WELWYN, ENGLAND-Dark clouds hang low and a hard wind blows at Brocket Hall today. A large storm is moving in from the west threatening heavy ran and flooding to coastal towns, but inside it is quiet, except for the sound of clanking chips at the final table. Meet the six contenders who are playing for the Scandinavian Poker Masters crown.
Albert Kirk Iversen from Copenhagen said his heat was very aggressive with a lot of raising and re-raising.
The final table wasn’t in sight after the lunch break because he had been raising a lot and quickly lost a third of his chips.
“They all read me and I had to fold,” he said.
Iversen said he simply got very lucky towards the end raising with marginal hands.
“I got re-raised all in by short stacks and got lucky,” he said.
The first lucky hand was against bracelet winner Mats Rahmn. Iversen raised 30,000 with A-5 offsuit, Rhamn went all in for 90,000 with a pair of kings. Iversen won after the flop revealed an ace.
Later Iversen raised 30,000 with Q-9 suited against Martin Petersen who held K-Q. Petersen went all in and Iversen called and got his nine.
From Malmöe, Sweden, Rickard Johansson played in the WSOP main event this year, but hopes to be more successful at the Masters final table.
He said the strong players in his heat came forward quickly.
“It was pretty early that four of us took command,” he said. “Some of them had a pretty early out. The only really good player was Aki Pyysing, but he lost before moving to the TV table.”
Once at the televised table play went fast because many of the players were low stacked. Johansson was chip leader most of the time, and wasn’t about to let that change when he was heads up against Lars Kjestrup.
Johansson had K-10 and raised 47,000 against Kjestrup who went all in. Johansson called.
“I decided to take the shot. If I had a tell, I was going to call him,” he said.
Kjestrup was empty with 7-9 off suit when Johansson hit the king on the flop. Johansson said by then the game was pretty much over. He had accomplished his goal.
“I’m a real competitive guy so there is no second place for me,” he said. “I am not aiming for second. It was do or die.”
Chris Bjorin is originally from Sweden, but currently resides in London.
He went heads up with a low stack against Kaspar Kjeldsen who had 65 percent of the chips.
“I played a bit conservative,” he said. “I got some good cards and the Danish [Kjeldsen] knocked most of the players out. I got lucky when we were heads up.”
He said the tournament, set up in shoot out fashion, was challenging.
“To win the heat shoot out style you have to be a strong player,” he said. “You have to play a lot of hands; you can’t just sit and wait.”
He’s been playing Holdem for 20 years, but prefers to play Stud or Omaha.
Teemu Salminen qualified for the Masters through PartyPoker. He plays in Helsinki once a week to keep up his live game, but said he’s learned more about the game during this tournament.
“I had a good few hands and I wasn’t short stacked anytime during the tournament,” he said. “I bet my best game and it’s taken me this far.”
After three players busted out the table moved to the TV room where the rest of the heat would be televised. This was {name here} first time playing poker for TV.
“The camera and lights made it so hot, so it wasn’t so nice,” he said. “Being on TV doesn’t bother me. When you start the game, you have the chips, the cards and you forget all about the cameras.”
Salminen who is from Lakeakoski, Finland, is proud of his performance in his heat. He thinks he is a contender for the final table on Wednesday.
“There are very good players at the final table,” he said, “but I think I have a chance.”
From Stockholm, Anders Henrikson won a bracelet in a 2006 WSOP $1500 event and cashed in the Main Event.
He arrived here last Thursday to play in the Ken Lennaard Invitational, but tired from his recent tournaments in Vegas, Henrikson didn’t do so well. It seems for the Scandi Masters he got his rhythm back to win Heat 5.
“I am happy with my play today for the most party,” he said. “I made some small mistakes, but overall I had a real nice game today.”
Henrikson ended heads-up with fellow Swede, Peter Gunnarsson. Both players had even chip stacks throughout the last level.
“He’s a very good heads up player,” Henrikson said. “The blinds were too high and we were almost even to where it was almost a lottery. At that point you have to go all in to find some hands.”
Henrikson also plays golf and said both games represent similar skills.
“ You have to have the discipline to not get angry when someone draws out on you,” he said. “Be calm and take it easy.”
Also from Stockholm, Bo Sehlstedt quit his job as a financial risk manager in 2002 to play poker.
“When I was winning I was earning a lot more than my daily work,” he said. “I realized it wasn’t a good idea to be working.”
Sehlstedt learned to play on PartyPoker and began winning tournaments the first two or three months. Although now he is working for Nordictra, a start-up gaming company, poker is still considered to be his stable income. He considers online sit-n-go tournaments his bread and butter….but he doesn’t necessarily think of poker as work.
“Most of us love our work too much that it’s hard to consider it a job. So we work these crazy hours,” he said. “All work has always seemed boring, but poker is a lot of fun. I really still love it. It’s hard to explain, but I do really like playing every time.”
