Congratulations to Benny Spindler, PokerStars.com EPT London Main Event Champion (£750,000)!
We're all said and done here in London for the 2011 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London Poker Festival Main Event. Emerging victorious is young superstar Benny Spindler.
Coming into the day, Spindler came into the final table third in chips. Way back on Day 1b of the tournament, Spindler built the largest stack in the room by day's end. Coming into Day 2, only Lukasz Golczyk from Day 1a had more chips than him. Spindler constantly fund himself as the largest stack in the room, or one of, for the following days. He assumed the chip lead early on at the final table after picking off a big bluff from Mattias Bergstrom. Then, he won a massive flip with start-of-the-day chip leader Martins Adeniya to get a massive stack.
When heads-up play began, only American Steve O'Dwyer stood in the young German's way. Spindler had the lead with 13.49 million in chips to O'Dwyer's 7.145 million and the battle didn't last too long.
After a couple of hands, all of the money finally went in. O'Dwyer five-bet jammed with 
and Spindler met him with a call holding the 
. Spindler flopped an ace and fended off O'Dwyer from there, who could only turn a jack on the hand. He was eliminated in second place to crown Spindler champion.
This is the largest win of Spindler's career after having a few close calls on EPT events. In 2009, he final tabled the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and finished in third place before placing 12th in the EPT London Main Event later that year in October. Earlier this year, he placed second in Season 7's EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller.
When asked if he felt like he had a giant monkey lifted off his back, Spindler simply shook his head and responded, "No." He may not be a man of many words, but he does have a lot of money in his pocket from this win.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benny Spindler | £750,000 |
| 2 | Steve O'Dwyer | £465,000 |
| 3 | Andre Klebanov | £265,000 |
| 4 | Juan Manuel Pastor | £200,000 |
| 5 | Mattias Bergstrom | £155,000 |
| 6 | Kevin Iacofano | £120,000 |
| 7 | Martins Adeniya | £86,350 |
| 8 | Miroslav Benes | £64,000 |
Congratulations to all of the winners and especially to PokerStars player Benny Spindler for taking down EPT London! Until next time, this is PokerNews signing out.