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The EPT Berlin will not be remembered so much for Kevin MacPhee's €1m win as it will be for the brazen armed robbery that unfolded while cameras were rolling on Saturday.
The poker community was still in shock Sunday following news of the robbery, which had poker players scrambling and running under tables.
PokerStars, which sponsors the EPT Poker events including Berlin's first tournament (and perhaps the last after this incident), was more inclined to celebrate MacPhee's win than dwell on the armed robbery.
Today's final table, however, was the perfect tonic to end a week of highs and lows. It featured eight players who had each earned their place by playing the best poker of their lives, and they gave a terrific show of fearless deep-stack final table play. When we were down to three - Kevin MacPhee, Ilari Tahkokallio and Marc Inizan - any of them would have been a more than worthy winner. The other five weren't too shabby either.
In the event, our first EPT Berlin champion is that man MacPhee from Coeur d'Alene, in Idaho, USA. MacPhee, a serial qualifier to major tournaments on PokerStars, is better known as "ImaLuckSac" online, and his immediate reaction echoed the sentiments of that username.
"I am a luck-sack," MacPhee said. "What can I say? I ran extremely good and I had the nuts every time someone played back at me." Advised that he was now a millionaire, MacPhee said: "Yeah, that's nice. About time." MacPhee is 29-years-old.
Prior to Sunday, the Coeur D Alene, ID resident had earned a mere $175,725 in lifetime tournaments.
Ace King, Gambling911.com
