Day 1, Level 4 of the St. Maarten Open

The Everest Poker qualifiers have just finished their dinner break and are back at the tables. The blinds are now 100 - 200, and chip average is at 18,837.

Hubert Lahaye and Thorsten Schwesig are at 21,000 and 20,000 respectively. Hubert doubled up at the end of round 3. He had AK and KK3 came on the flop, Hubert went all in on the turn and doubled his pot.

Arie Groen didn't have the same luck unfortunately. He lost 10,000 with Q's vs. A's and no help from the board.

Lex Ruben is still in the game with a strong 19,500 chips.

Guillaume Poupart lost a big pot with J's vs. A's and no help from the board.

Our Brit, Fari Badiemansour is our Everest Poker chip leader with 24,500.

Kick Off of the 2008 St. Maarten Open

We're here on the beautiful Caribbean Island, St. Maarten part of the Dutch Antilles, for the 2008 St. Maarten Open directed by TK Poker Events and sponsored by Everest Poker.

Literally 2 minutes from the airport, there's never a dull moment on beaches of the Sonesta Maho Hotel or at the tables of the Casino Royale.

Everest Poker sent 6 qualifiers to St. Maarten to play in the $3,000 No Limit Holdem Main Event.

From left to right, Guillaume Poupart from France, Hubert Lahaye and Lex Ruben from the Netherlands, Thorsten Schwesig from Germany, Arie Groen from the Netherlands and Fari Badiemansour (not shown) from Great Britain.

There are just 3 minutes left in level 1 and all 52 players are still in the tournament. Blinds are at 25 - 50. Initial chips were 15,000.

EPEC 2009 - Estavayer le Lac - Suisse

More than 60 French players were here and ready for this live event!

After more than 8 hours of bluffs, limps, raises, re-raises, the 2 winners are kaya13 and blacksconss.

kaya13's opponent was shortstacked and went all-in. She called and landed her pair on the flop.

On the other side, blacksconns and juls were almost stack egual, one go all in and the other follow... After the cards talked to blacksconss...

Congratulations to them both and see you in Sardinia.

EPEC Belgium, third winner

Yesterday, Monday 1st December, Bert de Brabandere won the third EPEC live qualifier in Belgium.
He had to compete against 170 other poker players. And after 8 hours of playing, Bert had won through.

Great achievement Bert! and good luck in Sardinia.

Final table

Bert

Live qualifiers are happening all over Europe - check www.everestpoker.com for details of one near you. Online qualifiers will kick off early next year.

EPEC Belgium

We have our first two winners from Belgium for the EPEC final!

On Thursday, 25th November, Xander won the first live EPEC in Belgium. He beat 123 players in Leuven.

Laurens won the second live EPEC qualifier in Leuven on Friday, 26th November. He beat 169 poker players.

We still have 2 seats available for Belgium for the live final!!

Xander & Laurens congratulations!

Xander Verbeke, screen name: dEUS52
Laurens Polus, scree name: Laaisels

Xander

Finale table with Laurens

EPEC Qualifier in Bologna: a local celebrity is the winner!

With qualifiers last week in Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy the EPEC Live Qualifier tour stopped in Bologna, in a lively night club right next door to the oldest University in the world.

After a generous Italian buffet, the tournament kicked off with knocked-out players able to join the dance party in the club, the hottest spot in Bologna.

The entertaining final table gave us two winners: Emanuele Cocchi, a young student, and a local TV celebrity, Jack Bonora. Jack is the host of several TV football shows on the regional channel and he's also the presenter of the Poker Sportivo Show, the first Italian talk show dedicated to Texas Hold'Em. Now he will join us in Sardinia for the EPEC Finale not only as a reporter but as a player too!

Jack Bonora and Emanuele Cocchi