Father-of-three Hollink was the first ever EPT Grand Final champion back in Season 1 in 2005. The veteran Dutch pro has played numerous EPTs since but has never again mirrored that early success. Before reaching Vilamoura this year, he wrote on his blog that he was likely to bust in the first few days so he would have plenty of time to play golf. How wrong he was! His last EPT cash was San Remo in Season 4. He also became the first ever Dutch WSOP bracelet winner when he won the $10,000 Limit Hold'Em World Championships in 2008 for almost $500,000. He is currently the final table short stack but still in with a chance of being the first ever double EPT champion.
British pro Sam Trickett soared into the lead at EPT Vilamoura when he won a massive pot to knock out Italian Marco Leonzio. That made him the first player to over the 2,000,000 chip mark. Trickett has been playing poker, both live and online, for around six years. This is his third EPT, but first cash (he has played the last two EPT London events). His best live result to date was runner-up to Jason DeWitt in the WSOP $5,000 NLHE event this summer for over $500k but he has had several other big scores including fourth place in the 2008 WSOP $5k NLHE event and winning the Luton GUKPT in 2008.
Coutinho has played two EPTs so far – San Remo and Vilamoura last season – but this is his first EPT cash. He was training in physical education until 2005 and turned pro as a poker player around three years ago. This is his best live result but he has made the final of several major online tournaments. He said: “I’ve been doing well online so I thought eventually I had to make a final table in a live event as well.” He has come second and third in major online events as well as coming second in the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance tournament. Last December, he came 11th here in Vilamoura in the €1,000 PokerStars Solverde Poker Season main event.https://www.wfgfsj.com/live-reporting/2010-pokerstars-ept-vilamoura/main-event/ipn-browse.htm?x=post
Jason doesn’t like long-haul flights much so he has only played one EPT before - Copenhagen in Season 5 (and he didn’t cash). He has scored a couple of minor cashes in the live arena with a $2,025 finish in a $1k event at this year’s WSOP and another $2,099 in another Vegas tournament in July of this year but he’s mainly an online pro, playing as “JaspudUF”. He’s cashed for $428,025 in PokerStars tournaments..and has made several other five-figure scores. His biggest online win was $42,000. According to Lee’s twitter account, he “loves working out, kickboxing and making people laugh”. He’s being railed in Vilamoura by his great friends Norwegian pro Annette Obrestad and American Scott Montgomery.
PokerStars qualifier Martin Jacobson had a rough Day 4, losing several flips which massively dented his stack, but the talented pro has still managed to make the final table. He already has a string of great results to his name including third place at EPT Budapest for €197,904, runner-up at WPT Venice last year for €238,840 and a fourth place finish in the World Series $1,500 side event this summer for $183,345. His live tournament winnings are already close to $1 million.
PokerStars player Toby Lewis, 20, was already thriving when he won a big pot on Day 4 against Swedish PokerStars qualifier (and former chip leader) Martin Jacobson. Lewis, who hails from Southampton but now lives in London, has played several EPTs and cashed in Prague and the Grand Final last season. He also came 7th at the PokerStars IPT event in Venice for €25,000 and 12th at the recent PokerStars Russian Poker Series event in Riga for €5,250.
Teddy Sheringham is an England soccer legend who scored over 350 goals in a 23-year career that included spells at Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur. His achievements in the game include winning the Premier League, FA Cup and the Champions League. He also played for England 51 times, scored 11 goals and was part of two World Cup squads. Since turning to poker in recent years, he has some impressive results including his biggest cash - 14th place in last year’s WSOP-E Main Event for ￡40,481. That result was followed a few weeks later with 49th place at EPT London for ￡ 11,600 and he came 103rd at the EPT Grand Final last season for €20,000. Teddy started Day 4 having already played six holes of golf in the EPT Vilamoura Fairways & Felts Challenge alongside Daniel Negreanu and Marcin Horecki.
The manager of the Mughal Clay Indian restaurant in the marina is very sad today, because tomorrow we will be gone. Eight players remain of the 384 who started, and before this day is out and the EPT paraphernalia dismantled and shipped to London for the next one, we will have ourselves a brand new champion.
Britain proved itself a poker nation to be reckoned with last season, boasting two winners in the shape of Jake Cody (Deauvilel) and Liv Boeree (San Remo), and as we head into this final table, the British contingent is quite simply dominating.
WSOP $5,000 NLH runner up Sam Trickett and Toby "810ofclubs" Lewis spent much of yesterday taking turns at being the chip leader, and right now there is almost nothing in it - Lewis leads by just 4,000 chips, or two antes. Between them, they have around 60% of the chips in play.
In third place, in possession of a further 15% of the chips, there is a third Brit. Former English international footballer and Friend of PokerStars Teddy Sheringham is proving that he is as dangerous at the poker table as he is on the football pitch, and is in with a real shot at adding an EPT title to his trophy cabinet.
But while most of the chips are in the hands of the UK, this is not a done deal for anyone. Bringing up the rear with around 11 big blinds is the only finalist who knows what it's like to win one of these things, Rob Hollink. Hollink is the sole remaining representative of the Netherlands after Erik van den Berg and his orange woolly hat busted out in ninth place yesterday afternoon. He won the EPT Grand Final back in 2005 and became the first Dutchman ever to win a WSOP bracelet in 2008, and coming fresh off of two final tables at this year's WSOP, Hollink is clearly on form. If he can find an early double up, he could well become the first person ever to win a second EPT title.
Also still in the mix are American online pro Jason “JaspudUF" Lee, EPT Budapest finalist Martin Jacobson and Frederik Jensen who came third in the €5,000 NLH side event at last season's EPT Grand Final.
Yesterday's play went faster than an open bag of Haribo in the press room, and if we up that pace today, it could all be over very quickly. Play is due to start at noon GMT+1, so don't go anywhere.
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