March 17 2012, Chris Hall

Of the 477 players who took part at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Madrid, only one could emerge victorious. The final table had a combination of experienced EPT veterans, online qualifier,s and recreational players. After around nine hours of play, Frederik Jensen was the last man standing, taking home “495,000 and the EPT title.

Jensen, who had previously come second in the Aussie Millions and made the final table of EPT Vilamoura last season, battle backed several times from being the short stack to secure his first major title.

Jensen beat PokerStars online qualifier Fraser MacIntyre heads up in a short battle. Jensen dominated the match and won at the first attempt with against MacIntyre’s on a board of .

2012 PokerStars.com EPT Madrid Results

At the start of the day, Ricardo Ibañez was the chip leader with nearly a quarter of the chips in play. However, despite his aggressive image on Day 4, Ibañez chose to sit back and let the others fight it out early in the day. Play at the final table went nearly two levels before the first player was eliminated. Jason Duval pushed with against Andrei Stoenescu’s – the latter flopping a pair of aces to send Duval to the rail.

EPT regular and third time finalist Nicolas Levi was next to be eliminated. The Frenchman, in his familiar hat, was unable to climb out of the short-stack hole that he’d been in since the beginning of the day and lost out when he failed to spike with against Bruno Lopes’ .

Another regular, the occasionally fiery Ilan Boujenah followed him out of the door soon after when the Israeli was coolered holding top two pair with on an board against Lopes’ after all the money went in on the turn.

Play continued for over two hours before another chair was taken away from the table. With it went Ibañez, who was hoping to become the first Spaniard to win an EPT. His exit caused severe disappointment for his watching fans. It was during the 40,000/80,000 level and Stoenescu had raised from the small blind. Ibañez moved all in behind him from the big blind, and Stoenescu instantly called with queens which held against ace-deuce and catapulted Stoenescu into the chip lead.

The pot that changed the tournament occurred when Lopes flat-called a three-bet from Jensen with kings to see a flop, where the latter bet, then three-bet all in with . Lopes snap-called with , and Jensen was a 2:1 dog, but caught the on the turn for two pair and dodged the river to win the pot and take a monster chip lead.

Lopes, one of the stars of the French rap scene, was crippled as a result, but rallied briefly with a double up and subsequently won several more pots. He was undone, however, when he pushed with over the top of MacIntyre’s initial raise, only for Stoenescu to reshove behind him with which held – though not without a sweat on the board.

After playing a bit longer, the three managed to thrash out a deal guaranteeing MacIntyre “290,000, Stoenescu “330,000, and the chip leader, Jensen, picked up “385,000, leaving with the rest to play for. Stoenescu busted out in third place in a big pot against Jensen when his failed to hold against Jensen’s straight flush draw on a flop of . The on the turn gave Stoenescu a few outs, but he missed on the river.

This left Jensen holding a 2:1 chip lead over MacIntyre and victory was sealed for the Danish pro after a short 15-minute heads up battle.

Kristy Arnett caught up with Jensen shortly after his victory.

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be back next week to bring you all the news from the next EPT in Campione, Italy!

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March 11 2012, Donnie Peters

The 2012 PokerStars.net Asian Pacific Poker Tour Seoul Main Event has come to an end. Andrew Kim, from the USA, emerged victorious over the 268-player field. After a deal was made, Kim earned KRW145,000,000 for the win.

When the third and final day began, 16 players remained. After a few hours of play, the field was down to nine and the final table was set. Things had moved along steadily for the first part of the day and the first elimination at the final table was 2012 Aussie Millions runner-up Kenneth Wong.

During Level 21 with the blinds at 8,000/16,000/2,000, Wong was all in preflop with versus Vincent Rubianes’ . The flop, turn and river ran out , and Rubianes sent Wong out the door in ninth place.

He was followed out the door by start-of-the-day chip leader Daisuke Endo, who fell at the hands of Germany’s Moritz Ortmann. Somehow, someway, Ortmann and Endo got all the money in on the flop with Moritz holding to Endo’s . The turn was the and the river the . Ortmann finished with a flush and Endo held just jack high, which meant he was headed out the door in eighth place.

After Endo’s elimination, Taewook Kwon fell in seventh and then Jose Severino in sixth. Severino went out during Level 23 with the blinds at 12,000/24,000/4,000.

Severino moved all in with and ran into Ortmann’s . A quick and painless run of the cards sent Severino out the door as the dealer spread the .

In fifth place, Sasa Zorc was eliminated and that left just four players. Joining Kim, Rubianes and Ortmann was Rafael Rodrigo. The group struck a deal based on the chip counts and left KRW35,000,000 to be awarded to the eventual champion. From there, Ortmann fell in fourth place and then Rodrigo in third, leaving Rubianes and Kim heads up for the title. When the duel began, Kim had the edge with 3.005 million in chips to Rubianes’ 2.12 million.

For nearly all of the heads-up match, Kim seemed to be in control. He picked his spots well and chipped away at Rubianes steadily. When the final hand came up, all of the money went in preflop with Kim holding to Rubianes’ . An ace flopped to put Kim in the lead and he held from there to take the victory. For his runner-up effort, Rubianes was left with the amount he settled for in the deal, pocketing KRW90,500,000.

2012 APPT Seoul Final Table Payouts

*Denotes four-way deal with KRW35,000,000 awarded to the winner.

With the completion of the event, that wraps up PokerNews’ coverage of the 2012 APPT Seoul. It was another great event run by PokerStars and also the staff at the Paradise Casino Walkerhill. Congratulations to Andrew Kim for his win and to all the other winners as well.

Just because we’re done with Seoul, doesn’t mean the live reporting stops. PokerNews’ worldwide leading Live Reporting Team is constantly all over the globe providing updates from the biggest and best tournaments on the circuit, so be sure to check those events out as well.

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