Working his way through experienced professionals from the tour and several PokerStars qualifiers, Denmark’s Frederik Jensen earned his first major professional poker championship by winning the European Poker Tour’s most recent stop at the Casino Gran Madrid on Saturday.
The final table was set Friday evening when Mike McDonald’s run at a historic second EPT title was ended on the final table bubble. McDonald would fall to Andrei Stoenescu when, on a Q-J-10 flop, “Timex” held pocket tens and Stoenescu held Big Slick. Although McDonald had flopped a set of tens, Stoenescu’s Broadway straight on the flop would improve to a flush on the turn. Once the board failed to pair on the river, Mike McDonald was eliminated in ninth place (€35000), one slot short of the EPT eight handed final table.
When the eight men convened Saturday afternoon to determine a champion, Ricardo Ibanez held an 800K chip lead over Fraser Macintyre, but Jensen was lurking in third only 1.1 million chips back. The professional ranks were represented by Nicolas Levi but, with only 709,000 in chips, his work was cut out for him.
Levi would attempt to dig himself out of the basement of the final table in the early going with a modicum of success. He would double up against Jensen to reach the one million chip mark and, after Stoenescu eliminated online qualifier Jason Duval in eighth place, Levi moved up the leaderboard. It wouldn’t be enough to push Levi any further, however, as rapper/poker pro Bruno Lopes eliminated him soon after Duval’s departure in seventh place.
Lopes would also be responsible for the elimination of Ilan Boujenah in sixth place, pushing the French rapper over the three million mark and into contention in the tournament. Macintyre was leading at this time and Lopes was second, with start of day chip leader Ibanez sitting in third. Jensen was the short stack with five players remaining, sitting on a scant 1.3 million in chips.
The five men would battle for well over an hour before the next elimination took place. After Stoenescu put in a raise, Ibanez would push in over the top of the Romanian, looking to push him off his hand. Stoenescu wouldn’t back down, however, making the call and tabling his pocket Queens against the miniscule A-2 of Ibanez. Although Ibanez found a deuce on the flop, Stoenescu also caught a Queen for a set. Once the turn blanked for him, Ibanez was drawing dead and out in fifth place.
That hand pushed Stoenescu into the lead, but it would be short-lived. He doubled up Lopes to give the lead back to Macintyre and, as the four remaining players went to the dinner break, Macintyre looked to be in command with almost half the chips in play.
Following dinner, Lopes and Jensen would lock into a battle that became the turning point of the tournament. After a 7-6-3 flop, both men would commit their chips to the center, with Lopes holding pocket Kings against Jensen’s 6-5. A five on the turn reversed the fortunes of Jensen, however, putting him in the lead with two pair. When the river failed to pair the board or deliver another King, Lopes was on life support with about 600K in chips and Jensen had seized the lead. Lopes would be eliminated a few hands later in fourth place at the hands of Stoenescu.
Down to three players, discussion of a deal commenced. The players eventually agreed to divvy up the remaining prize pool as such:
Jensen €385,000
Stoenescu €330,000
Macintyre €290,000
The men left out €110,000 for the eventual champion, which would be determined in less than an hour.
Jensen would eliminate Stoenescu in third place when he flopped an open ended straight flush draw against Stoenescu and completed a flush on the turn. Holding more than a 2:1 lead against Macintyre, Jensen kept up the pressure against Macintyre in heads up play, lengthening his lead to over 5:1 in two quick hands.
On the final hand, Macintyre decided to push his remaining chips in with an A-9 but Jensen made the call with his dominating A-10. A 4-8-J flop didn’t help anyone but kept Jensen in the lead. A Queen on the river only pushed the Dane further into the lead and, once the river brought another Queen, Frederik Jensen had captured the EPT Madrid title.
1. Frederik Jensen (Denmark), €495,000*
2. Fraser Macintyre (Scotland), €290,000*
3. Andrei Stoenescu (Romania), €330,000*
4. Bruno Lopes (France), €140,000
5. Ricardo Ibanez (Spain), €115,000
6. Ilan Boujenah (Israel), €92,000
7. Nicolas Levi (France), €69,450
8. Jason Duval (Canada), €48,000
* – reflects final table deal
The players on the EPT will not get much of a break following the completion of the EPT Madrid. The tour will make its first ever stop in Campione, Italy, at the Casino di Campione from March 26 through March 31. There are only two stops after the EPT Campione, in Berlin, Germany beginning April 16 and the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo on April 25. For now, however, Frederik Jensen can bask in the glow of having the title “EPT champion” attached to his name in perpetuity.
