The Big Tournament You Probably Missed During the WSOP Frenzy

(Photo: Thehendonmob.com)

Austrian Mathias Habernig beat out a quality field of 234 eager poker players keen to take home a piece of the prize pool as 27 players were paid between €6,490 and €142,000 in Velden, Austria. Habernig’s reward for winning the tournament was a cool €109,000 first prize and the title of 2016 Intertops Velden European Champion.

(Photo: Pokerstars.com)

If you think that there was no way you could have taken part in this great tournament then think again. Intertops Poker had ran qualifiers for the opportunity to win a trip to Velden that you could have won for as little as $1! Yes, a single dollar! In the end Intertops took six lucky players to the tournament which not only included a seat in the poker tournament itself but a seat at an exclusive welcome dinner and a boat trip thrown in for good measure. This surely meant the players were in the best frame of mind for Poker when play eventually began.

PokerTube were on hand to live stream a lot of the play and uploaded many videos throughout the Main Event which you can view here on the website. Our coverage included Facebook Live Streams, Photos, videos and 360 degree images being posted throughout the event giving fans a unique look into the tournament and I imagine fueling their interest to try and get involved next time via the Intertops special offers. The streaming was clearly popular with the Internet with over 230,000 people tuning in to view PokerTube’s streams over the event's duration.

As well as congratulating the top finishers in the event which we will cover in a moment, let’s give a special mention to Intertop’s very own sponsored poker pro Tim O’Keefe, who blogs at 2fit2fold.com. Tim had a great run in the tournament and for a while he looked set to complete a fairytale run to the final table before his hopes were dashed when he unfortunately busted out of the tournament in 21st spot. But it was not all bad news for Tim as by lasting into the final 27 he turned his $100 satellite win into a €6,490 real money cash. Tim has had plenty to blog about recently as he played this event shortly after returning from a trip to the World Series of Poker and you can watch the following video to hear his thoughts when he spoke to PokerTube shortly after the event.

As for the tournament itself a number of Intertops Qualifiers did very well, the most notable and lucrative finish going to Intertops Online Qualifier Emil Hegedus who must be pinching himself right now after qualifying online and then making the final table, taking home a whopping €42,330 to add to his bankroll as he finished in 6th place.

The final hand was a fitting way to end the tournament and took place with Mathias Habernig holding €6.5m in chips to Jens Lakemeier’s €5.3m. The game was decided by a Five Card Omaha flip with the flop coming down 8s, 5h, Qs, 8c, Kd. On this seemingly sedate flop Lakemeier turned over Ah, 4c, 7d, Jd, Js for a pair of jacks before Habernig turned over a really big hand, the full house holding 5s, 7h, 7s, 5d, Qc. He then celebrating winning the tournament. Whilst always tough to finish second, Jens Lakemeier will have been pleased to have made a ICM calculated deal when heads-up, as he was destined not to win on this occasion. By striking the deal he ensured he still went home with an excellent cash prize of €120,000. Well done to both players.

The final table results for the Intertops Velden 2016 tournament were as follows:

1. Mathias Habernig - €109,000 **
2. Jens Lakemeier - €120,000 **
3. Johannes Wassmuth - €59,000
4. Stanislav Koleno - €42,000
5. David Urban - €32,000
6. Emil Hegedus - €42,330 - INTERTOPS ONLINE QUALIFIER
7. Marcel Jacob - €22,330
8. Rainer Muhlberger - €18,600
9. Thomas Sommerer - €14,800

** Denotes a deal that was made heads-up based on the ICM value of their stacks at the time.

The tournament was a success because Intertops put together some great offers that gave players the chance to play at a live event with amazing prizes and even if they did not get to travel to Velden, they could watch the action and follow the coverage online. PokerTube enhanced the event by ensuring plenty of videos, photos and interviews were posted to give fans at home the chance to take part in proceedings and also gave the players themselves a moment in the spotlight.