European Poker Tour Barcelona

Barcelona

The third season of the European Poker Tour (EPT) started in Barcelona, Spain, recently. The tournament was capped at 480 players, as every single seat was sold out, with more than 200 players on the waiting list. With 480 players putting up €5,000 (approximately $6,500) to compete, it was one of the richest poker tournaments in European history: a total prize pool of €2.4 million ($3,100,000) and a first-place prize money of €691,000 ($910,000).

With names like Phil Ivey, Mike Matusow, Gus Hansen, Joe Hachem, Humberto Brenes, Luca Pagano, Juha Helppi, Kenna James, Bengt Sonnert, Noah Boeken, Marcel Luske, and 2006 World Series of Poker main-event finalist Erik Friberg in the field, this tournament had it all.

After two flights, day one was over, and things started to narrow down; 319 players were knocked out - among them, Mike Matusow, Joe Hachem, and Marcel Luske.

A few hours of play into the second day, some players began to stand out. Among them was Norwegian Johnny Lodden. He was down to only €400 in chips at one point, but made an amazing comeback and had the chip lead midway into day two! Lodden is well-known for his high-stakes play on the Internet, where he plays against the biggest names in poker under the nickname bad_ip. But he didn't go all the way this time; he was knocked out last on the second day, finishing in 13th place.

After three more exits, the final table was set. There, we found the biggest favourite of them all, Phil Ivey. There were also other strong players like Italian Jeff Lisandro, who made it deep into the WSOP main event this year.

But before the TV cameras were turned on, one man had to leave the table. That man was Kristian Ulriksen from Norway. The 19-year-old hotshot pushed all in with two jacks and was knocked out by the other Norwegian at the table, Bjorn-Erik Glenne, who hit a king on the flop with his A-K.

By knocking out Ulriksen, Glenne took the chip lead. He continued to win chips and knock out players, and had a dominating position until Phil Ivey won a huge pot when he opened the pot with two nines. Lisandro called from the big blind with 10-9, and when the flop came 10-9-5, the pot became big. Ivey now took the chip lead from Glenne, and everybody knew that these two players would play for the trophy.

When Glenne made Dave Gregory his fifth victim at the final table, it was now heads up. But, Ivey would have to make an extraordinary comeback to win it. He had only €400,000 in chips against Glenne's €4.5 million.

Ivey won a few pots and built up his stack to around €500,000 when he raised all in after Glenne had opened the pot. Glenne called with a pair of tens againt Ivey's A-5. With a 10 on the flop, it was all over, and the 35-year-old Norwegian had become an EPT champion.

"I dreamt about winning five EPTs in a row a few days ago, and this is a good start," Glenne said after the victory. Bjorn-Erik Glenne is also a regular writer/blogger for www.CardPlayerNorge.com.

BJORN-ERIK GLENNE
Age: 35
Hometown: Oppegaard, Norway
Biggest achievments:
• Won the Norwegian no-limit hold'em championship in 2005
• Finished 19th in the EPT Copenhagen event (January 2006)
• Calls himself a part-time poker player and part-time father (has two kids)
• Former chess player on a high level until two years ago (highest rank in chess: 2,260)
• Sponsored by PokerArena.com - a new site on the Prima-skin (Microgaming)