EPT Copenhagen result

EPT Copenhagen, DKr 50,000 No Limit Hold’em, 17-21st February 2009

Entrants: 462
Buy-in: DKr 50,000
Prizepool: $ 3,799,205

1. Jens Kyllönen, Finland, $ 1,120,815
2. Peter Hedlund, Sweden, $ 670,414
3. Anders Langset, Norway, $ 368,539
4. Jussi Nevanlinna, Finland, $ 281,153
5. Petter Petersson, Sweden, $ 231,761
6. Rasmus Nielsen, Denmark, $ 182,370
7. Eric Larcheveque, France, $ 144,377
8. Jonas Klausen, Denmark, $ 182,582
9. Mikael Lundel, Sweden, $ 62,690

With more than half the field coming from Nordic countries, it was little surprise that the winner of this year’s PokerStars.com European Poker Tour event in Copenhagen was a Nordic player. PokerStars player Jens Kyllönen, from Finland, takes home 6,541,920 DKK (€878,057) after beating Sweden’s Peter Hedlund heads-up.

The 19-year-old from Helsinki was among 276 players hailing from the Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland – from a record field of 462 players. He was also the first Finnish player to win an EPT since Patrik Antonius in Baden in season two.

As part of his EPT Copenhagen prize, Kyllönen also wins a seat in the €10,000 EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. Kyllönen has been playing poker for two years but only started playing full-time once he completed his army service. He mainly plays online and EPT Copenhagen was only his second big international tournament. He said: “I really like the EPT atmosphere and I’m planning to play the rest of the events this season. I’m pretty happy with the way I played here, although I was lucky with some coin flips as well. I don’t think it has really sunk in what I have done yet, but I feel pretty great.”

Runner-up Peter Hedlund, an EPT regular and one of the liveliest players on the circuit, won nearly €500,000 for his efforts. It was the 40-year-old Swede’s second EPT final – back in season three he won £36,000 for coming seventh at EPT London.

Nine Team PokerStars Pros took part in Copenhagen but none made the money. Italian Luca Pagano went deepest but was knocked out towards the end of day two. World champion Peter Eastgate, Norway’s Johnny Lodden and tennis legend Boris Becker – all sponsored by PokerStars – also made early exits.

The PokerStars EPT founder John Duthie said: “It’s great to see Finland back in contention at an EPT. Patrik Antonius was our last Finnish winner in season two and is now one of the best-known players in the world. Nordic players are always a threatening force at EPTs and in Copenhagen they have clearly demonstrated their huge talents.”