Lots of family connections have popped up over the years within the poker scene. Fathers and sons; siblings; cousins and married couples – you name the connection; it’s been noted and reported at one time or another.

It’s easy to see how this could happen so often, seeing as poker can easily be transferred from the kitchen table at Christmas time to the tables of a local card room or casino.

Two more connections have popped here during Day 1A of Eureka Hamburg.

Jan von HalleJan von Halle has been involved in the German poker scene for a long time and has cashes dating back nearly 15 years. He’s made three WSOP final tables and amassed more than $300,000 in live cashes. He’s also famous for launching IntelliPoker, a German poker-coaching site. Within a year of its inception the site had a million sign ups and is seen by many as a major factor for Germany’s poker boom in the mid-naughties. Oh, and he’s married to former Team PokerStars Pro Katjer Thater!

Last night, his son Alex won a seat in the live satellite and both are playing today. He’s just starting off his poker career and will be happy to have half the success of his old man. His stack has dipped to the 25 big blind mark with around 10,000 so he has work to do if he wants to turn that satellite ticket in to hard-earned Euros. His dad on the other hand will enjoy his dinner more as he has grown his 25,000-starting stack up to around 38,000.

Those of you who watch the EPT television shows may well be familiar Jamila Von Perger after she appeared extensively in their coverage of EPT10 Barcelona, where she made it down to the last three tables. Previously – and maybe unfairly- she had been known as the other half of Manig Loeser, the well known German pro. After racking up more than $200,000 in live cashes, that is not the case anymore.

Maria Von PergerJamila will be playing later in the week after qualifying online but her mum Maria, who also won a seat online, is in today’s field. She’s only been cashing in live tournaments for just over a year but has already won nearly $9,000, so maybe there’s a fair amount of natural talent in that family. She’ll take nearly 50,000 into the dinner break.

Olga Iermolcheva won’t be joining her for dinner with a big stack after she falied to turn things around. She was joined on the rail by Dragan Stankovic, Thomas Kallinich, Olaf Kremsier, Detlef Lehner, Christos Makarion, Husein Besic, Bülent Avci and Uwe Gerstl.

Selected chip stacks:

Behzad Zarnegar – 67,000
Walid Abdi Ali – 64,000
Anders Wittorf – 62,000
Kai Di Stefano – 61,000
Niko Koop – 48,000
Lothar Meier – 35,000
Lasse Frost – 34,000
Alex Young – 23,00
Norbert Krull – 56,000
Behzad Zarnegar – 52,000
Kay Di Stefano – 50,000
Christopher Deinert – 42,000
Stefan Hundt – 22,500
Christian Stratmeyer – 33,000

The players are on a 45-minute dinner break.

Eureka Hamburg Key Facts:
– Players begin with 25,000 chips (an increase from Season 4’s 20,000)
– Blinds start at 25/50
– 10 – 12 45-minute levels make up Day 1A
– 45-minute dinner break after level 6 (roughly 6pm)
– Registration will close around 6pm.

Back to Top