Every Past EPT London Final Table Including Coren Mitchell's Famous 2006 Win

October 10, 2022

The PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) returns to London, United Kingdom for the first time in eight long years between October 18-28, 2022. Once a mainstay on the EPT, London has not hosted an EPT Main Event since doing so in 2014 when the EPT was in its 11th season.

London was where Victoria Coren Mitchell, then simply known as Victoria Coren, won her first EPT Main Event title, becoming the first female EPT Main Event champion. Eight years later, in San Remo, Italy, Coren Mitchell became the EPT's first-two time champion. Only Mikalai Pobal has achieved the same feat since, although Kevin MacPhee came agonizingly close in 2014, when he finished second to Sebastian Pauli in the EPT London Main Event, four years after taking down EPT Berlin.

Coren Mitchell's victory aside, there have been some special EPT London Main Events. For example, the 2008 festival went down in history as being the first EPT London Main Event to award its winner a seven-figure prize. American Michael Martin returned home with £1,000,000. That was also the one and only year that at least one player from the United Kingdom or Ireland has not taken a seat at an EPT London Main Event final table.

Four players have a brace of EPT London Main Event final table appearances. Norway's Jan Sjavik finished third in 2006 and seventh in 2013, Steve O'Dwyer was the runner-up in 2011 and third in 2013, while Frenchman Antony Lellouche busted sixth in 2007 and eighth in 2008. Benny Spindler won in 2011 and was the first out from the last EPT London Main Event final table run.

Season 1 – 2004

The inaugural EPT London Main Event took place in 2004 and saw 175 players pay £3,050 to enter. John Shipley triumphed that day, defeating fellow Englishman John Falconer heads-up to secure a £200,000 payday.

Shipley continued playing poker until 2015, and includes a third-place finish in a $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Series of Poker (WSOP) to his name.

Now veteran players Noah Boeken, Marcel Luske, and Julian Thew were present at Shipley's final table.

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Season 2 – 2005

By the time EPT London rolled around again, the tour had been making waves across Europe. The £3,050 buy-in remained the same, but 242 players turned out in force, creating a £708,630 prize pool.

Mark Teltscher emerged victoriously and received £280,000 for his efforts. Two year's later, Teltscher's name was shrouded in controversy after PokerStars disqualified his sister, Natalie, after winning the 2007 World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event after the online poker site deemed it was not Natalie in control of the account.

Teltscher played at the recent EPT Barcelona festival, so do no be surprised if he turns up in London and attempts to win the Main Event for a second time.

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Season 3 – 2006

A slightly higher buy-in of £3,550 was not enough to deter players from flocking to the EPT London Main Event in 2006. A then record field of 398 created a £1,393,000 prize pool, the first weighing in at seven figures.

Of course, this was the year Coren Mitchell did it for the ladies and walked away with the title and £500,000. It was at this final table where Jan Sjavik enjoyed the first of his two EPT London Main Event final tables, and also where the late Chad Brown finished in fifth place.

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Season 4 – 2007

EPT London's popularity continued growing, and 392 players paid the new buy-in of £5,400, resulting in a £2,038,400 prize pool. Lebanon's Joseph Mouawad defeated Germany's Florian Langmann heads-up, and reeled in a cool £611,520, the largest prize at EPT London to date.

Anthony Lellouche finished sixth here; he would finish eighth the next time EPT London ran, becoming the first back-to-back finalists in the process.

Relive the 2007 EPT London Main Event action

Season 5 – 2008

The 2008 EPT London Main Event's final table was the one and only occasion where a player from the United Kingdom or Ireland failed to reach the final table. Ian Frazer was the deepest-running Englishman; he finished 25th.

Pennsylvania's Michael Martin was the last player standing, and he saw his bankroll swell by £1,000,000, EPT London's only seven-figure Main Event prize. The fantastic result came only six months after Martin finished fifth in the EPT Grand Final.

Discover how Michael Martin won EPT London

Season 6 – 2009

Live poker was booming in 2009, and another 730 players bought into the £5,250 EPT London Main Event. All those players fought it out for a share of the £3,540,500 prize pool.

New York's Aaron Gustavson found himself heads-up against the 2008 WSOP Main Event champion Peter Eastgate. Gustavson did what Ivan Demidov couldn't do, and that was defeat Denmark's World Champion heads-up. Gustavson headed home with £850,000 in tow; he's not won more than $45,000 in one event since.

Step back in time to the 2009 EPT London Main Event

Season 7 – 2010

EPT London peaked in 2010 with 848 players exchanging £5,250 for the chance to win the lion's share of a £4,112,800 prize pool. The heads-up clash was a real-life David versus Goliath scenario, with the little-known Scotsman David Vamplew facing off against the seasoned high-stakes guru John Juanda.

Vamplew caused a major upset when he defeated Juanda and resigned the Indonesian mega-star to a £545,000, while claiming the £900,000 top prize for himself. Vamplew continued grinding on the live circuit and online tables for several years before stepping away from the game on a full-time basis. "Vamps" has since graduated with a Masters in Financial Modelling and Optimsation; what a guy.

Vamplew defeats Juanda to win the EPT London Main Event

Season 8 – 2011

Germany's Benny Spindler triumphed in the 2011 EPT London Main Event, playing his way past 690 opponents and scooping £750,000 of the £3,351,350 prize pool. Spindler defeated Steve O'Dwyer heads-up after battling at the final table with such luminaries as Juan Manuel Pastor, Kevin Iacofano, and Martins Adeniya.

O'Dwyer missed out on the glory, but he got another bite of the cherry the following year, joining Antony Lellouche as the only players to reach back-to-back EPT London Main Event final tables.

Check out all of the 2011 EPT London Main Event reports

Season 9 – 2013

The 2013 edition of this incredible tournament is the only EPT London Main Event to feature a deal at the final table. After Chris Moorman, Tamer Kamel, Christopher Frank, Steve O'Dwyer, and Theo Jorgensen bowed out, the final three players struck a deal to lessen the pay-jumps. This ultimately resulted in a £595,000 top prize, which Netherlands' Ruben Visser received.

Visser is now part of a successful investment company in his native Netherlands.

*reflects a three-handed deal

Ruben Visser crowned EPT London champion

Season 10 – 2013

The 2013 EPT London Main Event saw the first Australians since Emad Tahtouh lost heads-up to Coren Mitchell reach the final table. Martin Kozlov and Jeff Rossiter from "Down Under" could not progress deeper than fifth.

A then relative newcomer to the live poker scene, Ludovic Geilich, finished fourth, Leo McClean busted in third, leaving Sweden's Robin Ylitalo to defeat Greek grinder Georgios Karakousis heads-up to became the first and only Scandinavian EPT London Main Event champion.

Ylitalo becomes first Swedish EPT London Main Event winner

Season 11 – 2014

You have to go back to 2014 to find the last time the EPT ran a Main Event in London. It attracted 675 players who each paid £4,250, resulting in a £2,619,000 prize pool. Jake Cody came close to becoming a two-time EPT Main Event champion, but he ultimately finished in fifth, so did not add to his EPT Deauville triumph.

Kevin MacPhee almost added to his EPT Berlin victory from 2010 but Germany's Sebastian Pauli defeated the American heads-up and is, therefore, the reigning EPT London Main Event champion, a reign of eight years!

Pauli denies MacPhee second EPT Main Event title

2022 EPT London Events PokerNews Is Covering

The 2022 EPT London festival is only days away, and PokerNews will be on hand bringing you live updates from 12 of the bustling schedule's biggest and most eagerly anticipated events.

Of course, our team is reporting on the £5,300 EPT London Main Event, but you can also follow live and exclusive coverage of the £10,200 Mystery Bounty, four £25,000 High Rollers, a £50,000 Super High Roller, plus the £1,100 UKIPT Main Event and its £2,200 UKIPT London High Roller tournament.

Bookmark the PokerNews live reporting pages so you do not miss any of the action!

Senior Editor

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