The European Poker Tour (EPT) Copenhagen Main Event wrapped up over the weekend with the 22-year old Dane Mickey Petersen taking the crown to the tune of 2,515,000 kroner or $444,595. Petersen bested the 70+ year-old Pierre Neuville during the heads-up portion of the final table. Neuville, nicknamed “Serial EPT Qualifier,” as this was his 23rd straight EPT event for which he qualified online, received 1,600,000 kroner ($282,843) and jumped to 4th on the all-time EPT points leaderboard.
Going into heads-up play, the chip counts were pretty close to even. Because of his elimination of 3rd place finisher Bjarke Hansen, Mickey Petersen had the lead, 4.7 million to 4.27 million. According to reports, Neuville was open to discussing a deal at the point, but Petersen would have nothing of it.
From there, it was a long one-on-one match. Neuville quickly took the lead by about a million chips, but it was short lived, as Petersen did not take long to flip the tables once more. The lead continued to switch hands over the next couple hours, with Neuville actually grabbing a more than 2-to-1 edge. Petersen didn’t give up though (obviously), grinding back to even and then taking a 2-to-1 edge himself within a couple hours.
Neuville made one more run, commandeering the lead one more time, but after the dinner break, it was all Petersen. Over the course of just a few hands, all of which Petersen one, the young Dane rocketed to a 7 million to 1.9 million chip lead. That lead grew some more before Neuville made what was essentially a fruitless double-up, only cutting his deficit to 4 million chips. But because he was in for 190,000 every orbit (every two-handed orbit), Neuville had to do something and do it quickly.
Thus, he moved all-in pre-flop with A-4, as all but the tightest of nits would. Against most hands, he’d be in good shape, but against Petersen’s A-5, he was not. The saving grace here was that with kickers that low, a chop was actually fairly likely. The flop of 6-K-J made that chop just one card greater than 5 away, but the 3 on the turn was not one of those cards. Still, Neuville had a lot of outs to split the pot and stay alive and three outs to double-up. To Neuville’s dismay, though, the river was a 5, pairing Petersen’s kicker and giving him the European Poker Tour Copenhagen title.
This was Mickey Petersen’s first win on the live tournament circuit and second EPT cash, to go along with three World Series of Poker cashes, all of which came last year. The win almost tripled his lifetime live earnings, taking him from just over a quarter million dollars to just under $700,000.
European Poker Tour Copenhagen – Final Table Standings (winnings in Danish kroner)
1. Mickey Petersen – 2,515,000
2. Pierre Neuville – 1,600,000
3. Bjarke Hansen – 1,000,000
4. Aage Ravn – 740,000
5. Jacob Rasmussen – 490,000
6. Niels van Alphen – 390,000
7. Steve O’Dwyer – 290,000
8. Spencer Hudson – 191,400
