The Epic heads up battle began with Annette Obrestad out chipping Reuben Peters about 4:1 – 2,800,000 to 600,000. The blinds begin at 8,000/16,000/2,000 and are set to go up soon. Even being outchipped 4:1 there is still plenty of room for play and I expect a good battle.
The heads up war started off slow. The first 12 hands did not have much action and no big pots, with Annette having a slight edge. However it would not take long for the chips to be in the middle.
Peters called from the button and Annette checked. The flop came down 9
6
4 and Annette bet out 29,000. Peters then raised it up to 85,000 and Annette announced she was all-in. Peters called just as quickly and turned over 6
4, which was ahead of Annette’s J9
for top pair. He had to sweat the turn and river, but his hand held up and he doubled. Could this be the start of the comeback for Peters? It certainly could be as he was now only a 2:1 dog with the blinds at 10,000/20,000/2,000. Here are the updated chip counts:
Annette Obrestad – 2,215,000
Reuben Peters – 1,100,000
Perhaps the Annette show had been canceled because Peters won another big hand. It started with Peters raising 55,000 from the button and Annette re-raising to 160,000. Peters called and the flop came KJ9. Annette lead out for 420,000 and Peters said he was all-in. Annette quickly threw her hand away and now we are nearly even, with both players having around 1,600,000. With the heads up match being so deep stacked you can expect it to last a while, unless two big hands run into each other. This is the first time all final table that Annette finally started feeling some adversity.
With near completely even chip stacks it was now anyone’s tournament to win. Peters had battled his way back up from a big deficit with an early double up and a few large pots after. It would be devastating for Annette to lose now after totally dominating the tournament. It wouldn’t be long after the last big pot that we would see the final hand.
It started with Peters raising to 52,000 from the button and Annette re-raised to 190,000. Peters called and they saw the flop of T63. Annette bet out 230,000 waiting for Peters reaction. Peters began counting his chips and looked like he was going to raise. After some time he finally declared “all-in.” Annette showed some rare emotion and seemed like she was about to make a crying call. After tanking, she finally reluctantly did make the call. Annette turned over 77 which was behind Peters’ AT who had flopped top pair with top kicker. The turn fell the 4, which did give Annette 4 more outs. She now needed a 7 or 5 to improve or it was over. When the river fell the 3, Peters let out a sigh of relief and won the monstrous pot! It wasn’t sure if it was over yet, but after a few counts Reuben Peters was declared the EPT Dublin Champion! He battled back being down more than 4:1 at the start of the heads up match in a tournament which Annette Obrestad seemed destined to win. Annette cashed €297,800 ($416,920) for 2nd place and Peters took home the title and is €532,620 ($745,668) richer. Here is a list of all the players who finished in the money:
1. Reuben Peters – €532,620
2. Annette Obrestad – €297,800
3. Reijo Manninen – €178,680
4. Trond Eidsvig – €127,630
5. Daan Ruiter – €105,510
6. Anders Pettersson – €83,380
7. Michael Durrer – €66,370
8. Thierry van den Berg – €47,650
9. Casper Hansen – €30,630
10. Andy Black – €30,630
11. Ludovic Lacay – €23,820
12. Ziad Kaady – €23,820
13. Kenneth Hicks Jr. – €20,420
14. Noah Boeken – €20,420
15. Martin Green – €15,320
16. Arshad Hussain – €15,320
17. Johnny Lodden – €10,210
18. Michiel Brummelhuis – €10,210
19. Simon Munoz – €10,210
20. Csaba Malnai – €10,210
21. Jan Veit – €10,210
22. Guillaume De La Gorce – €10,210
23. Kristian Kjondal – €10,210
24. Luca Pagano – €10,210
In one of the best comebacks in tournament poker, Reuben Peters is the EPT Season 4 Dublin Champion! It was a great tournament with lots of action and it was great following the players. It must be tough right now for Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, but she played very well. Congratulations to Reuben “seaanchor” Peters won his seat at PokerStars and the rest of the final table!
(Reuben “seaanchor”Peters courtesy of the PokerStars blog)