Aaron Gustavson Defeats Peter Eastgate in EPT London
As the great wrestler Ric Flair said, “To be the man, you gotta beat the man!” In this week’s finale of the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) London stop, Aaron Gustavson did just that, besting reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate heads-up.
Gustavson, an American who qualified for the event through the popular online poker room PokerStars, took home £850,000 for his efforts. All was not lost for Eastgate, however, as the Dane and member of Team PokerStars Pro earned a £530,000 consolation prize. The two emerged as the survivors of the largest poker tournament ever held in the United Kingdom, weighing in at 730 runners. Gustavson was one of 149 players, or 20% of the field, who qualified online through PokerStars.
In a press release distributed by EPT officials following Gustavson’s monumental win, the champion noted, “I’m speechless, totally overwhelmed. I don’t think it’s going to hit me for a quite a while. Having this title is amazing – a dream come true.” Gustavson’s battle against Eastgate was anything but prolonged, as the defeat took all of seven hands and 15 minutes to deliver. In the final hand, Gustavson’s A-Q held up against Eatsgate’s A-9 when the board ran out 3-5-6-K-J. Eastgate commented, “It’s been an amazing ride. I made it to second place, which is far more than you hope for going into a final table. Big applause for Aaron – he deserved it. I’m pleased I made it to heads-up.”
Nikolai Senninger hit the skids in third place after calling all-in for his tournament life against Gustavson on a board of 3-7-Q-9 with two hearts. Senniger showed pocket eights, while Gustavson flipped up Q-10 for top pair. The river came a 10, improving Gustavson to two pair and eliminating Senniger in third place, £285,000 richer for his wear. Taking fourth was Martin Gudvangen, who fell by the wayside with A-3 against Senniger’s A-Q. The best hand held and Gudvangen walked away from the EPT London Main Event with £227,000.
Dominic Cullen was sent packing in fifth place, earning £173,000. Cullen pushed pre-flop holding A-10, but ran into Gustavson’s pocket eights. The two were off to the races, with an eight spiking the flop to propel Gustavson to the win in the hand. Cullen edged out Rui Milhomens, who took sixth place for £124,000. Milhomens found himself all-in holding pocket eights against Eastgate’s A-10. This time, a 10 hit the river to send the player with the wired pair to the rails.
Gustavson sent Raymond Wu to the London night in seventh place for £87,000, a healthy return on his £5,000 buy-in. A short-stacked Wu pushed with Q-10, but Gustavson made the call from the big blind for a discount with K-6. The flop came king-high, keeping Gustavson in the lead in the hand for good. Karim Benanni finished in eighth place after running K-3 into Milhomens’ K-10.
The final table was played eight-handed and appeared live on PokerStars.tv from the Hilton Metropole. Here were the final results from the 2009 EPT London Main Event:
1. Aaron Gustavson (United States) - 850,000
2. Peter Eastgate (Denmark) - 530,000
3. Nikolai Senninger (Germany) - 285,000
4. Martin Gudvangen (Norway) - 227,000
5. Dominic Cullen (United Kingdom) - 173,000
6. Rui Milhomens (Portugal) - 124,000
7. Raymond Wu (Taipei) - 87,000
8. Karim Bennani Smires (France/Morocco) - 50,100
Next up for the EPT is Warsaw. The event takes place from October 20th to 25th at Casinos Poland and boasts a 25,000 PLN buy-in, the equivalent of $8,700 at current exchange rates. Last year, Portuguese poker player Joao Barbosa celebrated his 26th birthday in style by winning the EPT Warsaw event.
Related Poker Tournaments News:
- PokerStars European Poker Tour London Day 4: Aaron Gustavson Takes a Commanding Chip Lead
- Gustavson Crowned EPT London King
- PokerNews WSOP ‘November Nine’ Focus: Peter Eastgate
- The Weekly Turbo: FTOPS XVII Announced, Peter Eastgate Quits Poker, and More
- Top Ten Stories of 2010: #4, Peter Eastgate Quits Poker, Auctions Main Event Bracelet on eBay
- FTOPS XVII In Full Swing
- Reigning World Champion Peter Eastgate Joins The Poker Show This Week
- The WSOP Main Event on ESPN: Prahlad Friedman Returns to Rapping, Peter Eastgate and Joe Hachem Chase Down History
- The Nightly Turbo: Peter Eastgate Auctions of WSOP Bracelet, APT Macau Crowns Winner, and More
- Eastgate Signs with Poker Royalty
- Peter Eastgate Confirms Return to Poker
- Demidov, Eastgate to meet for $9.15M poker title
Poker argot:
- BAD GAME - Any game in which you figure to be the loser, because the other players are better than you.
- LIVE [CARD] - In Stud, a card probably not held by other players.
- BIG BOBTAIL - An open-ended 4-card straight flush.
- LIVE ONE - The best kind of opponent, a poor player with a lot of money to lose and in a hurry to lose it.
- UNDERDOG - Before all the cards are dealt, a hand that does not figure to be the winner. Ant: FAVORITE.
- RAIL - A barrier dividing the card playing area from a public area.
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