The name Mickey Petersen might not be the most well-known in the poker world right now, but he definitely showed up in a big way by winning the European Poker Tour’s Copenhagen Main Event. This event also featured one of the most entertaining back and forth heads up matches that I can remember as well. The match came down to Petersen, who is only 22 years old, and one of the older players in the event in well-known Pierre Neuville. Neuville is really well-known in the European Poker Tour for the fact that he has qualified for an incredible 23 straight EPT events by playing satellites online.
The heads up match between these two started with almost even chip stacks, with Petersen holding a very small lead at 4.7 million to 4.27 million. The option for a deal was offered by Neuville, but Petersen apparently didn’t even take it into consideration as the match then kicked off with some fire. This match literally went on for hours as well, with Neuville getting a quick lead, but Petersen gaining it back before long. For hours on end these two took their turn holding the chip lead, and at one point Neuville actually gained a 2 to 1 lead on his opponent, and looked to be in an excellent spot to finish off the deal. It wasn’t meant to be though, as Petersen fought his way back, and then got his own 2 to 1 chip lead! It wouldn’t be exciting if Neuville didn’t make another push though, and he did just that, and the two went into the dinner break with their heads spinning from the constant changing of power.
The dinner break was when it all changed though, as Petersen came out looking like a force and took a 7 million to 1.9 million chip lead, and he would hold onto his lead from here on out. Neuville did his best to make one more push, but the two were all-in and he was behind. Neuville turned over A-4, while Petersen was holding A-5. To make it even worse though, the two were looking like there would potentially be a chop pot, but Petersen nailed a five on the river to give himself the championship. This was his first ever live tournament win, and did quite a bit to help his career winnings.
For taking down the event, Petersen got a first place pay day of $444,595, while his opponent, Neuville, took home a nice consolation prize of $282,843.