For several reasons, we didn’t expect a big turnout for the Platinum Pass Flipout tournament that took place on Saturday morning (October 22) at the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in London.

For one thing, it was 11 am on a Saturday morning and the PokerStars Players Party took place the night before. (We can only imagine there were some very sore heads and dry mouths this morning.)

Secondly, this was a private tournament exclusively for players who qualified online for either the £1,100 UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) Main Event (which plays to a winner today) or the £5,300 EPT Main Event (which kicks off with Day 1A today).

And finally, this was a tournament you could win without even turning up. In a Flipout tournament, players are dealt one hand, the dealer deals the board, everyone is automatically all in, and whoever has the winning hand is through to the final table. Repeat the process and you’ve got yourself a winner.

It’s that simple. You don’t even have to be in your seat to take it down.

The early shift

But this morning, just about every seat at every table was occupied. Everyone showed up to find out whether they would be the winner of a Platinum Pass worth $30,000 and a trip to the Bahamas in January, where they’ll play in the $25,000 buy-in PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC).

The room rumbled with excitement as the first hands played out at each table. But there could only be one winner from each, and the final table was set. A big crowd gathered as the players took their seats.

“You’ve all played very well to get to this stage,” said Tournament Director Toby Stone with a tongue firmly in his cheek. “You should all be very proud.”

Then the cards were dealt, followed by the flop: A♦ 10♥ 6♥

Dealing the board

At this point, each player flipped over one card.

Seat 1: Gary (Scotland) 3♣
Seat 2: Benedetto (Italy) Q♥
Seat 3: Javier (Venezuela) 6♦
Seat 4: Emerick (UK) 3♦
Seat 5: Steven (Ireland) 5♦
Seat 6: Lim (UK) 8♥
Seat 7: Iosif (Romania) K♠
Seat 8: Jordi (Spain) J♠
Seat 9: Leonard (Germany) 5♠
Seat 10: Daniel (UK) 7♦

None of the players showed an ace or ten, so that meant Javier was in the lead with his pair of sixes.

Then the turn landed: 5♣

This didn’t change who was in the lead, but it did give both Steven and Leonard hope, as both had now paired their five.

And finally, the river was dealt: A♥

It all came down to these final hole cards.

Showdown

Starting in seat one, players began to turn over their second cards one by one. But for the first five, their hand wasn’t improved. Javier’s pair of sixes was still in front.

That is until Lim in seat six turned over the 10♦ , giving him a winning pair of tens.

Alas, his jubilation was short lived.

In seat seven, Iosif Spulber turned over the A♠ giving him trip aces! With his king kicker, he was now guaranteed the win.

The remaining players couldn’t improve their hands, and the Platinum Pass went to Spulber.

Enjoying the craziness

“This is the craziest thing that’s ever happened,” he said to his rail with the Pass in hand.

If you recognise the name Iosif Spulber, that might be because we’ve written about him before on this very Blog.

Spulber, a 32-year-old Software Engineer and recreational poker player from Romania, is a member of Lex Veldhuis’ Twitch community and attended Lex Live, where we sat down for a chat.

“I simply love Twitch poker,” he told us. “I think it’s got a lot of elements that make it perfect for streaming. It’s so entertaining, the entire audience ‘invests’ in deep runs, and the hype when something massive is about to go down is insane.”

Spulber won his way to that Lex Live event in an online qualifier, and he did exactly the same to get to EPT London.

Now he’s bagged himself a Platinum Pass to the PSPC.

This guy’s a qualifying machine!

Back to Top