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 EPT SEASON 4 : GERMAN OPEN IN DORTMUND
CANADIAN MIKE MCDONALD WINS THE EPT GERMAN OPEN IN DORTMUND
Date: February 2, 2008
Venue: Hohensyburg Casino, Dortmund
Event: PokerStars.com EPT German Open, €8,000 No Limit Texas Hold'em poker tournament
Mike McDonald, an 18-year-old Canadian, has become the youngest ever EPT champion after winning the EPT German Open in Dortmund today. McDonald - known as "Timex" online - won the €8,000 buy-in event at Casino Hohensyburg in stunning style after busting five other players at the final table on his way to a €933,600 victory.
Today's win follows a string of recent successes with four cashes in just six weeks including three final tables during the Aussie Millions and a 14th place finish at EPT Prague last December.
McDonald, who studied a year at the University of Waterloo, Canada's top maths and engineering college, took up poker after his chess teacher told him it was a good way to make a living. He said: "I'm pretty happy with the way it's all worked out. Obviously I start all tournaments thinking I could win them or I wouldn't play them! Today was good though - when I had big hands, they gave me their chips. "
He took today's title after beating Andreas Gülünay heads-up with AK against the 26-year-old German's T7. The KJ7 flop gave him KK and the turn made it a set. Gülünay, of Aramean descent and now living in Gütersloh in the Ruhr Valley, won €528,500 for 2nd place.
Third place - and €307,000 - went to German backgammon player Torsten Haase, 42, from Cologne.. Fellow German Johannes Strassman came 6th for €152,000 and PokerStars qualifier Christian Harder (USA), who made final tabled at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure less than three weeks ago, was 8th (€85,500k).
The tournament attracted 411 players, generating a total prize pool of €3.16m. Among the players were Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, PCA Champion Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Katja Thater, Dario Minieri, Luca Pagano and Noah Boeken - as well as 96 players won their Dortmund seats online with PokerStars.
As well as the first prize of nearly €1m, McDonald receives a €10,000 seat to Europe's biggest poker tournament, the EPT Grand final, which takes place in Monte Carlo April 12-17, 2008. The next EPT is in Copenhagen, Denmark (February 19-23, 2008). Satellites for the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo are running now on PokerStars as well as for EPT Warsaw and EPT San Remo.
The next EPT is in Copenhagen (February 19-2, 2008) followed by the EPT Polish Open in Warsaw (March 11-15, 2008). Satellites for the Grand Final in Monte Carlo (April 12-17) are happening now.
Final table/payouts:
Position | Name | Country | € |
1 | Mike McDonald | Canada | 933,600 |
2 | Andreas Gulunay | Germany | 528,500 |
3 | Torsten Haase | Germany | 307,000 |
4 | Diego Perez Marco | Spain | 234,200 |
5 | Claudio Rinaldi | Switzerland | 193,000 |
6 | Johannes Strassmann
PokerStars sponsored player | Germany | 152,000 |
7 | Thibaut Durand | France | 120,200 |
8 | Christian Harder - PokerStars qualifier | United States | 85,500 |
PokerStars Facts:
PokerStars is the world's largest and most innovative online poker site with more than 12 million players worldwide. PokerStars was the first site to introduce features that became the industry standard and offers the highest levels of security and customer support in the online poker world. To date, PokerStars has dealt out over 13 billion hands and run more than 50 million poker tournaments, awarding well over $8 billion in prize money.
PokerStars is the world's largest poker tournament room running over 50,000 tournaments every day. In February 2006, PokerStars.com entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the first poker website ever to reach the 100,000 simultaneous player mark. The PokerStars Sunday Million weekly event is the largest weekly tournament on the planet with a $1 million guaranteed tournament prize pool.
PokerStars is the title sponsor of the European Poker Tour (EPT). Each Autumn, PokerStars hosts the world's largest online tournament, the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), which in 2007 featured a record prize pool of over $24 million. PokerStars also sponsors major events around the globe, such as the World Cup of Poker which took place in September 2007.
For all image requests, please contact adrianf@pokerstars.com.
For further media enquiries:
UK - Al_laycock@jcpr.com
Scandinavia - sebastian.langer@mslpr.se
Germanics - nina.schoen@komm-passion.de
North America - Matt.Clark@lotus-pr.com
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