2013 European Nations Cup: Final results

ENC 2013 Cyprus, European Nations Cup

Play ended a short while ago on the first European Nations Cup. After 287 hands the figures are now in.

Technical staff have secured the information (click “save as”) and have collated the figures for confirmation. That too has been done. All that’s left is to announce the results, which will appear below as they are made known. Click refresh to ensure you have all the latest results.

2013 European Nations Cup winners

Ireland

Runners-up

Russia

Third place finisher

Spain

Also qualifying for the Grand Final

United Kingdom

Estonia

Cyprus

Most Valuable Player

Ireland

MVP by seat

France
Ireland
United Kingdom
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Cyprus

Final standings

To understand more about how points were awarded and winners declared, read the detailed information on the Pokerfed.org website.

April 14, 2013

Anthony Holden steps down as IFP President

ENC 2013 Cyprus, European Nations Cup, IFP, Match Poker, Patrick Nally

After a board meeting at the end of its highly successful European Nations Cup in Paphos, Cyprus, IFP announced that its founder President Anthony Holden was stepping down after four years distinguished service in the role. The Board also announced that it had elected as his successor Mr Patrick Nally.

Anthony Holden

Elected IFP’s first President at its founding congress in Lausanne, Switzerland, in April 2009, Mr Holden said that it had been a great honour to hold that office during IFP’s formative years which had seen it grow from the original seven founder members to almost 50, with 75 in prospect by the end of this year. The first four years also saw the development of IFP’s patent form of duplicate poker, Match Poker, and the hugely successful events at County Hall in London, in November 2011, which saw Germany crowned first winners of the Nations Cup and Raul Mestre of Spain triumph in the first individual IFP World Championship.

On stepping down as President, Holden, a distinguished journalist and author prior to taking up his IFP duties, expressed his thanks to all he had worked with over the four years and cited a desire to return to other literary projects, including memoirs.

Among Mr Holden’s 35 books are two cult classics in the poker world, Big Deal (1990) and Bigger Deal (2007), as well as an expert and widely acclaimed manual Holden on Hold’em (2008). A former PokerStars sponsored player, he won television’s first celebrity Late Night Poker in 2000 and he represented England in the 2006 World Cup of Poker.

While Holden is standing down as President he will not be leaving the IFP entirely, having been asked by the board to take up new Ambassadorial role, an appointment Holden is greatly looking forward to.

Patrick Nally

Newly elected President of the IFP Patrick Nally paid tribute to Holden.

“On behalf of the entire IFP Board I want to thank Anthony Holden and pay tribute to his four distinguished years as IFP’s founder President. Without his reputation in the poker world and his wide range of contacts we would never have been able to get IFP off to such a terrific start. We will miss him very much, but as his successor, I am delighted that Anthony will remain very much part of the IFP family as IFP’s Ambassador in the poker world at large.”

Often referred to as the “founding father of sports marketing”, Nally himself was instrumental in revolutionising major sporting events around the world, such as the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup. He still plays a central role in numerous projects both inside and outside the sporting world, experience that he believes will ensure an exciting future for poker and the IFP as it moves into an exciting new phase.

“I’m very pleased that the board has given me the honour of serving as President of IFP. We have many exciting challenges ahead, following on from our success at the European Nations Cup in Paphos, and our revolutionary use of smartphone technology. Such innovations take poker into a new era and I look forward to even greater success in the future as we build on the achievements of the past four years.”

April 15, 2013

Cyprus plays host to 13 nations for the first IFP European Nations Cup in Match Poker

ENC 2013 Cyprus, European Nations Cup, Events, Match Poker, Member Nations, Tournament

From 12^th April 2013, top players from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Spain and UK arrived in Cyprus eager to challenge the Cypriot team for the honour of being crowned IFP European Nations Cup champion.

This event, which used IFP’s new Match Poker technology developed by XpressHD, was something of a coup for Cyprus as it was the first time anyone anywhere has seen playing cards being delivered to players via their individual smartphones.

Such was the interest in the event that many countries beyond the 14 competing nations broadcasted the live event stream to follow the action in the wonderful surroundings of the Annabelle Hotel in Paphos. Ireland ended up winning and became the first ever IFP European Nations Cup champion. Russia, Spain, UK, Estonia and the home nation, Cyprus, all qualified for the IFP Nations Cup 2013 final which will be held in November/December this year. Germany is the defending Nations Cup champion from the inaugural event, which was held in London in 2011.

“Organising an international competition is always a challenge for the host and recent events in Cyprus have made it even more so.” said IFP Board and founder member Patrick Nally. “The fact that we are here today is testament to all the hard work and support of our friends in Cyprus and I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of IFP, to express our sincere gratitude to the Mayor of Paphos and the Cyprus Poker Association. We are proud to work alongside you to present the first IFP European Nations Cup in Match Poker and to promote poker as a mind sport and game of strategic skill.”

Mayor of Paphos has said “We are delighted to welcome the IFP, the players, the world’s media and the many supporters to Paphos for such a wonderful event. We are also grateful to the Cyprus Poker Association for securing the event for Cyprus.”

Antonis Theophanides of the Cyprus Poker Association has said “We are delighted to be able to host this historical event on behalf of the IFP and bring this radical and innovative approach to the poker playing public. Cyprus has been through a very difficult time recently and this shows the strength of character that we have here to bounce back immediately and host such a prestigious event.”

April 17, 2013

Interesting hands of IFP’s European Nations Cup

ENC 2013 Cyprus, European Nations Cup, Events, Match Poker, Report

IFP’s new ‘Match Poker’ technology allowed for the first time ever to collect data from four 3-hour+ sessions of play containing 51, 65, 71, and 72 hands respectively (259 hands in total). Here are some interesting hands we’d like to share with you.

Read between the lines

Here’s the frequency of how many times each team scored above average (blue) and how many times they scored below average (red). Perhaps this is the clearest visual representation of why Ireland became champions!

The Quad 6 Hand

Hand 128	J9	QT	66	99	TOTAL	Points
Netherlands	-25	10300	10075	-250	20100	14
France	-25	-50	5175	-1000	4100	13
Russia	-50	-50	5400	-2200	3100	12
Hungary	-25	-150	4700	-1925	2600	11
Poland	-25	-50	1150	-475	600	10
Cyprus	-150	-150	350	200	250	9
Estonia	-25	-50	10075	-10000	0	8
Ireland	-125	-50	1075	-1075	-175	7
UK	-25	-50	2175	-2675	-575	6
Serbia	-25	-125	2275	-5000	-2875	5
Lithuania	-150	-50	-125	-4625	-4950	4
Bosnia	-25	-50	-150	-5225	-5450	3
Spain	-25	-50	2750	-10000	-7325	2
Denmark	-25	-50	675	-10000	-9400	1

The Netherlands destroyed the field in this hand, achieving two separate double-ups against the 99 (no other team got beyond the flop with the QT in Seat 2). One double-up would’ve been enough, however, since they also minimized the damage when they held the 99 in Seat 4. Cyprus was the only team to win with the 99 (re-raising pre-flop to take a small pot) but slow-played their quad 6s to death! Estonia’s uber-aggressive play in both spots evened itself out, and it was Denmark and Spain who lost out most with the 99s without managing to compensate with their 6s. Two other interesting points to note from this hand – Cyprus might have gained a point over Poland if they hadn’t got involved in the blinds (half the other teams simply folded both spots). The UK (Ross Boatman) also gained a point over Serbia by folding a 3k river-bet and making the correct laydown.

The KK v AT Hand

Hand 150	Qd6d	44	AT	A7	Tc2c	KK	TOTAL	Points
Lithuania	-650	10075	825	-50	0	1650	11850	14
Russia	0	11200	-700	-50	0	1075	11525	13
Hungary	0	10075	-975	-50	-250	900	9700	12
Estonia	0	7350	-25	-50	0	-175	7100	11
UK	0	3275	-1500	-250	0	-150	1375	10
Ireland	0	-1400	-25	-50	0	900	-575	9
Netherlands	-150	-2000	-700	-150	0	2250	-750	8
Spain	0	-150	-250	-50	0	-800	-800	7
Serbia	0	-700	-25	-50	0	-925	-925	6
Cyprus	0	-150	-2400	-125	0	1050	-1625	5
Bosnia	0	-350	-25	-50	0	-3200	-3625	4
France	-10000	-250	-25	-50	0	2725	-7600	3
Denmark	-175	2700	-1950	-50	0	-10000	-9475	2
Poland	-50	-150	-725	-5250	0	-10000	-16175	1

With an A23 flop (2 diamonds), Th on the turn and 5h on the river you might expect this hand to go to the KK half the time (pre-flop) and half the time to the AT (post-flop). NOT TRUE!!! Lithuania were the only team to win with the AT here – amazing stuff!

The Final Hand of the Tournament

After 258 hands
1	Ireland[C]	2011
2	Russia [Q]	1993.5
3	Spain [Q]	1986.5
4	UK [Q]	1973.5
5	Estonia [Q]	1970
6	Cyprus	1949.5
7	Denmark	1947.5
8	Poland	1946.5
9	France	1944
10	Serbia	1907.5
11	Bosnia	1879.5
12	Lithuania	1871
13	Hungary	1868.5
14	Netherlands	1841.5

Of course the teams didn’t know if it was close or a forgone conclusion at this point – they only knew how things stood at the beginning of the session. And with just the last hand to be dealt 5 of the teams were safely through, plus the European Championship decided. However, that final qualifying spot for the IFP Nations Cup Finals was still up for grabs with just 5.5 points separating 6^th-9^th place. If ever there is a lesson to be learned in sport, to keep fighting to the end, this is it!

Hand 259	54	Q5	84	K2	86	TOTAL	Points
Cyprus	-50	175	0	450	675	1250	14
Poland	-50	0	0	0	150	100	13
Spain	-50	0	0	0	125	75	12
Russia	25	0	0	0	-25	0	10
Denmark	-50	0	75	0	-25	0	10
Netherlands	25	0	0	0	-25	0	10
UK	-150	75	0	75	-25	-25	8
Ireland	-50	0	0	0	-25	-75	6
Estonia	-50	0	0	0	-25	-75	6
France	-50	0	0	0	-25	-75	6
Bosnia	-150	0	0	0	-25	-175	4
Serbia	-125	-125	0	0	50	-200	3
Hungary	-150	75	200	-625	150	-350	2
Lithuania	-50	0	-375	0	-25	-450	1

Exhausted and fatigued from close to 15 hours play over the two days, all six French players folded their final hand. Poland and Denmark also only contested the hand in just one spot each (achieving a 2^nd and 5^th respectively), but Cyprus kept their heads down and won this “nothing hand” in three spots (with Q5, K2 and 86). The hosts kept their 6^th place and haven’t stopped partying since.

April 23, 2013

European Nations Cup Analysis

ENC 2013 Cyprus, European Nations Cup, Events, Match Poker, Tournament

In Paphos, Cyprus on Saturday 13^th and Sunday 14^th April 2013, 14 national teams battled at Match Poker for the inaugural IFP European Nations Cup.

The four 3-hour+ sessions of play contained 51, 65, 71, and 72 hands respectively (259 hands in total).

As in all Match Poker events, the same order of cards was used at all 14 tables, dealt electronically to players’ smartphones and the tables’ community devices. The “seat draw” dictated that teammates played on different tables with one specific player from each team sat in each of the different seat positions, and that all teams were split evenly across the tournament tables. Over the course of a hand, therefore, each team received each set of hole cards in the same positions. A team’s collective skill in playing these hands and consistently outperforming the other teams determined their finishing position. In no way did the quality of the cards a player or team received influence their chance of winning the tournament.

Team chip-scores were compared each hand with a linear 14-1 points structure applied. After 259 hands scored this way, the top 6 teams qualified through to the IFP Nations Cup Finals at the end of November 2013.

The final scoreboard was as follows:

Additional individual prizes (Player of each Seat) were also awarded. In essence there were 6 mini-contests going on between the sets of 14 players in each seat position (based on total tournament chip-count). And finally, the “Player of the Tournament” award was given to Ireland’s Michael Graydon – the Seat Winner whose total chips minus the average for their seat position was greatest.

Here are the complete individual standings:

	Seat 1	Seat 2	Seat 3
1	France (Hicham Chelot)	Ireland (Michael Graydon)	United Kingdom (Barny Boatman)
2	Spain	Spain	Denmark
3	UK	Poland	Ireland
4	Ireland	Russia	Russia
5	Netherlands	Serbia	Estonia
6	Hungary	Netherlands	Spain
7	Lithuania	Cyprus	Lithuania
8	Serbia	Denmark	Bosnia
9	Cyprus	Bosnia	Poland
10	Russia	France	France
11	Bosnia	UK	Cyprus
12	Estonia	Estonia	Hungary
13	Poland	Hungary	Serbia
14	Denmark	Lithuania	Netherlands

	Seat 4	Seat 5	Seat 6
1	Netherlands (Jorryt van Hoof)	United Kingdom (Barauskaite/Mahrenholz)	Cyprus (Xaris Zittis)
2	Russia	Poland	Spain
3	Hungary	Spain	Lithuania
4	France	Ireland	Bosnia
5	Estonia	Netherlands	Poland
6	UK	Russia	Denmark
7	Bosnia	Hungary	Estonia
8	Lithuania	Serbia	France
9	Serbia	Bosnia	Hungary
10	Poland	France	UK
11	Ireland	Denmark	Ireland
12	Spain	Estonia	Serbia
13	Cyprus	Lithuania	Russia
14	Denmark	Cyprus	Netherlands

April 23, 2013