Poker News

England football legend Teddy Sheringham has won more than £77,000 at the European Poker Tour (EPT) event in Vilamoura.

The 44-year-old finished 5th in Portugal's biggest ever poker tournament, pocketing €93,121 (£77,471).

It is the former Manchester United star's biggest ever win at the table, although he also scooped £40,481 at the World Series of Poker Europe in London last year and boasts two previous smaller EPT cashes.

Another Englishman, Toby Lewis, picked up the title and the €467,836 (£389,211) winner's cheque after defeating Swede Martin Jacobsen in heads-up play.

The 20-year-old from Southampton beat online qualifier Jacobson, 23, after eight hours of top level poker.

Lewis boasted numerous live cashes prior to his victory here and was enthusiastically cheered along by a huge group of friends including Poker Jolt columnist JP Kelly and top pro Daniel Negreanu, as well as six friends he flew out specially from England.

Afterwards he said: “I’m pretty happy at the moment. This title means a lot to me. Martin was a very hard player to beat.

"He lost a big pot to me earlier in the tournament and it didn't faze him at all.

"He's a really good player and he doesn't make big mistakes. I knew I'd have to cold deck him like I did in the final hand."

As part of his prize for winning the €1,862,400 (£1,549,410) event Lewis also wins a €10,000 seat to the Season 7 EPT Grand Final in Spring 2011 and gets 800 points towards becoming EPT Season 7 Player of the Year.

The 384-strong field took five days to whittle down to a final table and included former EPT champion Rob Hollink, Aussie Millions runner-up Frederik Jensen, American online pro Jason Lee and Sam Trickett, who was runner-up in the WSOP $5,000 NLHE side event.

Jacobson, who takes home €297,985 (£247,906) for second place, already has a string of great results including third place at EPT Budapest two years ago for €198,000 (£164,724).

Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano achieved a record-breaking 16th cash in the EPT Vilamoura Main Event. He busted in 52nd place for €7,263 (£6,042).

Other notable cashes included JP Kelly (29th, €9,312), Marcin Horecki (35th, €8,381), Portugal’s Nuno Coelho (54th, €7,263) as well as Andre Coimbra (49th, €7,263).

European Poker Tour
Vilamoura Main Event 2010

Final table/payouts:

1, Toby Lewis, UK, €467,836
2, Martin Jacobson, Sweden, €297,985
3, Jason Lee, USA, €186,241
4, Sam Trickett, UK, €139,681
5, Teddy Sheringham, UK, €93,121
6, Frederik Jensen, Denmark, €74,496
7, Rob Hollink, Netherlands, €55,872
8, Sergio Coutinho, Portugal, €37,248

* The next stop for Season 7 is the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London event, the first of this season’s major Poker Festivals. The Main Event runs September 29 – October 4, 2010. For more information, please visit www.ept.com