/ Matthew Pitt / 01 March 2011 / Leave a Comment 
EPT Copenhagen Champion, Michael Tureniec
The Copenhagen stop of the European Poker Tour is widely regarded as the toughest of the Main Events on the EPT circuit due to the high concentration of Scandinavian players taking part. Winning any EPT gives a player massive bragging rights but taking one down in Denmark's capital city carries extra kudos. Last year it was Swedish pro Anton Wigg who held the winner's trophy aloft, this year I was his fellow countryman, Michael Tureniec who emerged victorious after five gruelling days of highly aggressive and entertaining poker.
The 448 entrants had been whittled down to the final table of eight and they gathered in the ballroom of the luxurious Radisson Blue Scandinavia each guaranteed to take home at least DKK296,400 or around £33,770 in real money! The first player to pick up his winnings was live veteran Juha Helppi who last just three hands at the final table. With blinds at 15,000/30,000/3,000a he saw British pro John Eames open from the cutoff with a raise to 63,000. Helppi, in the small blind, three-bet to 190,000 and in a flurry of activity Eames four-bet then called Helppi's shove. The Brit held KhKd (he doubled up on the first hand with pocket kings also!) which was way in front of Helppi's pocket queens. The board ran out Ks-2d-Jd-7h-Qc and the Finn became the first casualty of the final table.
Ten hands later and seven became six as the short stacked Andrea Dalle Molle open-shoved for the fourth consecutive hand but this time he found a caller in the shape of Eames. Dalle Molle turned over QcJc, way behind the third pair of kings held by Eames! The 5d-4h-8d-Js-7s board brought no drama and Dalle Molle headed off to collect DKK450,000 whilst Eames stacked up even more chips and tried to hide his embarrassed smile.
Another hour passed before the table lost another player and when it did it was Mudasser Khan, the only Dane left in the tournament, who was heading for the rail. Tureniec had lost a few pots and found himself in the bottom three chip counts for the first time in the tournament so when he looked down at 5c5d in late position he decided to open-shove. It looked as if his move was going to pick up the blinds and antes but Khan, who had hardly played a hand, chose AcJs to call with and it was off to the races again. The Kd-9c-Tc opened up all sorts of possibilities for Khan but none arrived as the turn and river came down the Kh and 7h respectively and Khan was eliminated in sixth place, worth DKK600,000.
Next to bust out was Nikolas Liakos who saw Tureniec open to 85,000, Per Linde called on the button and he opted to move all in for around 1,100,000 holding As8c. Tureniec tanked and when he came out of the tank he called, Linde quickly folded and it was another race as Tureniec held 7h7s. The five community cards read Kh-Qd-3c-9d-Ks and Liakos was awarded DKK750,000 for his efforts over the week.
Kevin Iacofano became the first Danish Kroner millionaire when he called off his stack on a rather innocuous looking board reading Tc-Ts-7h-5h-2d. The action was bet-call, bet call and then Tureniec shoved the river and was eventually called by Iacofano who held Ac7s. He looked disgusted with himself as his Swedish opponent flipped over Th8s for trip tens and the win.
They played three handed for more than two hours before Eames' luck finally ran out. With blinds at 30,000/60,000/5,000a Tureniec opened the betting with a raise to 125,000 and when Linde folded Eames moved all in for what turned out to be 1,965,000. He cannot have been happy when Tureniec snap-called him and turned over AhQd, much better than the KcJc of Eames. It looked as if the golden horseshoe that was firmly lodged where the sun doesn't shine had once again helped Eames as the flop came down 5h-9s-Kh. But the Poker Gods can giveth and taketh away very quickly and they put the Ac down on the turn. The 7d sealed the deal for Tureniec and he entered heads up with a 9,510,000 to 3,885,000 chip lead over Linde.
The two Swedes battled for three and a half hours before the match came to an end. Tureniec opened to 225,000, Linde made it 600,000 to play before Tureniec moved all in and was snapped off by the man recently voted the best live player from the Nordic countries. Linde's 7h7d held a narrow advantage over the AsJc of Tureniec and the pocket pair stayed ahead as the flop came down 2c-3d-5c. However, the Jd on the turn put the ball firmly back in Tureniec's court and when the 4c on the river completed an unnecessary straight for Tureniec it was game over and Linde had to settle for the DKK2,450,000 runners-up prize.
Tureniec's win takes his lifetime winnings from live tournaments to $2,589,226 and he should be present at the next EPT stop which takes place between March 20-25 at EPT Snowfest.
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