You're not going to believe this. When Andrea Dalle Molle open shoved for the third or fourth time, big blind John Eames snapped him like an alligator.
Eames:
Molle:
The board gave the hint of a sweat on the turn but ended up standing and sending the Italian to the rail. Eames counts another 483k into his stack with an embarrassed smile.
Andrea Molle open-shoved from the button the hand after that. He too got away with it, and picked up the blinds and antes.
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The following hand, Kevin Iacofano raised under the gun. Nikolas Liakos really thought about it in the small blind, but gave it up. Blinds and antes for Iacofano.
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Next hand, Liakos open-shoved his button. Everyone folded and he's back over the 500,000 mark.
Well can the next hand be as exciting? Michael Tureniec opened to 63,000 from UTG+2 but compatriot Per Linde decided to pump it up to 160,000 from the button. Tureniec quickly gave it up. Not quite so interesting as the other hands.
Andrea Molle made a raise to about 90,000, committing himself and won the blinds and antes.
Passed to John Eames in the small blind who made it 80,000 and this time Michael Tureniec fold.
Nikalos Liakos moved all-in for about 427,000 and everyone folded. Liakos does the same in the very next hand as well and everyone folded again.
Hand #3 saw a newly-rich Eames raise to 63k from the cutoff and Juha Helppi three-bet to 190,000 from the small blind. This time the uncomfortable looking dwell resulted in a four-bet and Helppi was quick to shove. Eames called and the EPT Live commentators went crazy.
John Eames: Yes, that's kings, again. One hand's break from the kings.
Juha Helppi: Yes, that's queens. No escape.
The board ran down a salt in wounds amd Helppi's set of queens was no good - out he goes, laconic in defeat. "That was a set-up," he said, "Nothing you can do."
First hand, Nikolas Liakos min-raised to 60,000. It folded to John Eames in the small blind, who tanked up for a while before reraising to 190,000. Looks like a squeeze, doesn't it? That's what Liakos must have thought - he four-bet all in to cover Eames. But Eames snap-called all in and it was an easy double up for the Brit.
Liakos:
Eames:
Board:
The last Englishman standing doubled up to 2.2 million, second in chips behind the towering chip fortress of Per Linde. Liakos dropped to just 433,000, second last in chips, only just ahead of Andrea dalle Molle.
One of the eight players listed below will today go home with DKK 3,700,000 (almost half a million Euros) and the title of champion of EPT Copenhagen 2011.
Out in front is Per Linde, as has been the case for many a level, but no amount of chips in No Limit Hold'em is enough to guarantee a victory. He has one of the toughest line-ups ever seen on an EPT final table standing in his way, and support for the remaining hometown player (Khan) and sole UK opponent (Eames) is guaranteed to be strong.
In just under an hour, the final table will be underway, streamed live online. The final eight have all had a taste of the scrutiny of the TV (and EPT Live commentators) and there's no shortage of poker experience among them. Guaranteed at least DKK 296,400 for making it to Day 5, the eyes of all will be on the trophy.
All player profiles courtesy of PokerStars. Thanks, PokerStars!
Helppi was originally a poker dealer but made a name for himself when he eliminated several top pros to take a WPT title in Aruba in 2002. He has since made dozens of other final tables, his best performance being runner-up in a 2006 WSOP $1k NLHE tourney for $331,000. Overall Helppi has had five cashes worth more than $200,000 and more than a dozen first place finishes.
This is Helppi’s third EPT cash but he won the €20,000 EPT Deauville high roller event back in Season 6, for €192,000. He was also runner-up in the EPT Barcelona €10k event in November, for a further €127,500, and winner of a €1k side event in San Remo last season earning €84,000. Helppi’s career winnings already amount to more than $3 million and he is ranked Finland’s #1 on the All Time Money List. Outside of poker, Helppi is a high level paintball player and was captain of the Finnish National Paintball Champions in 1997, 2003, 2007 and 2008.
Michael Tureniec first rose to fame back in 2008 when he finished runner-up at the Season 5 EPT London event, earning £525,314. That finish is still his best ever live result although his total lifetime live tournament winnings now amount to nearly $2 million. Last November he chopped the EPT Barcelona €2k side event with fellow Copenhagen finalist John Eames, earning €140,000. Michael has only had one job in his life – working as a supermarket cashier – a job he abandoned to become a professional poker player more than six years ago.