EPT Copenhagen 2025 Day 1 Recap
On Monday the 2025 European Poker Tour Copenhagen event got underway. This year will see 213 players participating in the event, with most players originating from Scandinavian countries.
The competition has a reputation for being one of the toughest EPT’s. In addition to the first place prize money, the winner of EPT Copenhagen also receives a custom designed bracelet from Shamballa Jewels, the official EPT Copenhagen sponsor.
This event also marked the return of Peter Eastgate. He is playing in his debut live tournament since making the announcement that he was coming out of retirement. The 2025 WSOP champion had a good day, finishing the first day with an above-average chip stack.
An online qualifier is the chip leader at the end of Day 1. Mark Hirleman finished the day with 163,400 in chips, without about 80 players exiting the first day. During the final level Hirleman won several big pots to put himself in the drivers seat.
Another PokerStars online qualifier wasn’t as lucky. Victorino Torres, a former APPT Macau winner, travelled all the way from Northern Marianas islands to play at EPT Copenhagen. He previously made the long trek for EPT Vienna where he made a deep run. Despite flopping quad aces in a memorable hand, not much else went right for him on Day 1 and he was one of the players to get eliminated.
There was plenty of action on Day 1 of the event, and several familiar faces from Sunday night’s Nordic Poker Awards could be found at the tables. Ilari Tahkokallio, Theo Jorgensen, and Kevin Stani, all received awards in separate categories and were grinding it out. However, Jorgensen and Tahkokallio were eliminated from the event on Day 1. Stani managed to survive the first day and will go into Day 2 with an average-sized stack.
As could be expected, the Scandinavian players pretty much dominated the field on Day 1. Full Tilt’s Annette Obrestad will go into Day 2 with an above average stack, with 100,000 in chips. Late in the day, her stack was given a nice boost when she knocked out Anton Wigg, the defending champion. Per Linde, who was nominated as Best Live Player at the Nordic Poker Awards, also saw his stack grow and has roughly 130,000 in chips. Team PokerStars Johnny Lodden also had a good day, finishing the day with about 62,000 chips.