The PartyPoker.com East Versus West Team Cup was won yesterday by Team West, despite the best efforts of their pros to throw victory away. Bjoern Kaersten, a 22-year-old bank clerk from Germany, emerged as outright winner, collecting €10,000 for his victory over 23-year-old runner-up Jack Powell from the UK.
Team West, who won the €60,000 freeroll last year, were 4/5 favourites prior to the tournament, and with players such as Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, Ciaran O’Leary, Roland De Wolfe, Marcel Luske, and Michael Keiner, perhaps this was justifiable.
They were up against 30 Eastern Europeans, headed by Tony G and Alex Kravchenko, but things looked bleak when the final table formed. Of the five Western players, all were online qualifiers, while the east had both Tony G and last year’s winner, PartyPoker European Challenge winner Branimir Brunovic. Things worsened for the West when they lost the first two players, but the East lost the next three. Then, with four left, Tony G and Polish TV presenter and champion boxer Aga Rylik were eliminated, and Kaersten went on to bust Powell with J-8 vs. 10-4 from a position of chip leader.
After the event, he said, “Roland de Wolfe made a bet with Tony G that the West would win; it was great that he believed in us. It feels great to have won. This is my first live tournament — I usually play low stakes online. Tony G had position on me on the final table, and Ian Frazer and Marcel Luske were on my table in the qualification, so I’m really pleased to have achieved this. I have to credit my teammate Jack; he was super-aggressive and knocked out the majority of the players on Team East. The key for me was doubling up at exactly the right moment; I had the chips to sit back and wait for more hands.” 
The €60,000 prize pool saw €37,500 go to the final table, and Team West split the remaining €22,500 between them.
The 10 who made the money at the final table were:
- Bjoern Kaersten (GER) — €10,000
- Jack Powell (ENG) — €7,000
- Aga Rylik (POL) — €5,000
- Tony G (LIT) — €4,000
- Jens Litschko — €3,000
- Branimr Brunovic (CRO) — €2,500
- Karit Leibold (EST) — €2,000
- Sergy Pevzner (RUS) — €1,500
- Benjamin Miradidi (GER) — €1,250
- Stefan Fuchs (AUS) — €1,250
Today sees the start of the €3,000+€150 buy-in main event, the PartyPoker.com European Challenge II, with a star-studded lineup which can be seen on ITV4 later in the year and around the world soon thereafter.
