Home / Poker News October 2008 / Michael Martin completes comeback. Wins EPT London Main Event
Michael Martin completes comeback. Wins EPT London Main Event
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2008-10-06 14:12
Michael Martin bounced right back from the brink of extinction at the PokerStars.com EPT London Main Event, besting a final table which included Alan Smurfit and Antony Lellouche, the man who not only played his third EPT final table of the year, but who also came close to taking the chip lead several times in this tournament.
Michael Tureniec started the final table in possession of the chip lead (1,333,000 chips) followed by Eric Liu with 1,308,000, and Antony Lellouche with 1,021,000. The short-stack was Marcin Horecki with 309,000.
Antony Lellouche, who had had an excellent tournament thus far, was haunted by bad luck at the final table. He lost several big pots and soon found himself with his back against the wall. He decided to push all-in on an A,9 and got one caller (Johannes Strassmann) who tabled Ks, Js. The flop fell K,10,6 giving Strassmann the lead, as the 7 on the turn and the 10 on the river failed to turn things around.
Lellouche left for the rail in 8th place having netted a prize of £81,569.
Johannes Strassmann was eliminated next when his J,J was cracked by Michael Martin’s K,Q on a flop of Q,9,5.
Alan Smurfit pushed all-in preflop on his A,4 unaware of the fact that Michael Martin was sitting on a pair of jacks. Martin re-raised Smurfit’s A,4 to isolate him and the game went to the flop 2-handed. The board brought no A, and Smurfit was done for the day.
Philippe D’Auteuil busted out next, followed by Marcin Horecki who had managed to nurse a short-stack all the way to third place, where his K,8 ran into Martin’s K,J. the J which fell on the river meant that Horecki would have to settle for the £303,439 prize for 3rd place.
The heads-up play between Martin and Tureniec lasted for about an hour and a half, in spite of the fact that the former had built up a significant chip lead coming into the closing stage.
The final hand of the day was Martin’s 4,4 vs Tureniec’s K,9. The board gave Martin a set and with it the victory, together with the £1 million first prize.
