Yorky Pud

Kevin Vandersmissen is the latest player to have his name written into the history books as the winner of the longest-running European-based poker tournament; the Irish Open. Vandersmissen started the nine-handed final table, held at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, ninth in chips and many thought, myself included, that he would get his short stack in at the very first opportunity and either double up or become the ninth place finisher. Instead he bided his time, doubled up, played an aggressive yet patient game and walked away with the title. By the time he had doubled up two players had already been eliminated, Philip Magennis and Andy Black. Both were eliminated in the same hand where Ian Simpson opened the betting to 56,000, Thomas Beer three-bet to 140,000 and Black moved all-in...

The Premier League came to an end yesterday in the Montesino in the heart of Vienna, Austria when the eight-handed final table of the $125,000 buy-in event was won by the American pro Scott Seiver. Seiver is one of the most respected poker players on the circuit. He is frighteningly good at cash games and equally adept at tournament poker where he has now won more than $4,700,000 in live events including an outright win at the World Poker Tour and a World Series of Poker bracelet. At the start of the final table, which will be shown on Sky Sports later this year, Seiver started sixth from eight in chips but he played a patient game until he found a good spot to double up and once he had a playable stack he started to turn the screw on his opponents. That double up came in a hand...

Over the weekend 502 poker players descended on the Burlington Hotel in Dublin and exchanged €3,500 cash for 20,000 tournament chips and the chance to become the 2012 Irish Open champion. Those 502 hopefuls have been whittled down to just nine and they will sit back down at 14:00 today and play until a winner has been crowned. Ian Simpson is the man they all have to catch, his 2,007,000 chips enough for him to start the day as a narrow chip leader; narrow because David "Dixie" Dean in second place has 1,986,000 chips. Although these two players have almost 4,000,000 of the 10,040,000 chips in their possession the eyes of the media will be on the shorter stacked players Andy Black (808,000), Samuel Chartier (582,000) and Kevin Vandsermissen (492,000). Black is best known for his ...

Viktor Blom is not the kind of poker player to do things by halves. When he first burst onto the poker scene he literally appeared from nowhere and started to play the biggest names in the business for the highest stakes possible at the time. Although the $500/$1,000 games have disappeared along with Full Tilt Poker the young Swede has been more than happy to play anybody at any time. In the past year Blom, better known to the masses as his online moniker Isildur1, has taken on all comers in his so-called SuperStar Showdown and has been successful in doing so. In the SuperStars Showdown Blom and a challenger sit down at four heads-up tables of No Limit Hold'em or Pot Limit Omaha with blinds of $50/$100 and play for 2,500 hands or until one opponent loses the $150,000 they have set aside...

The European Poker Tour Campione Main Event is heading towards a thrilling conclusion after the 99 players who returned to the Casino di Campione yesterday afternoon were whittled down to the final 24 in the competition. The man who is the chip leader going into the penultimate day's play is Jannick Wrang. When play resumes this afternoon Wrang will be the man to catch, his 1,742,000 chips enough to see his name displayed at the top of the chip counts and if past history is anything to go by then there is every chance he will be the name written into the history books as the eventual champion. Just a few weeks ago Dane Mickey Petersen lifted the winner's trophy at EPT Copenhagen then just a matter of days later his fellow countryman Frederik Brink Jensen won EPT Madrid and now Wrang,...

A little under a week ago a total of 477 players started the Madrid Main Event of the European Poker Tour and they were all outlasted by one man, Denmark's Frederik Jensen, the newest EPT champion. This is Jensen's first major title of his career and it finally kicks the proverbial monkey off his shoulder as until this tournament he had a number of near misses in major events. In 2010 he came second in the Aussie Millions Main Event, third in a €5,000 side event at the EPT Grand Final , sixth in the EPT Vilamoura Main Event and fifth in a €5,000 six max side event at EPT Barcelona. Now he has his first outright win and let's not forget about the €495,000 winner's prize. The eight-handed final table lasted 11-hours, including breaks, and was the home of a number of talented poker...

For 16 of those starting 24 the dream ended abruptly within the seven hours of Day 4 but for the eight survivors there is a very realistic chance they will be walking away with €545,000 and the title of EPT Madird champion when the dust finally settles on final table day. At the start of play all eyes were on the young Canadian Mike “Timex” McDonald and his quest to become the first player to win two EPT titles, something that has not happened in more than 80 Main Events so far. McDonald won his first title in 2008 when he won the EPT Dortmund Main Event and has since come very close to winning a second after finishing fifth at 2009 EPT Dortmund, 11th at 2009 EPT Barcelona,and third at the 2010 EPT Deauville. His quest would ultimately end in ninth place in this event. McDonald...

The European Poker Tour Madrid Main Event has seen its 477 entrants whittled down to just 24 players and they will return to their seats inside the Gran Casino Madrid at 12:00 CET for the penultimate day's play. By the time the curtain comes down on another day of intense and high quality poker action only the eight-handed final table members will remain. The man who is in pole position going into Day 4 is Brazilian pro Joao Paulo Simao who will start his day by unbagging then having to stack up 1,973,000 chips, 820,000 more than his nearest rival. Simao is not a regular on the EPT circuit but after this performance he may just be, especially as it seems Lady Luck has taken a shine to him. He was already in a relatively healthy position as Day 3 was drawing to a close but he won a gigantic...

Twenty players returned to their seats inside the Bay 101 Casino in San Jose, California yesterday each of them hoping to at least make it through the day with their chip stacks intact and earn their place on the televised six-handed final table. For 14 of those players the dream ended but for the six who have made it through the dream of becoming a World Poker Tour champion is still very much alive. The best placed of the final six is the Canadian man-mountain Erik Cajelais who will unbag and re-stack chips worth 3,648,000 when play resumes later today. Cajelais' stack contains almost an extra 1,500,000 than anyone else on the final table and he will be a firm favourite to walk away victorious in this tournament. Cajelais has been a professional poker player since 2005 and he did...