Tuesday, April 3, 2007

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King on river makes Griffin EPT champion

By Erik Sylven

In the end, the European Poker Tour (EPT) final in Monte Carlo became a North American affair. Gavin Griffin from the United States defeated Canada's Marc Karam heads-up to take home the EPT Championship and €1.8 million in prize money.

Gavin Griffin came in to the final day at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort as chip leader with Marc Karam in second place, and the two made it all the way to the final duel for the title.

Along the way, Karam knocked out British players Ram Vaswani and Steve Jelinek, while Griffin busted Scandinavia's hopes Kristian Kjondal and Soren Kongsgaard.

When the heads-up match started, Karam had a small lead over his opponent. Griffin, however, managed to turn things around, and after a couple of hours of play, the deciding moment came.

PokerListings.com reporter Owen Laukannen was at the table to witness the dramatic final hand. This is how he describes it in the Live Tournaments Section:

"The final hand begins when Griffin raises to $150,000 preflop and Marc Karam re-ups to $400,000. Griffin makes the call and the flop comes 4d-3c-2s, prompting a $500,000 bet from Karam. Griffin raises to $2 million, and Karam moves all-in over the top."

"After some serious thought, Griffin makes the reluctant call and shows Kd-5s for the open-ended straight draw and (as it turns out) two overcards to Karam's pair of fours (7s-4s)."

"Griffin has a ton of outs, and after the turn is the 3h, the river is the Kh and the tournament is over!"

In the Live Tournaments Section, you can read about the rest of the final table action from the EPT Championship, as well as an exclusive interview with Gavin Griffin, and analyzes and amusing anecdotes from the poker circuit.

Final table results from Monte Carlo:

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Gavin Griffin	€1,825,010
2nd	Marc Karam	€1,061,820
3rd	Soren Kongsgaard	€610,550
4th	Kristian Kjondal	€471,180
5th	Joshua Prager	€391,550
6th	Steve Jelinek	€305,270
7th	Andy Black	€238,910
8th	Ram Vaswani	€159,270

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