FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#498 – London 2008 #5 – Million Pound Challenge – The Martin Klaser Dream

Posted by Editor | Filed under London 2008, Million Pound Challenge '08

So what are these players looking for? What are they expecting? What’s the upside, the REAL upside?

They are all Full Tilt players, and good enough to make the top 80 out of 21,000 entries. That’s worth some bragging rights, a chance to be on TV, and a shot at the final 6.

Obviously, thoe last six tonight will be excused some dreams of grandeur. Five will score more TV time tomorrow and £1,000-£5,000. And the sixth?

The last survivor gets the title of Champion of the Million Pound Challenge, at least £50,000, a bunch more TV time, and 3 heads-up matches against Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, and Roland De Wolfe. Based on those matches, one of these 80 will, by the end of tomorrow, marking victories with £100,000, £200,000, or £1 million.

The REAL dream, even more than the shot at £1 million, is the shot at life as a poker professional. The winner will hope this is the beginning, not the end, of poker distinction, and that this will be the start of life on the poker circuit, where big prizes and television apprearances are a regular part of the job, not a once-in-a-lifetime bounty.

Anyone can be excused for dreaming big. Especially because the dream has already come true for at least one Full Tilt player.

Martin Klaser, now just 21 years old, played in the first event of this sort a year ago, the Million Euro Challenge. He qualified online for a 2,100-player live tournament in Cologne. He made it through to join five others in Munich, where they played for a chance at big-money heads-up matches against three Full Tilt pros.

Martin was the winner of the six, and found himself looking down the barrel of a heads-up match against Chris Ferguson. He beat Ferguson, for which he was rewarded with a similar match against Gus Hansen.

Klaser beat Hansen, bringing his earnings for the contest to €350,000. He then took on Howard Lederer, with the promise of €1 million if he won.

Howard prevailed and Martin had to make due with his 15 minutes of fame and €350,000. Klaser’s hunger for success not yet sated, he worked on his game and used some of his winnings to finance a trip to the 2008 World Series of Poker, which he would be old enough, for the first time, in which to participate.

You know where this is going by now, right? Martin’s first cash was in the PLO Eight-or-Better, where he made the final table and won his first bracelet, along with more than $216,000.

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