EPT Dortmund: Review

For five days, Dortmund became the poker Mecca where countless international celebrities found their way to the tables at Hohensyburg Casino. At the end of a dreamy final, three Germans earned a place on the podium.

Even before the legendary words, "Shuffle up and deal", were uttered by tournament director Thomas Kremser, the PokerStars European Poker Tour event at Dortmund already set new records.  Over 150 online qualifiers from PokerStars had won their seat--a record.  And by day 1B, it was also clear that the 644 participants established the record for most players ever. 

There isn't a bigger, more expensive, and more prestigious tournament to be found in Germany.  As such, it wasn't surprising that pretty much every known pro in the German poker scene turned up in Dortmund. 

International Stars like Johan Storakers, Mike McDonald, Luca Pagano, William Thorson, Max Pescatori, Andreas Hoivold, or Dario Minieri also provided the necessary flair for a true EPT major event. 

The least suspected contenders, or perhaps just those that quietly dared to hope, were chosen for two German youngsters who made a bang in the tournament.  Sandra Naujoks and Holger 'tonding' Kanisch ensured a German dream finale. 

As early as day 2 indicated that the three players, Holger, Marc, and Sandra, wanted their stamp on this tournament.  Holger held the chip lead after a solid performance.  Marc continued to hold second place and Sandra followed in third.

In particular, the final hours of day 2 was entirely devoted to the young  Wahlberlinerin and, after an epic run, which was nothing short of damn good, a beautiful straight flush offered a climax proving the chips belonged to the Big Stacks. 

On day 3, she was featured on the TV table with greats like Luca Pagano (picture right with Sandra) and Mike McDonald, who mucked around the final table, watching from the back.  Again, she played solid poker and was not to be intimidated. 

But Tonding tonding (left) stood at the end not only from his playing, but from his psychological clarification in critical situations.  Thus, for the German poker world, a dream heads-up match. 

Both players deserved the victory and, before the duel, we could not call a clear favorite. 

And so the evolution of the final hands begin.  Tonding had a lead over Sandra with 3,735,000 chips versus her 2,905,000 chips when coming into heads up play.  The cards did not allow a dominant precedence to be set at the beginning.  With the chip lead, Holger played good poker and was the first to move all-in. 

Sandra limped preflop (picture right) and Holger checked his option from the big blind.  When the flop came 5-6-7, Holger raised Sandra only to see Sandra re-raise all-in.  Holger insta-called and threw over pocket Jacks.  Sandra tabled Aces and had Holger exactly where she wanted.  When no Jack came, Sandra suddenly had a significant chip lead.  Holger had just 450,000 in chips, which amounted to roughly 11 BB, and it seemed that the heads-up match would go rather quickly. 

When Holger tonding could have begun to rely on senseless luck, his campaign took another approach--to play really good poker.  In this phase, Holger kept the game under control for a long period of time and made a strong impression.  The clear leadership and the probable victory was already in the air.  But, will a suckout come? 

With versus  as the respective holdings for Holger tonding and Sandra after a re-raise then all-in, Holger had the chance to double up.  After seeing the unspectacular flop of  , Holger had equity on his side.  When the turn brought the to make the winning two pair, however, Sandra Naujoks became the second female after Vicky Coren to win an EPT title.  

Sandra Naujoks and Holger 'tonding' Kanisch were not the only players to cause a stir.  In particular, attention was concentrated on the strong tables in action, drawing crowds by the circle.  Unfortunately for Florian 'fa_morgoth' Langmann, a new shooting star to the game, who played a great tournament nonetheless, headed to the rail as the Final-Table bubble boy and 9th place finisher in the event.

When fa_morgoth sat short stacked and pushed his remaining 170,000 chips into the middle from UTG at 15,000/30,000 blinds with a 2,000 ante, Florian caused folds around the table... (left in picture with William Thorson)... until Luca Pagano called from the Big Blind with . Florian Langmann revealed and needed help.  Hope sprung when the door-card showed the .

But, the hope of doubling up was short-lived as the flop also brought the , giving Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano a better pair.  All plans for doubling up were spoiled on the river when the board of gave Luca a winning two pair.  

On his way to the "Provisional Final Table", Florian eliminated Jan 'jan1000' Collado (pictured right), which was undoubtedly another surprise, yet a representation of, the recent tournament atmosphere. 

Sometimes you can see Jan playing live in larger events and, (nearly) every time, he manages to make the money.  He has reached multiple final tables.  Victory is something that a player like Jan just needs time to acheive.  Obviously, it should be clear that by tracking Jans, we hope to deliver an interview to you very soon. 

Mike and the team of international stars gave a cause for enthusiasm for last year's winner.  Even before reaching the final table, the young Canadians, who always come across as very likeable, raved over McDonald's game in Dortmund.  For McDonald, Dortmund appears to be a particularly fruitful place, but don't think you will be greeted by a different Mike at another tournament.  Back-to-back victory would have been truly sensational, yet McDonald's performance is still quite astonishing. 

One of the biggest McDonald fans that I met on the EPT, Remoh, is also a member of our community remoh level and has already produced some NL200 and NL400 videos for PokerStrategy in addition to the multiple times he has delivered razor-sharp analysis.  Remoh (incidentally "Homer" spelled backwards) qualified for the tournament over PokerStars.  It cost him 530,000 FPP, which he had collected by grinding for "3 or 4 months" in the summer. 

Although he sadly did not make the money, we did manage to catch up with remoh for an interview, which will appear in the upcoming days. 

Unfortunately, despite the great success of the event overall, there were criticisms to be heard.  The poor organization of the first few days, sometimes leading to rampant chaos and a late opening, caused players to speak out.  Tournament Director Thomas Kremser can be praised for doing everything in his power to organize the casino as quickly as possible. 

The awards ceremony remained somewhat strange. It certainly would allow more feel-good vibes when all the finalists can share in the ceremony. 

Reading from a book while not involved in a hand might seem like a nice media stunt for some people, but it is simply out of place at a final table due to simple reasons of fairness. 

With the tournament, all in all, being a truly great event filled with fun and true sensationalism that hardly ceased, the positive aspects of the EPT Dortmund will remain. 

In this context, I would like to, once again, offer a very warm thanks to PokerStars - and especially note Nina, Henning, and Sven - where help on even the simplest of sides has so much meaning. 

A very large and personally important thanks goes out to sirquentin and timorb for making this trip possible.