Philipp Gruissem Triumphs At EPT London Hi-Roller

German pro Philipp Gruissem has triumphed at the EPT London Hi-Roller, after defeating a field of 75 players to claim the title and the £450,200 ($696,800) first place prize.
Without doubt, the young pro from Aachen, Germany is having one of the hottest years of his career and his latest victory in London follows a 28th place finish at the WSOP Main Event for $242,636 and a win at the €10k EPT Barcelona for €234,500 ($336,394) in August. 
In total, Philipp Gruissem has now amassed $1,408,092 playing live, as well as a further $2,128,318 playing tournaments online under the screen name “philbort.”
By the time the £20,500 Hi-Roller final table of eight had been reached at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, Philipp Gruissem found himself in 7th place with just a third of the chips of the table leader. As you would expect, the  final also included a veritable whose who of top poker pros who lined up as follows:
Igor Kurganov (Russia): 854k
Rob Akery (UK): 622k
Adrian Bussman: 518k
Olivier Busquet (USA): 471k
Joel Nordkvist (Sweden): 365k
Sam Trickett (UK): 354k
Philipp Gruissem (Germany): 311k
Michael Tureneic (Sweden): 268k
First to exit the final table was short-stacked Michael Tureneic in 8th (£58,400) whose all-in shove with KJ was called by Olivier Busquet with A-J, followed soon after by Sam Trickett in 7th (£68,800) holding Kd-Jd to Kurganov’s Ac-9c.
Next, Philipp Gruissem dispatched Joel Nordkvist in 6th (£72,950), and Adrian Bussman in 5th spot (£102,250).
Finally, Igor Kurganov eliminated Olivier Busquet in 4th (£171,200) and Rob Akery in 3rd (£205,200) to enter the heads-up battle against Philipp Gruissem, with the German at a 2:5 disadvantage.
However, Philipp Gruissem levelled the score by winning three uncontested pots before badgering his Russian opponent with a barrage of three and four bets. Eventually, a short-stacked Kurganov found himself all-in holding Q-6 to his opponent’s pocket nines and with the board running out 5-6-J-K-A, Igor Kurganov collected £318,300 for his deep-run in the tournament.
Meanwhile, Philipp Gruissem was crowned the 2011 EPT London Hi-Roller Champion.