EPT Copenhagen and WPT LA Main Events

The European Poker Tour’s annual stop in Copenhagen concluded tonight with another big win for a Swedish pro; in fact the Swedes have been dominant across most of the tournament’s events this year. Meanwhile, the World Poker Tour’s ever-popular L.A. Poker Classic wrapped its second day, further reducing the original 681 player field down to 239.

The 2011 EPT Copenhagen Main Event ran from February 21 through February 26. Despite being one of the northernmost stops on the European Poker Tour, this year’s Main Event attracted a nice variety of players, collecting a total of 448 entries. The first place payout of DKK 3,700,000 translated as €496,271, making the event well worth the trip for one skilled Swede.

The final table of eight featured three Swedes, a Dane, a Fin, an Italian, a Brit and an American. As we already mentioned, though, ultimately the contest came down to two Swedes, making this the second year running that the biggest title at EPT Copenhagen would go with the Swedes. Here’s how the chips ultimately fell: 

Michael Tureniec – €496,271

Per Linde – €328,612

John Eames – €187,778

Kevin Iacofano – €134,127

Nikolas Liakos – €100,595

Mudassar Khan – €80,476

Andrea Dalla Molle – €60,357

Juha Helppi – €39,755

Linde had come to the final table with a whopping lead, but Tureniec absorbed the majority of his opponents’ stacks, putting his pile at nearly twice the size of Linde’s by the time they reached the heads-up portion. Still, Linde seemed determined to fight his way back. Nearly four hours into the standoff, it looked like the two Swedes would play all night, but then things came to a quick and dramatic end when Linde went all-in with 7s, Tureniec called with A-J, and the game was decided when the latter hit another Jack on the turn.

On the other side of the world, the battle for the WPT L.A. Classic Main Event title has only just begun with Day 2 of the action finishing earlier today. The prize pool is an impressive $6,537,600 which will be distributed to the top 63 players. It seems unlikely that they’ll hit the bubble until Day 4, though. Going into Day 3, a lot of the usual suspects are riding the top of the player wave. The current chip leader is the aptly named Joe Deniro. A full hundred thousand chips behind him is James Carroll, then Jason Senti, then Mike Sowers with Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi rounding out a formidable top five.

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