For the fourth time in four chances, the European Poker Tour Grand Final had more participants than the year before. Despite a global recession, 935 players contributed the €10,000 needed to participate in the EPT’s most prestigious tournament. This created the largest first place prize in EPT history of €2.3 million.
Where did this pile of wealth go? To little-known 26 year old Dutchman Pieter de Korver. Previously, de Korver only had two cashes on his live tournament poker resume, none for more than €10,000.
There were seven different countries represented at the final table. Only Germany could lay claim to having more than one finalist in this massive tournament. Here are the results from the final table:
1st: Pieter de Korver - Netherlands - €2,300,000
2nd: Matt Woodward - USA - €1,300,000
3rd: Mikhail Tulchinskiy - Russia - €800,000
4th: Dag Martin Mikkelsen - Norway - €600,000
5th: Eric Qu - France - €470,000
6th: Alem Shah - Germany - €350,000
7th: Daniel Zink - Germany - €250,000
8th: Peter Traply - Hungary - €170,000
In all, season five of the European Poker Tour was a huge success. It has clearly surpassed the primarily US-based World Poker Tour in terms of significance. Over 7,900 players participated in this season of the EPT. Over €54 million changed hands this year, far more than the previous record of €38 million in season four.
Season six of the EPT will start in the fall following the conclusion of the World Series of Poker. One thing is for sure, it’ll be pretty impressive if season six’s numbers can top those of season five!