No Double Winner in London: Sebastian Pauli Denies Cody and MacPhee

The final table of EPT11 London started with not one but two former EPT champions – Jake Cody and Kevin MacPhee. These two were looking to make the history by claiming a second title but were denied the opportunity by the German Sebastian Pauli who clearly didn’t care much for their hearts’ desires.

Pauli started the final table with a dominant lead over the field and he hasn’t given up that lead at any point. Jake and Kevin may have been after the title number two, but the German had equal, if not greater, desire to grab the first one.

It was, as expected, a really tough final table and it took total of 11 hours to reach the final river. Eliminations came slowly and painfully, but they still came nonetheless, leading to the inevitable conclusion of every poker tournament – one guy holding all the chips.

Spaniard Pablo Gordillo, who was playing only his second-ever EPT event, making the same number of final tables, was the first one to go. It was during the third level that he called off for his stack but couldn’t win a flip against Killeen. Gordillo still adds another £51,900 to his winnings.

Jonathan Bensadoun of France would follow Gordillo to the rail soon. He ran his Ace-Queen into Pocket Kings of Artur Koren and couldn’t find enough help to keep him in the tournament. For his 7th place finish, Bensadoun took home £75,900.

Kevin Killeen would be a doom for the Polish player Jakub Mroczek. Killeen first called off Mroczek’s big three-barrel bluff holding only a fourth pair and then proceeded to take the reminder of his chips, subsequently sending him to the cage to pick up his reward of £104,200.

At this point, the dream of the double champion was still alive and well, as both pretenders were still in. However, the next departure cut the chances of this happening in half, as Jake Cody was sent to the rail. This was done by none other but Kevin MacPhee who caught a miracle on the turn to make sure he would be the only one with the shot at the history yesterday. Cody pocketed £133,800, £1,330 of which belongs to the ‘Eat with Jake’ winner James Raddon.

Artur Koren of Germany would go no further than fourth. He moved in with the short stack and was in a flip, but luck of the Irish worked out for Killeen this time and Koren was sent to the rail, earning £168,900 for his efforts.

Although there were some chop discussions when it was down to three players, they couldn’t find a mutually satisfactory agreement and the play continued as planned originally. One of the three had to go first, and that one turned out to be Kevin Killeen. Irishman did what he could, but his luck just ran out and he was busted in 3rd, picking up £220,500.

And there they were - Kevin MacPhee, looking for his second EPT title and Sebastian Pauli, young German player looking to crown his exceptional run in this tournament. And despite all the burning desire and all the years of experience, there simply wasn’t much MacPhee could do.

Poker gods favored Pauli and hand after hand, his stack grew at the expense of MacPhee. And when the final hand was dealt out, Kevin MacPhee of United States has officially become the runner-up, banking £308,500 while Sebastian Pauli claimed his first EPT victory, becoming the champion No 100 on the Tour, and banking £499,700.