It’s a tale as old as time: France vs Germany. They have faced off in World Wars, World Cups
and now, the annual World Series of Poker .
With the wrapping up of the European World Series of Poker, a new champion was announced.
Read on for all details of the 2021 WSOP Short Deck winner, Julien Martini.
WSOP Short Deck
The eight event of the European World Series of Poker 2021 tournament was the talk of the
town. Held in the King’s Resort in Rozvadov, in the Czech Republic, poker enthusiasts came
from all over to prove themselves at the biggest European poker tournament. But the eighth
event of the tournament offered a particularly tense game.
The €2,500 buy-in quickly grew to a €214,000 pot, which attracted 98 runners to the table. Only
the top 15 places made it to the table, including the likes of Marek Blasko, Israel Bulut, Zhong
Chen, Roland Israelashvili, Yannick Jobin, Bleron Maliqi, Didier Rabl, and Aleksei Voronovich.
Slowly the chips fell where they did and the seats emptied until the final seven were down to
Julien Martini, Philipp Schwab, Emil Bise, Nicolas Bokowski, Brian Cornell, Reto Herrmann, and
Christian Stratmeyer.
As Switzerland’s Emil Bise made a play for the bracelet with a brilliant run that saw him come
close, his was blocked and finally the game came down to Germany’s Philip Schwab and
France’s Julien Martini.
France v Germany
Centuries of sibling rivalry was bubbling between the neighbouring players as the showdown got
going.
Schwab climbed well through the ranks due to a double with Martini, meaning that Martini
arrived at the table as the shortest of seven, and yet Schwab was only behind Herrmann in
terms of collected chips thus far.
But Martini had clearly put in more hours on the GGPoker site and rapidly found his feet as the
game went on. As the game progressed, a double with Herrmann saw Martini quickly grow in
numbers and soon he was facing Schwab and Bise with equal footing.
It was a nail-biting experience watching the table from there. Neither Bise or Schwab made a
mark on the confidence of the Frenchman as he played and eventually inched out Schwab for
the win.
France on top
Martini was laughing all the way to the bank as he scooped up €60K plus €9, not to mention the
World Series of Poker Bracelet.
It was his second win in the event, and he went on to win another bracelet and €33,910 from the
8-Game Mix when facing off against Austria’s Ole Schemion.
It proves the poker player isn’t losing his touch after his first win in 2018’s WSOP events, in
which he left the Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better table with $239,771.
He said, "Obviously it was unexpected. It's so hard to win a tournament," Martini told
PokerNews after his victory. "We all come for this, and when it happens, we kind of cannot
believe it.
"I'm very happy to be here and to be lucky enough to ship it."
Luck might be exactly what he needed, since the player admitted he is no expert in short deck.
"It's very hard to say I know how to play short deck. I can't even say that in No-Limit Hold'em or
any mixed game because we're already learning and getting better. I felt good the whole
tournament. I felt the field wasn't very familiar with the game. I'm not sure I know how to play —
I actually think I don't know how to play! But I won!"
Since he seems to learn on the job, maybe we’ll see Martini at the next round of World Series ofPoker tournaments – or is this it for the winner?
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