EPT heads for Germany

The European Poker Tour reaches Germany in April where the best players on the continent travel to Berlin to battle against each other in the latest leg of competition.

When the German leg of the tour was held in Dortmund in 2008, it was where Canadian Mike McDonald made a name for himself by scooping the top of prize of just under one million Euros in what was his debut tournament. The youngster seems to enjoy playing in Germany as he also made the final table 12 months later but had to settle for fifth place on that occasion. McDonald did later go on to prove that his results in Germany were no fluke as he had tournament success in Venice, Monte Carlo and San Remon, amongst other venues.

2009 was the year the last tournament was held in Dortmund and was won by Sandra Naujoks. It was her second success of the campaign after picking up victory in Baden/Austria. The German was joined by fellow compatriots Holger Kanisch and Marc Gork who made up the placings for second and third respectively.

When the tour moved to Berlin in 2010 the poker tournament was raided by a local gang who stole most of the buy in fees at the Hyatt Hotel. The incident made the headlines all over the world and fans of poker online will have been astonished.

Last year it was German Max Heinzelmann who walked away from the tournament after enhancing his reputation. Heinzelmann had previously had a lot of success online and seemed to make the transfer to table poker pretty easily. His aggressive style earned him a spot at the final table where he bowed out to more experienced players.