Home / Poker News March 2010 / EPT Berlin – Things return to normal as Kevin MacPhee wins
EPT Berlin – Things return to normal as Kevin MacPhee wins
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2010-03-08 12:31
After 4 days of green felt battles, a robbery and several spectacular comebacks from the edge of extinction, Idaho’s own Kevin MacPhee took down the PokerStars
EPT Berlin Main Event, pocketing the €1 million top prize and lifting the trophy above his head. The American battled his way through a 945 player starting field, a record for a live poker event held on German soil. The resulting prize-pool set a new record as did the brazen robbery which occurred on Day 3, sending players ducking for cover and upsetting the lives of the last 20 survivors of the
poker tournament.
MacPhee’s win is all the more interesting considering that on Day 3 he had to stave off elimination on the back of a 2-outer which he hit on the river. That hand proved to be the turning point for him though. He began dominating the proceedings, and he finished Day 3 in the chip lead. On Day 4, he continued right where he’d left off.
The start of the final table action saw two hours of non stop sizzling action. Nico Behling, the short-stack at this stage, wasted no time making his do or die move. He shoved all-in on his very first hand, only to end up chopping the pot. He moved all-in on his next hand as well, but his A,Q got called by Marcel Koller, who had pocket 10. The board bricked out and Behling was eliminated in 8th place.
Marko Neumann was the next victim, his A,K no match for MacPhee’s pocket 7s.
Marc Inizan proceeded to cripple Koller next. A few hands later, Koller was eliminated and gone, together with his vocal group of Swiss supporters.
Ketul Nathwani had started the final table second in chips, but he squandered most of his stack on useless bluffs. One such bluff left him crippled and a few hands later he too was eliminated, caught red-handed on yet another bluff by MacPhee.
Artur Wasek followed him to the rail, and shortly after the dinner-break, Marc Inizan was bounced too.
MacPhee began the heads-up action against Finland’s Ilari Tahkokallio with a huge chip lead, but the going proved to be anything but easy for the American. He eventually gained the upper hand though and closed out the poker tournament.
