The German success story of this week, well before the Borussia Dortmund versus Real Madrid match has to the demolition job that Bayern Munich managed to do on Barcelona. Barca have quite rightly been viewed as the best team in the world over the past few years but there have been signs this season that they have been losing some of their edge. Injury and illness to key men on and off the park have played a massive role in this and Barcelona are still absolutely romping La Liga but there is an acceptance that they are no longer the force that they were.
This was hinted at by Celtic in the Nou Camp on matchday 3 of the Champions League when the Glasgow side and Scottish champions were seconds away from snatching a deserved draw with a great gameplan. The same gameplan was utilised back in Glasgow on matchday 4 when a stunning 2-1 win for the home team was earned. The gameplan of making sure that Barcelona were put under pressure in the air, that they would be hit on the break and that the opposing palyers would be shoved wide may have been developed by Neil Lennon in Glasgow but it was perfected in Munich by a rampant Bayern team who won 4-0. No matter what else happens, that was surely the German triumph of the week.
UK triumphs on European soil should always be celebrated
Which is a great shame for the many British poker players that tasted success at the EPT Berlin tournament. There were a number of UK players that managed to cash out for big money and of course, we have already looked at the success story of Najib Kamand. Picking up €105,366 is going to make any trip worthwhile and the cash can sit neatly alongside the sense of pride that Kamand has to feel. In the Berlin Cup High Roller event, which was event number 8, 194 players were gunning for glory and 192 of them were dispatched from the tournament before Kamand eventually bowed out. The buy-in for the event was €3,200 which was clearly money well spent for the UK poker player!
Another British success came in event number 11 at the EBT Berlin event and the game was a NLHE Deep Stack game. A total of 272 players were involved so finishing 5th was a big achievement. This position saw William Gosnold grab €4,400 from the overall prize pool of €79,152.
There was a big winner at the event though with the NLHE Turbo event turning up trumps for Rupert Elder. Elder managed to receive €49,800 from the €168,780 prize pool that 174 players were battling for. This was another event which featured Najib Kamand in amongst the money too as he managed to pick up €2,870 from this event too. It may not have been a big a deal as his major cash-out of the weekend but it was a prize that most players would have been delighted with.
There was a third place for British poker player Phillip Mighall, who earned himself €12,730 from the prize pool of €64,020 which 132 players were battling out for in the PLO 6-max Double Chance Game.
There was also modest success for two UK poker players in the NLHE game which was event number 5 at the EPT Berlin event. A total of 555 players were involved, with a buy-in of €330 which managed to create a prize pool of €161,505. In 20th position was William Henry, who managed to earn himself €1,620 and in 30th place was Bobby Scott, who picked up €1,130.
All of these success stories are well worth celebrating but in light of what Bayern Munich did to Barcelona on Tuesday night in the Allianz Arena, there may be a shift of focus from all over German triumphs in recent times.