The weekend saw the exciting finish at The Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London of the European Poker Tour UK leg, with the final 12 survivors of a starting field of 400 top players coming together on Sunday afternoon.
With a GBP 500 000 grand prize at stake for the winner, the competitive tension was palpable as play commenced, with the final table players in the following chip count situation:
Chad Brown – 611,000
Peter Hedlund – 523,000
Emad Tahtouh – 504,000
Mike Muldoon – 422,000
Ashley Hayles – 324,000
Jan Slavik – 296,000
Michel Abessis – 277,500
Vicky Coren – 222,500
Jonas Molander – 222,000
Sid Harris – 213,000
Jules Kusik – 196,000
Oscar Schweinebank – 173,000
It took less than 10 minutes for the first casualty to go out, but then play settled down to a steadier pace before the next player to be eliminated, Parisian Michael Abecassis was taken out by Vicky Coren. The ninth place casualty came some time later when Emad Tahtouh made a raise on the button sufficient to put either of the blinds all in, Oscar Schweinebank thought for a long time, but finally called, and showed 5 5. It was looking like Oscar would double up until a queen hit the river, and Oscar was out in 9th place.
Going into full TV coverage, Brown and Tahtouh had the lead in chips at 759 000 and 680 000 respectively, and the ac tion became more intense, resulting in another elimination within the first few hands when Coren saw off Sid Harris in position number 8.
The first serious elimination payout had now been reached; whoever went out at position 7 would take home GBP36 600, with the prize pool escalating steeply from here to the GBP 500 000 winner’s take-home. Swede Peter Hedlund was the victim, taken down by some bold play from Chad Brown. Another Swede, Jules Kuusik was next out, falling to Michael Muldoon and picking up a GBP 44 000 pay cheque on the way out.
Nearly an hour passed before the next elimination, and then it was chip leader Brown himself. First, he lost a coin flip against Jan Slavik, when Jan Slavik flopped a set of sixes. That left Brown short stacked, and he moved all his chips in shortly thereafter, only to find Slavik waiting for him again. Chad moved in with the Q 8 of spades, and Jan woke up with a pair of nines. Jan called, and Chad was out the door, accompanied by poker-playing girlfriend Vanessa Rousso and a 5th placing cheque for GBP 58 600.
Following a short dinner break the final four faced off, with Tahtouh the chip leader at 1.82 million, followed by Slavik (1.24 million) Muldoon (570 000) and Vicky Coren (370 000) Coren was quick to put the moves on Muldoon, who went down in 4th place, but with a GBP 110 000 consolation payday.
The final three exhibited very different personalities, with Tahtouh and Coren constantly chatting and bantering, whilst Slavik maintained a stern concentration and said very little. TV host and poker writer Coren showed sharp wit and humour but at one stage even she had to focus tightly against the phlegmatic Slavik. The hand of the tournament was played out between the two shortly after the final three restarted play.
Slavik opened with a raise, and Coren made it 250 000 from the small blind. Jan called the re-raise, and the flop was 10 10 9. Coren moved all in, leaving Slavik with an agonisingly long decision-making pause which was only broken by the official clock. He eventiually called with only seconds to go, presenting 3 3. Coren said ‘good call’ and sheepishly turned over A J. But this is poker, and the Jack on the turn made herthe best hand, and when a harmless river fell, ythe TV hostess had captured about 2 million chips, and Jan Slavik was gone in 3rd place with GBP168 600.
It looked like a heads up confrontation made in TV heaven, with Tartouh and Coren both dynamic and entertaining finalists with good and more or less equal stacks. However, it was not to be and the culmination of this EPT event came after only two more hands when Coren defeated Tahtouh to take the grand prize.
Emad Tahtouh had put up a very creditably fight, and deserved every penny of his GBP 285 900 second prize.