Euro Challenge result

Consistency is the holy grail of poker and 20 year-old Peter Gelencser can certainly claim to have found it over the past two years, in Vienna at least.

The trainee journalist from Budapest, Hungary scooped €165,520 and first place at the PartyPoker European Challenge II at the Concord Card Casino in the Austrian capital that took place at the heart of the Spring Poker Festival between the 11-14 March.

Gelencser reached the final table in the same event in 2007 and with a big chip lead was the favourite to win but ended up finishing third behind eventual winner Branimir Brunovic of Croatia and top German pro Andreas Krause. This year he was not such a dominant force at the final table from the start but quite quickly looked like the eventual winner.

“I’m very happy,” said Peter. “I was disappointed not to win last year but to win this time feels fantastic. I was in a strong position going into the final table but couldn’t help but think it would go the same way as last year. Thankfully, it didn’t – I had such fantastic support from the rail and am glad I didn’t let anybody down.”

There must be something about Vienna for Gelencser as his only success between his 2007 third place and victory in 2008 was a win in a €500 event in the same city. “Vienna is a good place for me,“ he added. “Poker isn’t that big in Hungary yet but we have some excellent players coming through.

A PartyPoker spokesman said: “Peter looked like the obvious winner in 2007 so we are happy he finally converted a dominant stack into a title in 2008. There’s little doubt that he is one to watch and we expect him to be even more successful in years to come.”

Peter beat local pro Josef Klinger heads-up and went into the one-on-one with an overwhelming chip lead. Gelencser had in the region of 2.4 million while Klinger had 200,000. Klinger, however, was another who has form at the Concord after winning the title in 1999 and 2003 and he embarked upon a remarkable comeback.

Klinger kept doubling up and amazingly got himself almost even in chips before the Hungarian struck the hammer blow. Klinger’s AJ off suit looked a little shaky all-in against Gelencser’s pocket nines after J 10 8 on the flop. The turn brought an A but the river card 7 gave Peter the straight and the title and sparked a delighted celebration.

The €3000 + €150 buy-in main event, the PartyPoker European Challenge II was the highlight of the 14th annual Austrian Spring Poker Festival.

Amongst those who took part included Sigi Stockinger, Andreas Krause, Michael Keiner, Marcel Luske, Roland De Wolfe, Ciaran O’Leary, Katharine Hartree, Alexander Kravchenko, Ian Frazer, Rino Mathis and Christoph Haller.

Final results:
1. Peter Gelencser (Hungary) €165,520
2. Josef Klinger (Austria) €85,000
3. Siegfried Rath (Austria) €50,000
4. Alex Leviev (Austria) €37,000
5. Stefan Rapp (Austria) €30,000
6. Bernd Stadlbauer (Austria) €25,000
7. Tamas Gombkoto (Hungary) €20,000
8. Dave Ulliott (UK) €15,000
9. Philipp Roch (Germany) €10,000
10. Benjamin Mirsaidi (Germany) €8,000