EPT Snowfest: Baekke leads all day to head Alpine final table

Yesterday’s wrap, in case you didn’t see it, was entitled “Baekke leads all stars in Alpine thriller“. We try to provide fresh content daily on PokerStars Blog, but that title could certainly get a second airing tonight, and not just because we’re recycling enthusiasts.

Allan Baekke was the dominant force on day three of the inaugural EPT Snowfest, leading the field as it was sliced from more than eighty to the final 24. Today, when those 24 were trimmed to the last eight, he was again the prime mover. The 27-year-old from Copenhagen, Denmark, known online as “Sifosis”, is the chip leader heading to the final table, with 4,688,000 chips. This is momentum, and then some.

Allan Baekke, led from the word go

Baekke’s charge today began on the very first hand he saw. After three betting the fearsome Nasr El Nasr, Baekke faced an all in shove from the German for something like half a million chips. A quick re-glance at the cards later and Baekke called with his A♦K♦. El Nasr’s A♣7♣ never caught up.

Neither did anyone else. Russell Carson, Brent Wheeler and the Team PokerStars Pro Johannes Strassmann were the men who came closest, each also bagging up more than two million to take to the final table. That full line-up is as follows:

Allan Baekke, Denmark, 4,688,000
Russell Carson, Canada, 3,463,000
Brent Wheeler, USA, 3,096,000
Johannes Strassmann, Germany, 2,034,000
Jonathan Schroer, USA, 972,000
Alain Medesan , Romania, 919,000
Lukas Baumann, Austria, 728,000
Daniel Van Kalkeren, Netherlands, 396,000

There’s a lot of talent there, and some dangerous unknowns. Wheeler has been honing his game in Europe over the past season and is due this big one; Russell Carson has played pretty much impeccable poker to tear through this event.

Brent Wheeler: in the chasing pack

Russell Carson: tore through day four

Johannes Strassmann: a final table smile

Alain Medesan continues an excellent show from Romanian players this season, and Daniel Van Kalkeren is the last member of a sizeable Dutch contigent going deep. Jonathan Schroer, meanwhile, is the latest chess player to make a successful transition to poker. He’s International Master level over the chequered board, and has been a big stack throughout the four days at Snowfest.

Alain Medesan: fist-pumping

Jonathan Schroer: poker is the new chess

For all that, it might have been even more formidable. In addition to El Nasr, we also lost the likes of Richard Toth, Jim Collopy, Lee Gaines, Alexander Debus and Max Lykov today. The latter had been a serious challenger to land the first ever EPT Main Event double, but yet again that particular prize remains elusive.