Matias Knaapinen
Finnish Player Takes Down €93,000 In Spain For Topping Largest EMOP Field To Date
September 27, 2010 – Matias Knaapinen from Finland has won the penultimate main event of season II European Masters of Poker, taking home the first prize of €93,000 for his efforts.
The €1,000 + €100 buy in event attracted the largest field in EMOP history with 431 taking part at Gran Casino, Barcelona, Spain.
Knaapinen got heads up with Lennart Konst of Holland on the 109th hand of play on the final table. Chip stacks were almost even with the Finn sitting on 4,295,000 and the Dutchman on 4,695,000 and on the 32nd hand of heads up play Knaapinen pushed all in with 3-3 and Konst called with Q-J suited.
The flop fell K-9-7 with two hearts giving Konst both straight and flush draws but a 6 on the turn and 7 on the river saw neither materialize and Knaapinen’s three’s held up to take send the title back to Finland.
The final table payouts were:
1: Matias Knaapinen (Finland) €93,000
2: Lennart Konst (Holland) €56,200
3: Sean Prendiville (Ireland) €37,150
4: Matti Konttinen (Finland) €23,320
5: Damir Horozic (Denmark) €18,570
6: Carlos Egea (Spain) €14,250
7: Viktor Olsson (Sweden) €12,520
8: Dermot Blain (Ireland) €10,800
9: Oleksandr Sharov (Ukraine) €9,070
Online qualification is now underway for the final land-based stop of season II of EMOP, the €1,500 + €150 buy-in European Masters of Poker main event in Casino de Venezia, Malta from November 17 to 20, 2010.
Online poker players can qualify for the seventh stop of the tour through regularly scheduled satellites and feeders on all poker sites on the Entraction network including premium partners’ 24hPoker.com, C4A.com, NoIQPoker.com, Pokerihuone.com, and Pokerdassi.com for as little as €2 or 200 VIP points.
There are 32 daily satellites feeding into the main weekly qualifiers which take place each Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 20:40 (CET).
Knappinen joins Manig Löser as EMOP champion. Löser won the most recent European Masters of Poker Bulgaria taking down €49,080 for topping the 260 strong field in Sunny Beach in August this year.
The other EMOP season II champions are Vladimir Mefodichev, Maciej Lipny, Timothy Timotheuo, and Giovanni Suetra.
For more details visit the European Masters of Poker website. Photograph courtesy of Pokeri.
About European Masters of Poker
EMOP is a live poker tournament series running in Europe. EMOP gives the recreational player opportunity to play big international poker tournaments with affordable buy-in. EMOP chooses to cooperate with the best casinos in Europe to give the participants an unforgettable experience. Partners in the Entraction poker network will send at least 200 qualifiers to each event.
The European Masters of Poker gives the gaming operator a unique possibility to create ambassadors for and loyalty to their brand. EMOP is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Entraction Group. Please visit the European Masters of Poker website for more information.
(European Masters of Poker Press Release)