UFC fighter Martin Kampmann rode the teachings of his coach, Jason Somerville, all the way to the 2014 Poker NV Challenge Main Event title, earning $52,720 for the win.
Kampmann, playing in his first multi-day poker tournament, was never all-in for his tournament life on Day 1 of the Main Event at the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino in Reno, NV, but found himself short-stacked at dinner break of Day two while just two players away from the money bubble.
“I had to move all-in a few times and did not get called, so that helped me get some chips, and then there was a huge hand at the final table that helped a lot,” said Kampmann during his post-tourney win in the tournament poker room at the Peppermill.
“He was down to only 8 (big blinds) and I was wondering if he was going to make the money,” Somerville said. ” but he did great, and I am so much more excited and happy for him than I have ever been when I won a tournament.”
Once at the final table, Kampmann was second in chips, with Day 1A chipleader Tony Le about 250k ahead. Le led out for a substantial preflop bet, only to see Kampmann debate a bit before slightly more than doubling the bet. Le stood up, checked out Kampmann, the bet and his stack, sat down, got back up again and repeated the process before 4-betting all-in. Kampmann snap-called, Le tossing QQ onto the table and Kampmann showing AA. The Aces held and Kampmann had nearly 40 percent of all the chips in play 9-handed.
Kampmann kep constant pressure on the other players from that point on, even turning on a pretty firce fighter-stare when he’d bet out, locking in on the player next to bet. Take a look at Kampmann’s Twitter profile picture and you might get an idea of the intensity he brings to his competetive efforts. Kampomann proceeded to knock out the majority of the players at the final table on his way to the win.
He not only had AA once at the final table, but he also had KK twice — once ending up with quads to knock out a very-short-stacked Tony Chang — and by the time the MainEvent was 4-handed, Kampmann had 2.7m of the 3.7m in play.
Ed ‘NotTheAuthor’ Miller – runner-up in the Heartland Poker Tour Main Event in January at Thunder Valley Casino in Rocklin, CA, – was fourth, with Roy Armstrong in third. Peppermill Poker Room regular Michael Cooper was heads-up with Kampmann, starting out a 3.5-1 dog, but Cooper won most of the first dozen hands in the heads-up match.
On a flop of 46Qhhh, Cooper led out for 125k and Kampmann called. The Kh turn drew a 200k bet from Cooper, a 3-bet to 400k from Kampmann and a call from Cooper. The Qd made Kampmann hesitate, then check, and Cooper moved all-in, representing the nut flush. Kampmann, however, did have the nut flush and won the Poker NV Challenge Main Event for $52,740. Cooper — who had a pocket pair and a flush draw — earned $30,640 for the runner-up finish.
The Poker NV Challenge ran May 9-18 at the Peppermill, with daily tournaments including $220 NLHE, $110 Omaha, Stud or Razz events, $110 nightly NLHE events and the $1,100 Main Event.
There was a Best All Around title with Glen Uchibori of Honolulu, HI, taking the $5,515 for first place, and the top-10 players overall cashed. Iva Yoshihara of Reno won the Women’s Best All Around title.
Our full coverage of the Main Event can be found here.
The Best All Around Leaderboard results are available here.
Full Results for each event can be found here.
Dan is the founder of PokerLiveUpdates, a veteran poker tournament reporter who can be found wandering somewhat aimlessly through tournament arenas worldwide. As a founding member of FunTour2.0, he searches for the best in craft beer at all locations in the poker world.
