Benny Spindler raised from under the gun plus one to 100,000 and Andre Klebanov called from the small blind. The flop came down 
and both players checked to see the 
land on the turn. Klebanov bet 130,000 and Spindler called.
The 
landed on the river and Klebanov bet 260,000. Spindler gave it some thought and then mucked his hand.
The cards are in the air for the final table of the 2011 PokerStars.com EPT London Main Event.
Level: 27
Blinds: 25,000/50,000
Ante: 5,000
Welcome to the final day of the 2011 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London Poker Festival Main Event. At the end of the day, we'll have a winner crowned from one of the eight remaining players, which sets the stage for a great day of poker to come.
Leading the way into the final table is Brit Martins Adeniya. He's got a pretty big cushion over Mattias Bergstrom in second place -- 4.736 million in chips to 3.62 million -- but that doesn't necessarily mean he's the one we'll be crowning champion at the end. Young stars Benny Spindler, Kevin Iacofano and Steve O'Dwyer are also in contention and Juan Manuel Pastor provides the speed bump of a Team PokerStars Pro.
Each player has locked up ￡64,000 in prize money for making it this far, but with ￡750,000 up top, they should all be salivating at the opportunity in front of them. To put that into context, given today's exchange rate that's over $1.15 million to the winner.
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miroslav Benes | 370,000 |
| 2 | Andre Klebanov | 2,730,000 |
| 3 | Stephen O'Dwyer | 1,250,000 |
| 4 | Juan Manuel Pastor | 1,915,000 |
| 5 | Benny Spindler | 3,435,000 |
| 6 | Kevin Iafocano | 2,685,000 |
| 7 | Martins Adeniya | 4,736,000 |
| 8 | Mattias Bergstrom | 3,620,000 |
Play is set to kick off at noon local time and PokerNews will have all the coverage. Be sure to follow along, you won't want to miss a thing.
PokerStars qualifier
There’s one at most EPT final tables, an online qualifier that had dreamt of making it to the final table, but hadn’t actually thought it would happen; Miroslav Benes assumes that mantle at EPT London.
Benes, who owns a company that produces tools for fixing machines, is a keen recreational player who focuses on online tournaments. Given the field he’s had to navigate to make it this far, it seems that his leisure time has been well spent.
He’s only had one significant live cash: sixth in the PokerStars Prague Open in 2010. So what does it feel like to have made the final table of an EPT? “It feels like a big success already because I qualified online. I just came here with my girlfriend for the trip, I didn't think I'd make it this far.”
Benes may be starting the final as a short stack -- just seven-and-a-half big blinds -- but the online qualifier literally has nothing to lose. He's already guaranteed himself ￡64,000 and an early double up or two will put him back in contention with a chance for a six-figure score.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars.
Andre Klebanov started playing poker online when he was 18. At first he only played sit-and-gos, but later started playing multi-table tournaments.
London is his second EPT. He was down to 4,000 chips in the second level of the tournament and was sure he was going to bust early on Day 1, but he managed a come back -- one of several over the last five days.
Klebanov has dual nationality -- he was born in Belarus, but he now lives in East Germany.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars.
Steve O'Dwyer hails from the United States, originally. He's from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, but spent his most recent years residing in Charlotte, North Carolina. O'Dwyer owns a bachelor's degree from East Carolina University, where he studied communications and broadcasting. He is 29 years old.
Recently, O'Dwyer relocated to Malta in order to be able to play online poker again. This EPT London final table won't be played online, but O'Dwyer does quite well for himself in the live poker realm as well.
His first-ever cash came back in 2007 when he finished in the money in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. In December of 2009, O'Dwyer earned his largest live score to date after placing sixth in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for over $200,000.
Earlier this year, O'Dwyer made the final table of the North American Poker Tour's Mohegan Sun Main Event, finishing in eighth place. He then tasted victory after winning a $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event at the Bellagio Cup VII in Las Vegas for $259,452. A month later in August, he won the Epic Poker League's $1,500 Pro-Am event for $43,810. At the last EPT stop, O'Dwyer finished fifth in the €10,000 High Roller for €46,900. His total lifetime tournament earnings amount to $1,114,167.
Team PokerStars Pro
Juan Manuel Pastor started out in media marketing before focusing on playing poker. He learned the basics of the game from his grandfather, but what started out as a fun pastime soon turned into a serious money-making opportunity and he is now one of the most successful Spanish players on the circuit as well as an acclaimed poker commentator and broadcaster.
Pastor’s first real break was two top-eight finishes in Barcelona at the 2006 World Heads-Up Poker Championships. He also thrived in regional poker events in the Campeonato Espana de Poker including taking down a $600 No-Limit Hold'em tournament in 2008 for €22,200. He has also had several deep runs at EPT events, including 54th place at the Season 6 Grand Final for €30,000.
Overall, Pastor has earned nearly $220,000 in live tournament winnings. His most recent cash was ten days ago when he bubbled the final table of the PokerStars Estrellas Ibiza event for €7,450.
Pastor is married with two sons and a daughter.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars.
PokerStars player
This is Benny Spindler’s second deep run in the EPT London Main Event -- he finished 12th here two years ago for ￡28,000. That result followed his biggest-ever cash -- and his first brush with fame -- when he came third at the 2009 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $1.1 million. Spindler’s other huge result was second place in last season’s EPT Grand Final High Roller for €316,000 (the event won by Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier).
Despite all these great results however, Spindler is planning to ease up on live events for a while and concentrate on playing Pot-Limit Omaha online, where he frequents some of the largest games around. He took up poker in 2006, starting in the micro limits before grinding his way right up to the high-stakes cash games.
Originally from Darmstadt in Germany, Spindler has been living in London for the last year. He said, “I like London and a lot of my friends live here... like Sebastian Ruthenberg, Philip Gruissem, Tobias Reinkemeier and Fabian Quoss”.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars.
Kevin Iacofano is 26 years old and moved to Las Vegas in 2007 in order to pursue a career as a professional poker player. He's a Cleveland native originally and known to be one of the best online poker players in the world.
Iacofano is making his second EPT final table of 2011, albeit in two different seasons. Back in February, Iacofano final table Season 7's Copenhagen stop, eventually finishing in fourth place for $183,580. That is by far the largest score of his career. The other notably large score from Iacofano came from a 2009 World Series of Poker final table in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event. In that event he placed third for $96,128. Heading into this final table, Iacofano has $439,766 in live tournament winnings.
Online, Iacofano holds over $875,000 in winnings on PokerStars and one WCOOP bracelet coming in 2009 when he won Event No. 8 for $64,000.
Iacofano is an avid sports fan, following the Cleveland Browns, Cavaliers and Indians. He's also a fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes.
