Philipp Gruissem wins second EPT High Roller title in London

Philipp Gruissem wins second EPT High Roller title in London

Friday, 7 October 2011

High roller final tables are for rich fish and the best tournament players in the world, so you never expect them to last long. This one was over in less than six hours of playing time as EPT Barcelona High Roller champion Philipp Gruissem shipped the £20,000 event at EPT London.

Gruissem arrived seventh in chips to the eight-handed final table and became the short stack after the first hand when Olivier Busquet busted Michael Tureniec. Sam Trickett was the next to depart, this time at the hands of chip leader Igor Kurganov. Gruissem’s first big chip-up after a lot of 3-betting and pot stealing came when he busted Joel Nordkvist in sixth place holding A-Q to his K-Q.


The German then eliminated one of two remaining Englishmen, moving all-in on the river of a 5-K-9-5-T board and getting a pained call from Adrian Bussman holding A-5. Gruissem turned over T-T for a rivered full house and sent the Brit to the rail. The four remaining players spent the next hour discussing a deal, which saw them each take between £171,200 and £202,200 with an additional £402,600 held back for the top three finishers.


High stakes heads-up grinder Busquet was next to leave, taking a big hit against Kurganov before running A-Q into the his A-K. This left us three-handed before Kurganov’s queens held up against Rob Akery’s A-J, giving him a near 2-1 chip lead in heads-up play. A quick talk of a new deal was raised and dismissed before Gruissem took the chip lead in a pre-flop pot that saw Kurganov 4-bet and fold.


In the final hand, Kurganov open shoved Q-6o in the small blind and Gruissem snap-called with 9-9. The shorter stack flopped a pair of sixes but no more help was forthcoming, leaving all the chips in front of Gruissem, who took home £450,200 for his win.


The full final table payouts, including the four-handed deal, were as follows:


1. Philipp Gruissem £450,200
2. Igor Kurganov £318,330
3. Rob Akery £205,200
4. Olivier Busquet £171,200
5. Adrian Bussman £102,250
6. Joel Nordkvist £72,950
7. Sam Trickett £68,800
8. Michael Tureniec £58,400


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Tags: Philipp Gruissem, Igor Kurganov, Rob Akery, Olivier Busquet, Adrian Bussman, Joel Nordkvist, Sam Trickett, Michael Tureniec