February 17 2015, by Eric Danis

#GPIEPA: Fight to the finish for top European Tournament Performance

If you have read my articles previewing the nominees for the American and European Poker Awards, you may be getting tired in hearing me say “it’s too close to call” when reviewing the categories … well, I’m sorry to say you’re going to hear it again as the possible nominees for the Best Tournament Performance by a European could end up being the closest, most nail-bitting race of them all!

Note: These are not official nominees for the category. Members of the Nomination Panel are currently casting their votes for the GPI European Poker Awards. This is simply a compiled list of players that may merit consideration when the Nomination Panel members make their selections.

In order to help the members on the nomination panel, here are a few candidates to keep in mind. Please note that these aren’t necessarily the “sure bet” candidates for the award. The purpose of the article is to take a look at a variety of 2014 performers, hoping to help the nomination panel members in their selection process.

Order: Alphabetical

VICTORIA COREN-MITCHELL (UK) WINS EPT SANREMO

Casino Sanremo, Italy | April 2014 | €4,900 buy-in | 556 players | €2,480,872 prize pool

We start out strong with Victoria Coren-Mitchell‘s (GPI#716) EPT Sanremo win last April, becoming the first player to win two Main Events on the European Poker Tour. A few players attempted to win #2 – including Mike McDonald just a few months prior (more on that later) – but Coren-Mitchell remains the only poker player, in the EPT’s 11-year history, to have done so. The win was celebrated throughout the world.

Coren-Mitchell would defeat WPT Champions Club member Giacomo Fundaro (GPI#575) heads-up for the historical second win. Online poker star Jordan Westmorland (GPI#1355) would finish the event in third position.

Stephen Chidwick, Alexander Kravchenko, Jeffrey Hakim and Rocco Palumbo all earned Top 20 finishes in the event.

ANDREA DATO (ITA) DEFEATS TRICKETT TO WIN WPT VENICE

Casino di Venezia, Venice ITA | March 2014 | €3,000 buy-in | 199 players | €385,757 prize pool

A dream heads-up matchup as native son Andrea Dato (GPI#72) was battling UK superstar Sam Trickett (GPI#119) for all the marbles in the Gioco Digitale WPT Venice Main Event, presented at the famed Casino di Venezia. In the end, the Italian would reign supreme, earning the most significant win of his poker career.

Dato, who will represent Italy at the upcoming Global Poker Masters, earned a total of 19 cashes in 2014. Apart from his WPT victory, he also earned the biggest score of his career, finishing fourth at EPT Barcelona in August.

2011 WPT Venice winner Alessio Isaia (GPI#671) and 2014 EPT Deauville champ Sotirios Koutoupas (GPI#459) each final tabled the event.

MARTIN JACOBSON (SWE) WINS WSOP MAIN EVENT

Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas NV | July/November 2014 | $10,000 buy-in | 6,683 players | $62,820,200 prize pool

Every year the winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event deserves some consideration when it comes to Best Tournament Performance. It’s the most prestigious tournament in the world and it’s the one and only tournament that everyone – professional or amateur – wants to win.

The fact that Swedish superstar Martin Jacobson (GPI#39) won this year’s Main Event makes it that more special. Known as one of the best players to have never won a major championship, Jacobson certainly made up for lost time, taking home $10,000,000 for first place, defeating the All-Euro final three that included Norway’s Felix Stephensen (GPI#384) and the Netherlands’ Jorryt van Hoof (GPI#633).

DAVIDI KITAI (BEL) WINS THIRD CAREER WSOP BRACELET

Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas NV | June 2014 | $3,000 buy-in | 810 players | $2,211,300 prize pool

Staying in Las Vegas, we take you back one month prior to the formation of the November Nine where Belgian star Davidi Kitai (GPI#6) would add a third WSOP gold bracelet, defeating 809 participants in the 3K No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed event, taking home $508,640 for his efforts. The win would see Kitai move into the GPI World Poker Rankings Top 10 shortly thereafter and he’s been a permanent member of the World’s elite group since.

The Triple Crown winner would have to survive the charge of several major event winners along the way including Vladimir Geshkenbein, Jackie Glazier, Olivier Busquet and 13-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, who seemed to think that Davidi was a Frenchman throughout the competition.

Kitai would go on to complete a terrific 2015 poker season, a season that included 2 wins and 11 Top 10 finishes.

CHRIS MOORMAN (UK) WINS WPT L.A. POKER CLASSIC

Commerce Casino, Los Angeles (Commerce) CA | March 2014 | $10,000 buy-in | 534 players | $5,126,400 prize pool

Just like Martin Jacobson, Chris Moorman (GPI#346) was on the shortlist featuring top players to have never won a major event … and after a few close calls along the way, the online poker legend finally had his chance to shine, winning the WPT L.A. Poker Classic. To this day, the LAPC remains one of the “must stops” on the live tournament circuit for many of the pros. The event has withstood the test of time. It is one of the few 10K buy-in tournaments still on the poker calendar.

Moorman, a 24-time online Triple Crown winner according to our friends at PoketFives, would defeat a fellow European on his way to the WPT title as international singing sensation – and WSOP bracelet winner – Patrick Bruel (GPI#1484) would finish in 4th position. Moorman would earn $1,015,460 for his efforts.

DOMINIK PANKA (POL) UPSETS McDONALD, WINS PCA

Atlantis Resort & Casino, Bahamas | January 2014 | $10,300 buy-in | 1,031 players | $10,000,700 prize pool

Before Vicky Coren-Mitchell had a shot at a 2nd EPT title in 2014, Canadian star Mike McDonald (GPI#41) had that same opportunity just a few months before the UK star … and once the 2014 PCA Main Event reached heads-up play, not many people gave a young man from Poland a shot at the title. But Dominik Panka (GPI#417) would pull off the upset, winning $1,423,096 at just 19 years of age.

Panka wasn’t done there. Just a few weeks after defeating McDonald at the PCA, he won the High Roller event at EPT Deauville, posting back-to-back victories on the circuit, proving that the PCA win was no fluke and that he was here to stay.

GPI EUROPEAN POKER AWARDS

The 2014 GPI European Poker Awards will take place on March 25th, 2015 at the Portomaso Marina Hilton Hotel in Malta.

Over 100 poker industry members have received their ballots and will cast their votes for all categories for the 14th GPI European Poker Awards. If you are a poker industry member and have not received your voting instructions via e-mail – or should you have any questions – please reach out to us at [email protected].

 

 

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About the author

Eric Danis’ passion for poker came at a very early age but it’s when writing about and covering the game he loves that Danis is most in his element. Danis is better known for creating www.PTPRpoker.com where he spent a few years covering poker events. Danis is also known for having worked on the poker shows Poker Eh! and The Pulse on the Quad Jacks Network.