European Poker Tour

Right now over on EPT live, Galwayman Fintan Gavin has just made it to the last 6 (and is second in chips) at the European Poker Tour in Barcelona, top prize almost 1.4m. We’ll be tuned in for the day. Although one of the less well-known faces in international poker, Fintan is no novice and is our local poker facilitator…

Fintan at work (Image: EPT)

We wish him the best of luck – and we’ll post updates later on.

As of 17:45 Fintan is not far off being chip leader, he’s knocked out Samuel Chartier and is well positioned to continue into the really big money. For his first ever entry in the EPT this is really a great achievement. Even if he’s knocked out now, which is unlikely, he stands to win almost 1/4m. 15 minute break now.

Fintan’s A 9 was enough to beat Chartiers K 10 to put Chartier out. But I’m sure he won’t be dissappointed with his €178,000 winnings.

18:10 – Play has restarted and we’re into a more exciting phase – the short stacks are under pressure and the blinds are bigger, so we should see some all-ins. Fintan still up there.

18:37: Fintan now chip leader, game hotting up…

19:15: Q Q and Fintan takes out Jason Mercier’s all in 7 7. Now well in the lead and minimum win of €227,000. What a game…

19:34: Dinner break for the players, Dinner break for us too.

20:29:Chip count as of now:

Fintan Gavin 2,530,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg 1,522,000
Dren Ukella 943,000
Davidi Kitai 662,000
Daniele Mazzia 572,000

21:17: Fint still 1m up on nearest player (Ruthenburg). He’s definitely confusing them… Ruthenburg the main competition thus far.

21:21: Now he’s taken Ukella out – final four. C’mon Fintan… From ETP:

Fintan raised to 130,000 and got a single caller in Dren Ukella. The flop came . Ukella checked over to Gavin and he led out for 200,000. Ukella paused briefly, then moved all in forcing Gavin to a major decision.

Gavin thought for about a minute or so before making the call. The players showed:

Gavin:
Ukella:

Gavin was in front with his middle pair, but Ukella has a flush draw and an overcard. He’d need them if he were to stay in the tournament. The turn brought the which was no help to either man. Ukella’s supporters were on their feet as the dealer put the on the river. His ace high was not good enough and he exited in 5h place. Along with a great story, Ukella will take home € 292,000.

Fintan continues to dominate and is now sitting on almost 3 million chips – 50% of the entire table. Although his play is somewhat unconventional – it’s certainly a winning formula.  The commentators seem a little confused as to how his showing of cards has worked out and Mercier, in his commentary, mentioned that Fintan has numerous tells. But whether he has doesn’t seem to have made a big difference!

Over at ETP Fintan has fans:

Daniel O Shaugnessy (Galway): i love him

anto (dublin ireland): fintan is a legend

22:08: And then there were 3.

23:04: Fintan still leading.

Fintan – 3,477,000
Sebastian Ruthenberg – 1,636,000
Davidi Kitai – 999,000

23:23: Disclosure – For anyone wondering why an archaeological & environmental blog would live blog the EPT – Fintan is an in-law of one of Moore Group and a good friend. And I took him for €80 in poker on his stag – which means that I am a world beating poker player! Dec.

23:46: It’s heads-up Fintan and Guthenburg. It was always going this way.

Fintan – ‘I’m a fish’ – Here we go.

23:59: There we go. What a game. Fintan finishes second. There will be celebrations in Galway this week.

Well done Fintan!

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 5:30 pm. It is filed under Uncategorized and tagged with European poker tour, fintan gavin, live blog, poker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.