When the final 24 players of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Berlin Main Event met today to play down to the final table, players were ready for action. After a couple of hours, however, the EPT Main Event was paused and players were ordered to leave the room. The tournament was stopped at approximately 2:00pm local time and players were not immediately informed of the reason why, although information has now come to light as to what happened to cause the suspension of play.
Apparently, the Grand Hyatt Hotel‘s casino was attacked in an armed robbery while the tournament was in action. An announcement by Kristy Thompson, a spokesperson for the EPT, stated, “An armed robbery by six men took place today at EPT Berlin. Nobody was seriously injured. We hope to restart all events at 4PM local time. A police investigation is underway. If you have video footage or photographs that could help the police, please contact the EPT organizers as soon as possible.” Video of players streaming out of the venue has appeared on YouTube, possibly even showing the attempted robbery as it was occurring.
Other reports outside of the EPT have speculated that the attackers carried various, but unconfirmed, weaponry. One report by German venues stated that the attackers were armed with pump-action shotguns, while witnesses said to another German outlet that the attackers were armed with Soviet era Kalashnikovs semi-automatic assault rifles and hand grenades. Of the various reports, a woman named Claudia Sommerey witnessed the event and stated, “I then went into the hall and saw three masked men, armed with rifles… security tried to keep the men at bay. I heard someone shout, ‘down, down,’ then I (got) under one of the tables. In the hall, there were still sounds of conflict.”
The happenings at the EPT Berlin are almost unheard of in the world of tournament poker. Last year, a Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) event in Mexico, another PokerStars live tournament, was suspended due to conflicts with local police over whether the venue held the proper legal documents. The event picked up its play months later at another LAPT event, but the occurrence of a robbery to suspend play has rarely been seen in tournament poker history.
Although there was about a four-hour delay, play resumed in EPT Berlin with 20 players remaining, although there were disputes as to chip counts and how to continue with play of hands that were in action prior to the disruption. Also suspended for the day were any live online video webcast updates. Nevertheless, by the end of the day, the eight-handed final table was determined. Here are the chip counts:
1. Kevin MacPhee – 6,070,000
2. Ketul Nathwani – 4,685,000
3. Ilari Tahkokallio – 3,940,000
4. Marc Inizan – 3,655,000
5. Marcel Koller – 3,590,000
6. Artur Wasek – 3,530,000
7. Marko Neumann – 2,185,000
8. Nico Behling – 960,00
