Home / Poker News April 2013 / EPT Berlin High Roller – Griffin Benger Wins
EPT Berlin High Roller – Griffin Benger Wins
Posted by: Jo Martin - Sun, 2013-04-28 07:39
Griffin Benger has given himself quite a 28th birthday gift on Saturday: he won the
EPT Berlin’s High Roller, taking down the largest live poker score of his career. If someone knows how to properly celebrate a birthday, Benger has to be it. The €429k prize, which landed in his lap accompanied by a Shamballa bracelet, had to be fought for, at times fiercely. The player Benger bested heads-up for the win was none other than Aaron Lim, himself a well-known live tournament buff.
7 players returned to the tables on the final day of the event. The official short-stack going into the home stretch was Finland’s Joni Jouhkimainen, and he was obviously the most likely to bust first, but he actually managed to survive a player: the UK’s James Mitchell became the first victim of the final table, when he shoved all-in with an A,J against Philippe Ktorza’s A,Q. The stronger hand held and Mitchell picked up €54.9k for his 7th place.
Jouhkimainen couldn’t hold on for long after Mitchell’s elimination, but simply moving one more place up the payout ladder was probably a small victory in itself for the Finn. He collected €68.6k.
Following Jouhkimainen’s elimination, Benger caught fire. He first disposed of Martin Kabrhel and then sent Max Lykov to the rail as well. By the time the 3-handed stage of the
poker tournament was reached, Benger grew into the unstoppable force at the table. Having hogged up around 70% of the chips in play, he dominated the action. The first victim of the Griffin Benger show was Philippe Ktorza, who bit the dust in 3rd, for a €144k prize. At the start of the heads-up action, Lim managed a much-needed double-up but that was his swan-song. In the last hand of the day, Benger made a Broadway straight to win it all in style.
