It was a remarkable event with a remarkable finish. Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier beat the cream of international poker on Saturday when he took down the first ever European Poker Tour Champion of Champions tournament. Mercier, 24, who beat this year’s PCA champion Galen Hall heads-up, wins €50,000 of buy-ins to EPT Season 8 events after a gruelling 13-hour tournament at Casino Gran Madrid.
He said: “I’m extremely happy. It was a tough tournament. Really good players came out and, when we got deep, I did think at one point that I was going to bubble it.” The tournament was the final event of the EPT Grand Final Festival which ran May 5-13, 2011.
Mercier first came to fame when he took down the inaugural EPT San Remo event in Season 4 for €869,000. It was the start of a sensational run which included winning the £20,000 EPT London High Roller six months later for £516,000, a WSOP bracelet in 2009 and, most recently, the NAPT Mohegan Sun High Roller event in back-to-back years. Overall Mercier has made more than $5.5 million in live tournament winnings since his San Remo victory.
Galen Hall, 24, was already a top 50 internet pro when he took down the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure this January. He has been a professional poker player for 18 months and last year cashed for around $200,000 profit. This Autumn he is returning to college at Stanford University but, thanks to his runner-up finish in the Champion of Champions event – which brings €25,000 of Season 8 buy-ins – will also now be making trips to Europe to compete in EPTs.
A total of 50 champions from all seven seasons of the European Poker Tour took part in the unique €100,000 freeroll including 11 members of Team PokerStars Pro. The entrants included the very first EPT winner – Alex Stevic, who won €80,000 at EPT Barcelona in September 2004 and the latest EPT champion, Ivan Freitez from Venezuela, who won €1.5 million at the EPT7 Grand Final here in Madrid in the early hours of Saturday morning. Among the others who took part were Team PokerStars Pro and 2008 PCA champion Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (who managed to win both the €25,000 High Roller and the €10,000 High Roller Turbo during this season’s EPT Grand Final) as well as EPT London winner Vicky Coren, who was chip leader for much of the day and finished fourth, winning €10,000 of buy-ins for next season.
In total, the champions were vying for a share of a €100,000 prize pool. Team PokerStars Pro Max Lykov, who won EPT Kyiv in Season 6, came third for €15,000 of EPT8 buy-ins. The bubble was EPT Dortmund champion Sandra Naujoks, also a member of Team PokerStars Pro. Click here for a full player list
The Champion of Champions tournament was the final event of the EPT Grand Final in Madrid, and brought an end to another remarkable season on the EPT – 13 events in 12 different countries, with more than €50 million in prize money awarded. The tournament was filmed for TV broadcast as well as aired live on eptlive.com with expert commentary in English, Dutch, Italian, German, Spanish and Russian.
