Despite being billed ‘a fish’ by other players, it was Sammy George who won series 2 of the PokerHeaven.com European Cash Game after joining the table late in the day. He managed to outplay some of the most respected players in the game, and reverse the pain of his early exit and heavy losses in last year’s event.

The game saw some of Europe’s best and emerging talent compete with a minimum chip stack of €10,000. Early on it was former champion Eric Liu and Andy Black whose battles dominated the table, but it was Sammy George who triumphed in the end.

Credit: James Lyndsay

10 countries were represented, and 11 players joined the table over the course of 12 hours at the Hospital Studios in Central London: Ricardo Sousa, Bruno Fitoussi, Andy Black, Leo Margets, Eric Liu, Francois Balmigere, Andrew Feldman, Sammy George, Simon Munz, Andreas Hoivold, and Jens Kyllonen. For the 8 players at the table at the end of the night, the final standings were:

Sammy George €44,075 (€+24,075)
Sion Munz €22,550 (€+12,550)
Andy Black €21,275 (€+11,275)
Jens Kyllonen €20,725 (€+10,725)
Francois Balmigere €11,275 (€-3,775)
Andrew Feldman €23,100 (€-6,900)
Eric Liu €22,575 (€-17,425)
Ricardo Sousa €6,950 (€-23,050)

Leo Margets left the table earlier in the evening, in profit, garnering praise for some well-timed play, while Bruno Fitoussi and Andreas Hoivold posted losses.

7 x 1 hour TV episodes will premiere exclusively on The Poker Channel every Friday at 2200 CET from 9 October, to over 17m TV homes in 20 countries. Full broadcast details, player interviews and TV previews are available at http://www.pokerchanneleurope.com/ecg.

Each episode will also be available in full on pokerchanneleurope.com a day after the TV broadcast.

The Pokerheaven European Cash Game Series 1 line-up included WSOP 2008 winner, Peter Eastgate, Andy Black, Neil Channing and Cardrunners instructor, Eric Liu, the eventual winner of the event. Series 1 has been broadcast in over 40 countries, in multiple languages, and reached over 100m TV homes in Europe. The Producer of series 1 and series 2 is Emblaze Productions, whose credits include The Million Dollar Cash Game and The Million Pound Challenge.

Andy Black

• Born 1965 – Belfast, Northern Ireland
• While studying for a law degree he started playing poker
• Knocked out of the 1997 WSOP Main Event by eventual winner Stu Ungar
• Lived as a monk for five years
• Highest WSOP main event finish was 5th in 2005
• Tournament winnings total more than $4.1 million
• 16 wsop cash finishes totalling $2,189,351

Leo Margets

• Full name Leonor Margets-Perez
• From Barcelona
• Last woman standing at the 2009 WSOP Main Event finishing in 27th place
• All time earnings – $375,264
• 2009 only her second year as a pro and she has earned $372,993 this year alone.

Bruno Fitoussi

• President of VIP-Gaming
• From Paris
• Tournament winnings – $ 2,355,383
• 3rd on Frances all time money list for poker players
• Finished 15th in 2003 WSOP main Event
• In woo1 he won the world heads up championship beating Amarillo Slim to take the title
• He also works as an architect

Jens Kyllonen

• From Helsinki
• Started playing poker fulltime once he completed his army national service
• In February 2009 he won the Pokerstars EPT Scandinavian Open, Copenhagen taking home $ 1,120,815
• $1,253,250 total winnings

Sammy George

• Nickname “any two” as he will literally play any two cards
• $43,245 Tournament winnings
• Will take on Tom Durrr Dwan in a heads up challenge soon

More player profiles coming soon

Season 2 of the PokerHeaven.com European Cash Game premieres on The Poker Channel in October 2009 but you can watch the whole event EXCLUSIVELY LIVE online. Join us on Monday 14th September from 1200 BST/1300 CET for live uninterupted coverage of season 2.

Watch Season 2 of the European Cash Game.

Player line-up*

• Jens Kyllonen – Finland
• Andy Black – Northern Ireland
• Eric Liu – USA
• Leo Margets – Spain
• Ricardo Sousa – Portugal
• Andreas Hoivold – Norway
• Bruno Fitoussi – France
• Simon Munz – Germany
• Ludovic Laclay – France

*Full list of players to be confirmed.

London, 12th February 2009 – This Valentine’s Day, Saturday 14th February, poker fans will be able to indulge their love for cash game poker with the online premiere of the Cash Game Master Class (6 x 30’) online at www.pokerchanneleurope.com/masterclass.

The series is the first ‘how to’ series of its kind on cash game strategy and features expert insight from poker professionals Eric Liu and Albert Iverson, hosted by David Tuckman. It includes in-depth analysis of key decisions from the PokerHeaven European Cash Game.

Episode Guide: –

Episode 1: Table Dynamics and Position:
Premieres on The Poker Channel on Friday 13th February at 2300 CET and 11pm GMT
Full episode at www.pokerchanneleurope.com/masterclass on Saturday 14th February

Episode 2: Your Image and Opponent Types:
Premieres on The Poker Channel on Friday 20th February at 2300 CET and 11pm GMT
Full episode at www.pokerchanneleurope.com/masterclass on Saturday 21st February

Episode 3: Playable Hands:
Premieres on The Poker Channel on Friday 27th February at 2300 CET and 11pm GMT
Full episode at www.pokerchanneleurope.com/masterclass on Saturday 28th February

Episode 4: Borderline Decisions:
Premieres on The Poker Channel on Friday 6th March at 2300 CET and 11pm GMT
Full episode at www.pokerchanneleurope.com/masterclass on Saturday 7th March

Episode 5: Deceptive Plays:
Premieres on The Poker Channel on Friday 13th March at 2300 CET and 11pm GMT
Full episode at www.pokerchanneleurope.com/masterclass on Saturday 14th March

Episode 6: Keeping a Clear Head:
Premieres on The Poker Channel on Friday 20th March at 2300 CET and 11pm GMT
Full episode at www.pokerchanneleurope.com/masterclass on Saturday 21st March

The PokerHeaven European Cash Game (7 x 60’), filmed in October last year, features some of the best established and up-and-coming cash game players in the world including 2008 World Series of Poker winner, Peter Eastgate.

-ENDS-

About The Poker Channel:

The Poker Channel is Europe’s largest dedicated gaming TV network and broadcasts to more than 16 million cable TV homes in 17 countries. At www.pokerchanneleurope.com, gaming fans all over the world can also watch hundreds of videos on demand, access exclusive site promotions, features, and video news, and watch a live stream of the channel between 2130 and 0400 GMT every night. www.pokerchanneleurope.com is offered in both English and German.

The Poker Channel launched in March 2005 and now owns Europe’s largest library of poker programming with more than 600 hours of premium content including the World Series of Poker, the World Poker Tour, European Cash Game and other major tournaments, instructional shows, news, documentaries and top player profiles. The Channel attracts close to one million unique TV viewers per month, with 65% of its TV viewers playing online every day.

Gaming Media Group, parent company to The Poker Channel, has announced results for the year ended 31st October 2008. The Group doubled its TV advertising revenues, and achieved a 57% increase in Group revenues overall taking into account casino, bingo and TV advertising. Profit before Tax has also grown by four times to £1 million.

Watch the Poker Channel on TV:
In the UK and Ireland on Sky Channel 166 and Freesat 406 from 9.30pm to 4am
In France on Noos, Numericable, Free (Channels 48, 95 and 145) and Orange
In Germany on Kabel Deutschland, KBW, Unity Media, NetCologne, NetMartens
In Belgium on BeTV and Numericable(Channel 168)
In Luxembourg on Numericable (Channel 168)
In Netherlands on UPC Digital (Channel 127) and KPN (Channel 316)
In Finland, on Welho (Channel 212) and Canal Digital (Channel 94)
In Norway, Sweden and Denmark on Canal Digital (Channel 94)
In Iceland on Skjarinn
In Spain on Imagenio (Channel 98)
In Malta on MelitaCable (Channel 209)
In Switzerland on Zattoo
In Greece on OnTelecom
In Poland on Vectra
Pan-Europe: at 1° West with set top box tuned to 11.229 GHZ Horizontal

Previews of Episode 2 will be showing from Thursday.