Steven King Wins European Short-Handed Poker Championship

The Winamax Poker Open €550 buy in main event was the biggest 6 max tournament held in Europe (disclaimer: to our knowledge) with 656 participants. As you would expect with an event sponsored by a French poker site the field was mainly from France but at the end of it all English poker pro Steven King took the lion's share of the money after a deal heads up with Belgian player Michael Gathy. 

This was the first time D4 Events has offered re-entries into a tournament with this level of buy in. 26% of the players who busted out on Day 1A took the opportunity to re-enter on Day 1B including the eventual winner Steven King. Interestingly the player who knocked Steven out on Day 1B, Jean-Claude Marets also made the final table.

Winamax also paid out 9 free entries to players who won good beat jackpots by hitting a straight flush and bounties for knocking out their pro's.

Big names in attendance included Ludovic Lacay & Michel Abecassis.

The event was so popular with players that Marvin Brailly who could not board his flight from France made his way to the nearest port, got a ferry to Dover, a train to Birmingham, a bus to Liverpool and then another ferry to Ireland! He ended up finishing on the bubble and won a free entry onto the 2012 event.

This was the third year of this event and it is growing to be as popular as The D4 Events European Deepstack Poker Championship. In year one the field was 141, year two 313 and now 656. Next year it is expected to be even bigger. 

D4 events is now taking this event on tour with stops coming up in Luton, Vienna and Coventry over the next few months and then it is time for the players favourite - The European Deepstack Poker Championships where over 1000 players are expected to participate in the main event. This is currently the largest un-sponsored poker event in Europe with over 90% of players buying in direct.

To see the full results please click here

Update from the European Short-Handed Poker Championships

656 players are now down to 20 at the record-breaking D4 Events European Short-Handed Poker Championship sponsored by Winamax. Leading the biggest field assembled in a European 6 Max tournament is Englishman Steven King. Hot on his heels is Irishman Eoin Starr. Behind them is chasing pack made up of mostly French players.

For live updates including a live stream please see http://www.d4events.com/page11/index.php

There is also a selection of Youtube videos from the event so far at http://www.livestream.com/d4eventstv

First Name	Last Name	Nationality	Chips
Steven	King	English	1532500
Eoin	Starr	Ireland	1462000
Jean Claude	Marets	French	1455000
Michael	Gailly	Belgium	997500
Jonathon	Marmard	French	828500
Jamel	Kechroud	French	740000
Thibault	Richard-Folian	French	709000
Ivan	Tonani	Italy	679500
Eddy-Laurent	Claude	French	674500
Julien	Calamote	French	631500
Arnaud	Gautier	French	549000
Paulo	Dos Santos	Portuguese	546500
Thomas	Pruvot	French	457000
Patrik	Kaltrud	Norwegian	391000
Samuel	Bailleux	French	362000
Thibault	Delaye	French	343000
Yann	Lenir	French	242500
Romain	Theault	French	210500
Charles	Ferrieres	French	194000
Robert	Castant	French	153500

Jehan Zaib wins the English Deepstack Poker Championship

After a 3 hour long heads up battle Jehan Zaib overturned a big chip deficit to defeat Amir Masood and claim the title and £27,850 prize money. Amongst the 225 players were previous D4 Events Deepstack Champions Amy Trodd, Thomas Luther as well as established pro's such as Paul Jackson (making his 3rd D4 Deepstack cash in a row), Karl Mahrenholz, Mickey Wernick, Steve Jelinek, Stuart Fox, Julian Thew & Mark McCluskey. 

There was no luck for Mark McCluskey in the main event but he took down the £300 side event. It was a good weekend for the 3 travelling Dutch players as Wim De Jong won the £200 side event and his friend Ron Mathijssen made the final of the Main Event.

Bankroll Supply had 17 players in the field and Jamie Shaw made the final table for them. Red Hot Poker's qualifier Andy King went a couple of places better than Jimmi Lee in Luton which meant he won a free seat into another D4 Events €550 event as part of Red Hot's "Build Your Own Poker Package" promotion.

Next up for D4 Events is The Winamax European Short-Handed Poker Championship in Dublin this week. Over 500 players are already fully paid or qualified and the total number is expected to top 650 - more than double the 313 who played last year and setting a new European record for a 6 Max event. Following that are more 6 Max events in Luton, Vienna and Coventry before The European Deepstack Poker Championship returns to Dublin in February 2012.