Online Qualifier Wins Poker Stars EPT Tallinn
Kevin Santi was the winner of the recent European Poker Tour event held in Tallinn, Estonia, better known as the EPT Tallinn. What makes this such a particularly outstanding accomplishment is that Santi, of Norway, had just days prior won his seat in the tournament through a $530 PokerStars satellite.
On Day 4 of the event, Kevin Santi went into the final table second in chips, just behind chip leader Arnaud Mattern, a poker pro from France who most oddsters expected to win (he came in third). Runner-up to Santi was Konstanin Bilyauer, a 22-year-old student at Moscow University.
Although this was Kevin Santi’s largest live poker win, this year he also won $57,102 by coming in 127th in the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Estonia’s largest live poker festival, the cost to enter was €4,250, and Kevin Santi’s 1st prize was €400,000 (that’s $512,800 in US dollars). The total prize pool for the EPT Tallinn, after 420 players registered, was €1,596,000.
The next stop on the 2010 European Poker Tour is Vilamoura, Portugal, August 28 – September 2, followed by the EPT London, September 29 – October 4, which also happens to be a part of the London Poker Festival. The EPT Vilamoura and EPT London Main Event buy-ins are €5,000, but as with the EPT Tallinn, you can win your seat in an online Poker Stars satellite for only €5.45.
In last year’s European Poker Tour, more than 2,000 of the participants were online qualifiers.
