Judge Hears Video Poker Arguments
Partner sites
Invading Monte Carlo
As beautiful as Monte Carlo certainly is, the principality is ripe with contradictions. Ferraris and Bentleys are the local equivalent of the Honda Civic, but the preferred mode of transportation is the Vespa. Everyone here smokes, but you won't see a single cigarette butt on the ground. You'd half expect to have your hands cut off for littering before realizing that the local police also ride around on Vespas. But for one week in March at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel, the yachts, the beaches, and the sports cars didn't matter. It was here that Europe's best players faced off at the European Poker Tour Grand Final. With a model United Nations of over 300 competitors, it was the ultimate meeting of poker diplomats. Here are some highlights and observations from this fantastic tournament.
• For Americans in attendance, it's quite a different feeling being in a minority. The accents alone at the EPT Grand Final, primarily Scandinavian, British, and Italian, make the place sound like a bizarre James Bond movie. At least three players in the tournament are dead ringer for Goldfinger.
• European tournaments are dead quiet, whereas American Tournaments have a decibel level rivaling a Bruce Springsteen concert. The rustling of chips is basically the only sound other than the host announcing seats. Every 10 minutes or so, you'll hear an announcement asking Juergen Erikssen or Patrick van der Floot or Dieter Shtrumpf to sit at their table. Great names! But, other than that, the quiet here is deafening.
• Scandinavians are hard-core poker guys. They take the game extremely serious and seem to be performing very well in the tournament. Even the Scandinavian press are taking it seriously. They are also impeccably stylish, with the Swedes leading the way. But don't let their boy-band hair fool you. These guys can play.
• On a non-poker aside, nothing is funnier than watching Golden Girls in German. German Rose is an absolute riot. The Simpsons in German is also pretty entertaining, but mostly because some of the show's best jokes have been at the expense of Germans. The selection of Italian-dubbed programs isn't nearly as good.
• Late on Thursday March 9, 2006 a 20,000-euro sit-and-go started that featured former world champions Joe Hachem, Carlos Mortensen, and Greg Raymer sitting right next to one another. At one point, Raymer beat Hachem and yelled, I just beat the world champ!" before laughing and hugging Joe. Fortunately, Joe won a previous 10,000-euro sit-and-go. Raymer ended up winning the 20,000-euro sit-and-go and pots a reported 160,000 euros.
• Two young Americans, Dustin Dirksen from Iowa and Jeff Williams from Georgia, perform incredibly well in the tournament. Neither is old enough to play in an American tournament, but they both made the money here. Dirksen at one point sat at a table next to Marcel Luske, the Flying Dutchman, who was wearing an immaculate suit that contrasted nicely with Dustin's gray Iowa hooded sweatshirt. Luske's glasses looked like they cost more than Dirksen's entire outfit.
• Even though there are French people everywhere, poker doesn't appear to have really caught on in France. The most recognizable French player here is Isabelle Mercier, and she's Canadian. Speaking of Isabelle, she did really well the first day of the tournament, but like her teammate Greg Raymer, got knocked out the second day. Hachem got knocked out on day one.
• The final table truly was an international affair consisting of three Brits (Ross Boatman, Arshad Hussain, and Fraser Dunphy), an American (Williams), a Canadian (Marc Karam), a Dutchman (Luske), A Frenchman (Thierry Cazals), and a Norwegian (Aleksander Strandli). Each of the final four, including Hussain, who qualified in a freeroll, qualified online through PokerStars. Hussain and Williams ended up playing heads-up, with Williams calling his counterpart's all-in with an A-10 against Arshad's A-8. The board came out 5-9-7-7-3, and Jeff Williams won the EPT event and 900,000 euros.
• Closure on this event arrived in the form of Williams' parents, Cindi and David, who flew in all the way from Georgia to surprise their son. Little did they know that, by the time they arrived at the Monte Carlo Bay, Jeff would be competing at the final table. By the time they were finally able to spend some quality time with their son, he was carrying a briefcase holding almost 1 million euros.