Philipp Hartmann Crowned in the PokerStars King's Cup

The Pokerstars King’s Cup (PKC) took place from November 6 - 9, 2014 in the Czech town of Rozvadov at the King’s Casino. The Main Event with the €550 buy in featured a €200,000 guaranteed prize money.

The tournament attracted 415 unique players from 33 countries. They created a 551-entry field in total, increasing the prize pool from guaranteed €200,000 up to €267,235. A few famous players attended the event, among them Team PokerStars Pro Christophe De Meulder, EPT10 Deauville champion Sotirios Koutoupas and EPT10 Prague runner-up Georgios Sotiropoulos.

For the first time in PokerStars history, Pokerstars have introduced a starting day for the Main Event. Players started with the same starting stack as the players on days 1A and 1B, the tournament structure stayed the same but the level times were reduced to 15-minutes, instead of the 40-minute clock. All surviving players from the Turbo Day 1C joined the survivors of the days 1A and 1B on Day 2, when the play resumed with according to the planned structure with 40-minute levels.

Twelve players made the final day. The chip leader was German player Philipp Hartmann. He knew how to finish the job and become the €550 PokerStars King's Cup champion. Three players made a deal, leaving €5,000 in play for the champion.

Philipp Hartmann, Germany - €40,000

Daniel Effendy, Germany, (PokerStars Qualifier) - €29,856

Pavel Novotny, Czech Republic - €29,856

The 28-year-old Philipp Hartmann took €45,000, biggest cash of his poker career, after beating his fellow countryman Daniel Effendy, who qualified on Pokerstars, in the heads-up. Pavel Novotny, who represented Czech Republic playing on the home turf finished, 3rd to earn €29,856 - the same payout as Daniel Effendy. The last woman standing in the tournament was Lena Riemenschneider and she won €17,958 for her 4th place finish

Hartmann needed only one entry for his triumph, he paid into day 1A, and at the end of the day he had 82,300 chips which was enough to start day 2 as 33rd out of 198 remaining players.

PokerStars King's Cup final table results:

1st - Philipp Hartmann, 28, Germany, €45,000

2nd - Daniel Effendy, 28, Germany, PokerStars Qualifer, €29,856

3rd - Pavel Novotny, 33, Czech Republic, €29,856

4th - Lena Riemenschneider, 22, Germany, €17,958

5th - Petr Targa, 52, Czech Republic, €14,083

6th - Jens Steuber, 52, Germany, €11,064

7th - Damir Vasiljevic, 50, Croatia, €8,258

8th - Radek Stockner, 43, Czech Republic, €5,719

Action also included four side events, including the €550 Eureka PLO Championship event with 32 entries which created a €15,520 prize pool. Two-time WSOP finalist Michal Maryska was in the field, but it was Marcel Markus who eventually scooped the title and the €5,277 first prize.