Eureka Prague a Huge Success, Unibet Latvia Result, University Stars

Eureka Prague Becomes a Record Breaker

The signs look good for the start of this year’s EPT Prague Main Event after the Eureka3 €1,100 event drew a record-breaking crowd of 1,315 entrants.

Smashing the previous record by more than 600 players, the tournament saw a plethora of pros and amateurs take to the felt, but when the betting had finished on Day 1B it was Erik Soderholm who held the chip lead.

With so many players packed into one room on Day 2 there was certainly little elbow room for those at the felt, but as they session has progressed the chips have certainly flow.

Indeed, the bubble burst earlier and at the time of writing the gargantuan field had been cut to just 151. At present it’s not clear who the overall leader is, but riding high at the top of the chip counts so far are some world-class players, including: Chris Moorman, Alexander Kravchenko, Stephen Chidwick and Martin Finger.

For PokerStars’ official updates, click here.

Feenstra Triumphs in Latvia

Dutch delight Rens Feenstra has taken down the latest Unibet Open in Latvia after defeating his compatriot Rick Jansen heads-up. Having anted-up alongside 206 runners inside Riga’s Royal Casino late last week, Feenstra managed to bob and weave his way to the final table with a threatening stack.

Although the early stages of the finale went very much in favour of Jansen – thanks in large part to the elimination of Denmark’s Jens Hansen – it was Feenstra who would finish the strongest. Indeed, heads-up it would be a rivered flush with Kd 2d that swung the momentum in Feenstra’s favour.

After stealing the chip lead it wasn’t long before Feenstra put the match beyond his opponent when his 10s 9h hit top pair on a 10d 2h 8h flop to take the lead against Jansen’s pocket fives. With things looking bleak a dejected Jansen rose from his chair as a blank turn and river saw the final pot pushed towards his opponent and new Unibet champion, Rens Feenstra.

€1,500 Unibet Latvia Main Event Final Result:

1 – Rens Feenstra – €75,100

2 Rick Jansen – €52,600

3 Jens Hansen – €33,804

4 Damian Mizinski – €25,040

5 Jarkko Mämmelä – €18,800

6 Kristaps Bertulis – €15,000

7 Anders Kjellerup – €12,500

8 Nicolas Storm – €10,000

9 Imro Sendar – €7,500

Winners from Waterloo

Over the last few years the University of Waterloo, Canada, has seemingly become a hotbed for poker talent. Indeed, according to a recent article by the Huffington Post, a string of well-known pros have graduated from the academic institution in recent years, including: Mike McDonald, Mike Watson, Xuan Liu and Steve-Paul Ambrose.

Throughout the points to a number of reasons for the student’s success, but Will Ma had his own theory as to why he and his peers have become so good at poker:  “It’s a small town and I think the fact it snows a lot I think is a pretty big factor in our success.”

Whatever the reasons, it seems that if you’re searching for the next poker star then the University of Waterloo could be the place to look.