Sebastian Ruthenberg wins the EPT of Barcelona 2008. When starting at the second place of the final table, just after the chipleader of that moment Martin Nielsen. After the 8 hour during final table, Martin Nielsen the chipleader when starting the final table was busted at the eight place. The total top 8 of this EPT was:

1. Sebastian Ruthenberg (Germany) €1,361,000
2. Fintan Gavin (Ireland) €792,000
3. Davidi Kitai (Belgium) €455,000
4. Daniele Mazzia (Italy) €351,000
5. Dren Ukella (Germany) €292,000
6. Jason Mercier (USA) €227,000
7. Samuel Chartier (Canada) €178,000
8. Martin Nielsen (Denmark) €119,000

The European Poker Tour has officially announced that this season will consist 10 events. The European train will be in the Hungarian Budapest on 28 October. This tournament will have a buy-in of €4000 + €300.

The Budapest EPT will be the third EPT in the 2008 season which will have bigger prices, bigger contest fields and bigger buy-ins then ever before. As you’ll know the EPT season start at 10 September in Barcelona. Ofcourse we will keep you up to date of all news about the EPT!

There will be a lot of poker in London this autumn. The World Series of Poker Europe start in September and in October the EPT is heading for London.

The EPT of London has one of the biggest price pools in the history. With a minimum of £1 million pounds, that means almost $2 million dollars it is the third biggest tournament of the year! The two tournaments with a bigger price pool were the WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E and the $100,000 Aussie Millions.

The poker scene is obviously growing in London, one of the main examples of this fact is of course the poker in the park initiative. This are free tournaments organized at the park and free to join for everyone.

Londen is preparing for the pokerplayers to arrive. The WSOPE runs from 19 till 27 September, with the main event being a Texas Hold’em tournament with a £10,000 pound buy-in. After the WSOPE the poker pro’s will have three days off till the EPT starts. From 1 till 6 October the EPT London will again bring all the finest poker professionals together in London.

For every poker lover London will be the place to be this autumn!

Julian Thew, a well known professional player from Notthingham, wins the 2007 EPT in Baden (Austria).

With 282 players joining this €8,000 NL Holdem Tournamen, a few less then last year, the EPT Classic in Baden had a total pricepool of €2,143,200.

On day four the final table was created with the following remaining players:

• Denes Kalo
• Sebastian Ruthenberg
• Gunnar Rabe
• Anton Allemann
• Manfred Hammer
• Thierry Van den Berg (!!)
• Julian Thew
• Thomas Fuller
• Vladimir Poleshchuk
• Ted Lawson

After 5 hours the Final Table was reduced to 2 players. With Julian Thew and Denes Kalo being heads-up.

Julian Thew

Denes Kalo

When heads-up against Denes Kalo, Thew took advantage of his chiplead and his experience in playing Final Tables (this was his 3rd FT at the EPT!).

After 1 hour heads-up play Kalo’s dream flew away. The following hand would be an preflop all-in for both players.

With Thew being a favorite with showing his

Against Kalo’s

With a board of:

Thew’s hand standed and eliminated Kalo who received a €375,000 with becoming runner-up. With his win he picked up an entry to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo and a total of €670,800.

Check out the official EPT website to view the top 24 players and the earnings!

Congratulations to Julian for this great achievement!

Do you want to qualify for the EPT? This is possible on PokerStars, with qualifiers starting for as less as $3!