First Ever EPT Berlin Title Captured by Kevin MacPhee

In six years of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour, it had been to Germany many times for a stop in Dortmund but never in Berlin, so the announcement of the new stop was purely exciting for many Europeans, mostly Germans who looked forward to the tournament for months. The Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown Berlin used its ballrooms to set up the tournament area for a massive Main Event and several side events to begin on March 2, 2010.

The €5,000 buy-in EPT Berlin Main Event got underway with the first of two starting days, which brought 388 players to the tables, and the second starting day added another 557, making for a 945-player field in total and a €4,725,000 prize pool. As promised, the first prize was to be a solid €1 million, though a total of 144 players would receive some sort of payout. A total of 48 countries were represented in the field, though it was predominantly German. When the first days of the event were done, Tu Tuan held the overall lead with 212,600 chips from Day 1B, though Kfir Yumin was close behind from Day 1A with 213,500 chips.

Day 2 brought all 484 survivors together in one area, and the field quickly thinned as players like tennis legend Boris Becker were among the first batch to be eliminated early in the day. And as the evening reared its head, the money bubble burst very quickly, so much so that no one caught the bubble hand or the name of the player. But with 144 players left, everyone was guaranteed a payout of some kind, and some who cashed in were George Danzer in 136th place and Max Pescatori in 132nd. The day ended with 124 players bagging chips and Stefan Huber in the lead with 1,987,500, followed by Johannes Strassman with 794,500. Day 3 thinned the field even further, as Bruno Fitoussi exited in 109th, Ben Kang in 94th, William Thorson in 89th, Marcel Luske in 48th, Julian Thew in 44th, and Christophe Gross in 26th. Play was halted when only 24 remained, and Kevin MacPhee sat atop the leaderboard with 2,526,000 chips, followed by Theo Jorgensen with 2,408,000.

Day 4 brought more excitement, and it wasn’t the kind anyone anticipated. As the field thinned a bit with Strassman leaving in 23rd place and Joao Barbosa in 22nd, play was interrupted with what was discovered to be an attempted armed robbery. Masked gunman entered the hotel lobby, reportedly hoisting weapons that may have included guns and machetes, demanding money. Players, staff, and members of the media frantically ran through the tournament area and toward the hopeful safety of back rooms, and that stampede of people was the only reason some incurred injuries. Luckily, the gunmen physically hurt no one, though it was reported that they made off with a bag of money. A police investigation ensued - and remains ongoing, thus the lack of specific information - and it wasn’t until calm took over many hours later that the tournament resumed. Some side events were cancelled and players were able to obtain refunds, though others went on. Through a tournament staff that worked closely with players in the Main Event to recreate proper chip stacks, everyone was in agreement as to stack sizes and the status of the action when play resumed into the evening hours.

And as play moved through the night of March 6, the final table eventually neared. With nine players left, Norman Kastner pushed all-in with against the of Marc Inizan. The board came , and Kaster left in ninth place, just missing the final table but grabbing €50,000 for the finish.

The final table was then established for the following day:

Seat 1:    Marko Neumann    2,185,000
Seat 2:    Marc Inizan        3,655,000
Seat 3:    Kevin MacPhee        6,070,000
Seat 4:    Artur Wasek        3,530,000
Seat 5:    Marcel Koller        3,590,000
Seat 6:    Nico Behling           960,000
Seat 7:    Ketul Nathwani        4,685,000
Seat 8:    Ilari Tahkokallio        3,940,000

Action got underway with Nico Behling very ready to double-up or go home. The first hand found him tangling with Neumann, but both showed A-Q for a chopped pot. The next hand saw Behling move again with , but Koller claled with pocket tens. The board brought no help when it came , and Behling left the tournament just that quickly, with €72,000 for the eighth place finish.

Marko Neumann was the next short stack to make a move, and he did it with . MacPhee was the caller holding pocket sevens. Not only did that pair hold up, but it improved tremendously on the board. Neumann was out with €120,000 for seventh place.

Marcel Koller was not actually a short-stacked player at the table, but he decided to make a push with for his 2,395,000 chip stack. Tahkokallio called with pocket queens, and the board blanked when it came . Koller had to accept the €165,000 that went with the sixth place finish.

As MacPhee’s stacks grew, Ketul Nathwani couldn’t find that same momentum and finally risked the rst of his chips with . MacPhee called with a dominating , and the dealer gave them a board of . That left Nathwani eliminated in fifth place with €210,000.

After some tangling between MacPhee and Tahkokallio and a double-up for Inizan, it was Artur Wasek who sought some good luck and made his all-in move with pocket queens. Inizan and his newfound chips called with pocket kings. Wasek was given some outs on the flop, but the turn and river gave the pot to Inizan and sent Wasek packing in fourth place, which was good for a €280,000 payday.

The three remaining players went on a dinner break and returned to find Marc Inizan as the short stack. He got involved with MacPhee to see a flop of , after which Inizan decided to move all-in with for top pair and the straight draw, but MacPhee called with and the flopped straight. The on the turn and on the river ended the hand and sent Inizan out in third place with €350,000.

Heads-up then started as follows:

Kevin MacPhee        17,675,000
Ilari Tahkokallio        11,035,000

The battle between the two remaining players lasted for several hours, as the two exchanged the chip lead several times through double-ups and solid aggressive plays.