In the world of high-stakes tournament poker, where every decision can mean the difference between victory and defeat, certain qualities set champions apart. 

Whether it’s having the endurance for a marathon heads-up battle or the ability to play your best poker while bursting for the toilet for an hour straight, European Poker Tour (EPT) champions have repeatedly shown that certain traits are key to their success.

This article delves into four defining moments that highlight the critical qualities of EPT champs. 

UNENDING PATIENCE

Tim Vance, EPT Copenhagen, 2008

A PokerStars Blog writer might not be the sharpest tool in the shed. We’re not the funniest, most handsome or most charming. But damn it, we can stay up late when the job requires it.

Collectively, we’ve witnessed countless heads-up battles play out well into the wee morning hours. One extreme case took place at the PokerStars Championship Macau in 2017.

With the final table already running late, several Blog staffers were forced to duck out early to catch their flight from Hong Kong to London Heathrow, just as Canada’s Elliot Smith reached heads-up play against Terry Tang, a fearless Chinese pro. “Don’t worry about it,” they were told. “I’m sure someone will win soon.”

The heads-up battle was still raging when they landed. Seriously. It took 10 and a half hours, five cups of coffee, and three “dinners” before Smith defeated Tang. “It was a gruelling, gruelling battle,” he told us when it was over.

The EPT has had its fair share of gruelling battles too. 

Ask any long-serving EPT staff to name the worst final table they have ever seen and most will undoubtedly say Copenhagen, Season 4 – an epic all-nighter that somehow managed to make time stand still.

No one could have predicted that the heads-up between Tim Vance, a gravel-voiced amateur player from the United States, and Soren Jensen, the local man from Aarhus, Denmark, would last so long. The final up to then had been at a heady pace, with Vance, a man who wore a cap on his head and his heart on his sleeve, swaggering past the opposition. Heads-up, all that would change.

The duel began at 1:40 am and it took another five hours to find a champion. When Vance finally found his winning moment (rivering the nut flush against Jensen’s flopped two-pair) he quickly bolted out of the tournament area, delaying his winner’s presentation.

Tournament staff, keen to get things wrapped up, wondered what to do before it was agreed that Vance had at least earned a cigarette break. Hell, we all had.

So, patience is a virtue when it comes to winning big PokerStars events. 

COMPOSURE (AND THE NEED TO PEE)

Sebastian Malec, EPT Barcelona, 2016

Waiting too long to go to the bathroom can result in some serious, long-lasting effects. Sebastian Malec, for example, waited too long and now he’ll be an EPT champion for the rest of his life.

The stage was the EPT Barcelona 2016 final table and Malec, a 21-year-old Polish prodigy who qualified for the €5,300 Main Event online for just €27, was playing the role he was seemingly born to play. Just two seats remained as Malec reached heads-up play against Israel’s Uri Reichenstein. but for Malec, sitting down was not an option. 

He desperately needed a pee long before the next scheduled break and danced around in between hands, kneeling on his chair to peel his cards and bet before standing up again. Despite his predicament, Malec played the final hand with perfection, and you might say needing a pee so badly helped him.

“Reichenstein was absolutely motionless at the table, but Malec was the complete opposite, bouncing up and down out of his chair and playing at least an hour standing up,” we wrote at the time. “He talked to himself, sometimes he sung to himself, he sucked on a straw, he ordered more drinks. 

“It seemed on occasion as though he was slightly melting down, but it was also clear that he was keeping his wits about him. “My happiness grows exponentially the longer we play,” he said. He couldn’t get enough.”

In the final hand, Malec had A♥ 3♥ and turned a flush on a board of J♠ 6♥ Q♥ 8♥ . It was rough for Reichenstein who had 10♥ 9♣ for a straight. “Fold so I can go to the bathroom,” Malec pleaded. 

When his request was denied the 8♦ hit the river and Malec set Reichenstein all in. “I think I’ve got it so if you call it’s all over baby, like Scotty Nguyen,” before wandering away from the table leaving Reichenstein to ponder a call that could end the tournament. Thinking out loud, Reichenstein said no one would speak like Malec does without having it. 

Malec, meanwhile, went to sit in the audience, sipped his drink, and even took a selfie with a spectator. “You’re about to win, huh?” the spectator asked. “Yes, I’m going to win. I’m the EPT Champion over here.”

Then, learning that Reichenstein had put the chips over the line, Malec sprinted back to turn over the winner, leapt up and down on the spot, and started weeping. They were tears of pure joy.

He shook Reichenstein’s hand. He was group-hugged by friends on the rail. But one thing we noticed watching the footage back? Malec doesn’t seem to leave and use the bathroom. 

Perhaps he waited too long.

COMPLETE HONESTY

Daniel Negreanu, EPT London, 2010

Telling the truth consistently is a cornerstone of integrity. It’s how you build trust, foster relationships, and strengthen your character, and when you uphold truthfulness, even when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable, you demonstrate courage and a dedication to doing what is right.

None of this has anything to do with poker. As long as you’re complying with the rules, go ahead and lie your butt off at the EPT tables. But Daniel Negreanu famously told the truth during a big hand at EPT London back in 2010.

Israeli player Angel Shlomi opened to five times the big blind (it was a different time, folks) with K♣ K♠ and that got a call before Negreanu called on the button with 10♦ 9♦ . The flop came 9♠ 5♠ 4♣ giving Negreanu top pair and Shlomi c-bet, which only Negreanu called. The Q♥ hit the turn and Negreanu called another bet before the 8♣ completed the board.

Shlomi bet once again but this time Negreanu – who still only had a pair of nines – raised more than four times his wager.

“I figure you’ve got aces or kings,” Negreanu told Shlomi as he weighed his options. Put yourself in Shlomi’s shoes – would he really say that if he didn’t have those hands beat?

The mind games worked and Negreanu’s bet got Shlomi to lay down the winner.

“Aces or kings were good, right?” asked a tablemate as Negreanu raked the pot. “Of course,” he replied, beaming.

GREAT GUT INSTINCTS

Jason Mercier, EPT San Remo, 2008

They say you’ve got to go with your gut, but that can be risky on such a big poker stage. One wrong move can cost you thousands of bucks and make you look foolish in front of an army of chat pros eating Cheetos from a chair they haven’t left in seven hours.

It’s not something PokerStars Team Pro Barny Boatman worried about at EPT Paris earlier this year, calling with a weak top pair against three streets of aggression from Eric Afriat then going on to win.

And thankfully, Jason Mercier didn’t have to worry about Twitch or YouTube comments back in 2008 when he risked his Main Event and reputation on an epic hero call at EPT San Remo.

Mercier was an online qualifier playing only his second-ever live tournament, yet he was fearless, confident and comfortable from the get-go. The American opened the hand in question with 9♠ 5♥ from under the gun, telling you everything you need to know.

Eric Koskas defended his big blind and checked in the dark before the 5♣ J♥ 6♦ flop. Mercier checked back his bottom pair and the 8♣ hit the turn. Koskas waited no time before overbetting the pot but Mercier stuck around.

The 8♥ river saw Koskas quickly shove and stand up, hands on hips. Mercier took off his shades and squirmed as he worked through the action in his head. He’d still have plenty of chips if he called and was wrong. But somehow, some way, he knew he wasn’t.

Today, if Mercier called and was wrong, chat pros would say he spewed and that Koskas was a genius and his unorthodox style won him the maximum.

But Mercier wasn’t wrong. Koskas had only 10♥ 3♠ and Mercier’s gut instincts were spot-on.

So put the Cheetos down and go for a walk, yeah?

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