissem, Tobias Reinkemeier and Sebastian Ruthenberg will be supporting him for tomorrow’s final.
As always, you can Follow us on Twitter for all the latest breaking gambling news.
