Door HansytheKing, geplaatst op vrijdag 25 maart 2011, 10:30. Views: 3.

Vanmiddag om 14:00 start de finaletafel van d EPT Snowfest in Hinterglemm. Aan deze finaletafel zien we van de 8 spelers maarliefst 3 Belgische spelers terug. Koen de Visscher mag als vijfde stack straks beginnen met 1.54.3000 chips op blindlevel 15k/30k met 3k ante. De tweede Vlaming is Philip Meulyzer met de derde stack van 1.758.000 en de laatste Belg is Kevin Vandersmissen. Hij is de algemeen chipleader met 4.512.000 chips.

Gisteren werd er van de laatste 24 spelers naar de laatste 8 spelers gekaart. De Nederlanders hadden nog één ijzer in het vuur maar Wim Bos lag er al snel af op een 23e plaatst.

Het is voor het eerst in de historie van de European Poker Tour dat er 3 spelers uit hetzelfde land aan de finale tafel zitten.

V.l.n.r: Koen de Visscher, Kevin Vandersmissen, Philp Meulyzer

Chipcount en payout finale tafel EPT Snowfest

Social Media

• Kevin Vandersmissen – Facebook - Twitter
• Philip Meulyzer – Facebook – Twitter
• Koen de Visscher – Facebook

Spelers profielen PokerStars

PokerStars maakt voor de finaletafel altijd een keurig profiel van de spelers die we de lezers niet willen onthouden.

Seat 1: Kevin Vandersmissen, 22, Sint Pieters-Leeuw, near Brussels, Belgium – 4,512,000
Former construction worker Vandersmissen has been playing poker for 2.5 years, the last year as a full-time pro. He specializes in online NLHE cash games but is also keen to learn Pot Limit Omaha so he can play more events during this summer's World Series. His aim is to win a WSOP bracelet. His best result to date was €150,000 in a €3k tourney in Barcelona last December and since turning pro, he has won over $440,000. Vandersmissen is good friends with Belgian Team PokerStars Pros Matthias and Christophe De Meulder along with the other two Belgian finalists. He aims to be the first Belgian to win an EPT but doesn't know what he'd do with the prize money as, he says, he already has everything he wants! "The money is just a bankroll boost" he said.

Seat 2: Giacomo Maisto, 39, Caserta, near Napoli, Italy – 986,000
Maisto took up poker – the Italian five-card version - some 15 years ago but switched to Texas Hold'em five years ago. Although sponsored, poker is not his full-time occupation; he runs a string of businesses including a call centre. He only played one EPT last season - in Prague – but didn't cash until this year. He won the DKK 15,000 event at EPT Copenhagen in February for approximately €48,000 and also had deep runs at EPT Vilamoura and EPT Vienna. He is being cheered on at Snowfest by a group of friends that includes serial EPT casher Nicolo Calia. Maisto's wife Antonietta is supporting him from home where she is looking after the couple's two young sons.

Seat 3: Vladimir Geshkenbein, 22, Russia – 1,678,000
As entries into the poker world go, beating ten-time WSOP winner Johnny Chan heads up at a PokerStars APPT high roller is hard to top. Vladimir Geshkenbein, who was barely out of his teens when he won that $266,705 in 2009, has also proved to be a mercurial talent here at Snowfest. Breaking through Day 1 as overall chip leader, the Russian has been an aggressive and constant threat at every table he's been on. Geshkenbein can usually be found playing $25/$50 cash games and has scored $417,740 in live winnings. He was born in Russia, grew up in Switzerland and now lives in Malta.

Seat 4. Philip "meuli4" Meulyzer, 27, Antwerp, Belgium - 1,758,000
Meulyzer started playing poker in 2004 when he discovered the game with friends and thought it would be cool to smoke big cigars and drink whisky while playing the game! He soon discovered online poker, kicking off in small stakes cash games. Philip is now a full time pro specializing in $2/$4 cash and occasionally $3/$6 and $5/$10. He also enjoys playing the Sunday online tourneys. Besides poker, he loves movies and is a keen soccer fan. He's an admin on PokerInfo.be and a prolific poster on PokerClub.be. He says Team PokerStars Pro Lex Veldhuis is one of the players who inspired him to get good at poker.

Seat 5: Denis Murphy, 30, Cork, Ireland – PokerStars qualifier - 991,000
Murphy has been playing poker for four years, the last two of those as a full-time pro. His game of choice is online 6-max cash games, either 400NL or sometimes 600NL. His best live result was fourth place out of a 3289-strong starting field in a WSOP 2010 $1,000 tournament. He won $162,568 for that achievement. Murphy, who won his seat to Snowfest in a $22 rebuy on PokerStars, has reached the final via a very up-and-down Day 4. He was planning on leaving Hinterglemm tomorrow but those plans will have to be shelved for now.

Seat 6: Morten Mortensen, 21, Copenhagen, Denmark – 780,000
Mortensen started playing poker almost three years ago. In 2010 he reached a handful of final tables, his biggest cash being for $67,000. He played his first EPT in Copenhagen in Febrary, busting late on day 2. He plans to play a lot more EPTs in future, probably Berlin and San Remo, and also this summer's World Series. "It's always a problem with the tax in Denmark, but Vegas is a good experience for me as a poker player," he said. Despite all of these trips his bread and butter are online tournaments, where he has already achieved numerous five figure cashes.

Seat 7. Cristian Dragomir, 32, Bucharest, Romania – PokerStars qualifier - 2,293,000
When Cristian Dragomir first took up poker seven years ago, he thought – mistakenly - he was the only full-time player in Romania. Actually there were about 30 Romanian pros at the time but very little live poker action. In 2007, Dragomir enjoyed his first taste of fame when his team came second in the PokerStars World Cup of Poker. He said: "That was a turning point for Romanian poker because it was on TV. People still talk to me about it as if it was yesterday." The team stayed very close and included Cristian Tardea who Dragomir reluctantly busted here in tenth place. In 2008, Dragomir gained fame again when he was involved in a notorious hand at the WSOP Main Event against Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth raised with AK and Dragomir called with 10-4, hitting a 9-10-7 flop. Hellmuth proceeded to call Dragomir an "idiot" and "the worst player in history" and earned himself a penalty, later overturned. Dragomir eventually finished in 29th place – his best result to date. He has played eight EPTs so far but this is his first cash. His wife Madalina is supporting him from home with the couple's young son Sasha.

Seat 8. Koen De Visscher, 25, Wilsele, Belgium – 1,543,000
De Visscher started playing poker on holiday in April 2006 and has been playing regularly ever since. He kicked off in €5 home games with friends but after a year started playing online. He's now a full time player and has focused on tournaments for the last year. One of his other hobbies is traveling which he can combine perfectly with poker. If he wins the tournament, he will consider buying an apartment but his main goal is just to keep playing. He lives with his girlfriend in Wilsele near Leuven.

Foto's Neil Stoddart - EPT / PokerStars