Michael Martin Wins!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Luckbox Inc.: Martin Wins EPT London

It wasn't quite a chip and a chair, but Michael Martin's victory at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour's London leg featured about as dramatic a comeback as you're liable to see at the final table of a major poker tournament.

Down to his last two big blinds with four players remaining, the 24-year-old Pennsylvanian went on a card rush for the ages, tripling up, then doubling up and then doubling up again before finally eliminating fellow American Eric Liu to take a dominating chip lead into three-handed play.

Throughout the final table, Martin relied on spectacular proficiency in hitting cards on fifth street, repeatedly spiking river cards while behind to steal pots and cheat death time after time. It was a performance to make you believe in a higher power, and one with a man-crush on young Martin, at that.

Day 3 chip leader!

The action at the final table of the second stop on the EPT's fifth season began just after 1:30 p.m. in the hallowed halls of London's Victoria Casino, with the tournament's eight finalists squaring off on the EPT stage to do battle for a large PokerStars paperweight and a £1 million cash prize.

Sweden's Michael Tureniec paced the field coming into the fourth and final day, his $1,331,000 good for a $23,000 advantage over Liu and $209,000 over Frenchman Antony Lellouche. The sub-millionaire tax brackets were filled out with Martin ($718,000), Canadian Philippe D'Auteuil ($476,000), perennial EPT finalist Johannes Strassmann ($434,000), Irish billionaire Alan Smurfit ($396,000) and Team PokerStars pro Marcin Horecki, the short stack with $309,000.

Crazy eighth!

Though Lellouche came into the day looking to make noise, he'd soon find his fortunes headed the wrong way after doubling up D'Auteuil and Strassmann in rapid succession. Left with just crumbs, Lellouche would be forced to shove with A 9 and find Strassmann willing to party with K J. The flop brought a king and neither turn nor river could reverse the advantage, sending Lellouche packing in eighth place for an £81,569 score.

Next to the rail would be Strassmann, victimized by a cold deck and then finally finished off after losing a coin flip to Martin with jacks against K-Q, one hand after being crippled by a Horecki suck-out on a cruel, cruel river. Strassman went broke in seventh place and took £120,723 for his efforts.

Certifiable!

Philippe D'Auteuil would self-immolate a few hands later, but before the French-Canadien would have time to remove himself from contention, it was Smurfit's turn to fall.

The 2007 WSOP bracelet winner found himself short-stacked and thus shoved with A 4, only to run into Martin's pocket jacks and fail to make any improvements before the river. Papa Smurfit hit the bricks in sixth place and added £153,351 to his already cavernous coffers.

Smurfit's elimination made D'Auteuil the short stack and, spurred on by a complement of rowdy Quebecois, he'd waste no time getting the last of those chips in the middle, shipping with a pair of black eights and running into Horecki's red kings.

Also Canadian!

D'Auteuil would collect £195,766 for his fifth-place finish, and the young man would further distinguish himself by giving one of the shortest EPT interviews on record, lasting two questions in which he at first gave a frank assessment of the EPT structure and then found himself cut off based on his increasingly racially insensitive commentary.

Four players then went to dinner break, with Horecki in the lead but Liu having dominated the early levels of the day. Liu would see his stock drop dramatically as the field returned to action, however, doubling up Tureniec with A 6 against the Swede's aces and then relinquishing the last of his holdings to Martin, who completed his miracle comeback with A 9 against Liu's unimproved J T.

The cards just weren't running!

Liu took fourth, therefore, and earned £234,920 for a dominant and classy performance, admitting after the fact that he blamed his relative inexperience in tournament settings for the premature bustification.

Martin, meanwhile, was cruising, having previously escaped elimination in the hand of the evening when he ran pocket nines into Michael Tureniec's K 7. The flop came K J 7 and the turn the 7, giving Tureniec the boat and seemingly erasing Martin's chances for survival.

The river card, however, was the 9, a glorious two-outer that gave the American the bigger boat and doubled him back into contention.

Marcin over the edge!

Martin would continue his epic spell of run-goodiness after Liu's elimination, when as chip leader he got Horecki to ship the entirety of his stack holding K 8 against his own K J. After the flop came bricks, the turn seemed disastrous for young Martine23, bringing the 8 and giving Horecki new life.

The river card, however, was the dagger J and Martin completed the resuck, sending Horecki packing in third place for a £303,439 payout.

That left but Tureniec standing in Martin's way, holding $1.2 million to the Chosen One's $4 million. All signs pointed to an easy finish for the American, but Tureniec would fight tenaciously, doubling to close in on the lead repeatedly before Martin finally clinched the deal with a pair of massive pots.

How ya like me now?

First, Martin made a couple of impressive calls for $1 million total as Tureniec tried a bluff with queen-high on a J-T-6-3-J board, flipping over K-T at showdown and thus erasing all of the Swede's hard work in clawing back into the fight.

A few hands later, Tureniec shipped it with K 9 and Martin, holding 4 4, made the call to set up a race with £1 million at the finish line. After an innocuous 6-3-2 flop, the turn brought the 4 to give Martin the set and leave Tureniec drawing to a five for the chop. Instead, the river was the 2 and Martin had the boat, the hand and the tournament.

For his victory, Martin earned that sweet £1 million first prize, as well as the aforementioned very large paperweight and a few minutes alone with PokerListings.com's very own Martin Derbyshire.

Second-place Tureniec took £525,314 and will have to hold down his papers with the tears he cried after watching Derbyshire and Martin cavort happily around the tournament area. Anyways, congratulations to both finalists.

Leading lady!

Elsewhere, the EPT's £1 Million Showdown, a two-day, £20,000 tournament of champions, kicked off today from the crowded confines at the Vic. With most of the attention focused on the feature attraction, 85 of the world's best took to the tables in pursuit of a piece of a £1,720,000 prize pool that includes a £516,000 first prize.

By day's end the likes of Joe Hachem, Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Greg Raymer had all been banished from the festivities, with play concluding early Monday morning with only 14 left in the hunt.

Chip leader is David Benyamine with $295,900, while Scotty Nguyen, Isabelle Mercier and John Juanda all remain in the hunt. Tomorrow will see the field play down through the money bubble and final table to award a champion by night's end.

Click here for chip counts and here for the full rundown of the day's action.

As usual, PokerListings.com will be on the scene with full and comprehensive coverage from the first brutal elimination to that final shining moment. Tune in starting at 1 p.m. London time and ride along with the dream team.