The PokerStars European Poker Tour Scandinavian Open finally came to a conclusion last Saturday after Jens Kyllönen defeated Peter Hedlund in heads-up to take down the title, worth $1.1 million.

Saturday, February 21, 2009, the final eight took their seats at the www.PokerStars.com sponsored EPT event in Copenhagen. With the Championship on the line, Jonas “slaktarn” Klausen became the first to exit the final table, followed by Eric Larcheveque.

With six players remaining, the current chip leaders Rasmus Hede Nielsen and Anders Langset declared war on each other. Langset scooped a 700,000 pot that left Nielsen short stacked, and soon after eliminated from the tournament.

After a long period of chip exchanging, another flourish of derailments took place. Peter Petterson left the table with a 5th place finish, followed closely by the elimination of Jussi Nevanlinna in 4th. The final three would reveal an interesting turn of tides as short-stacked Kyllönen aimed his skilled weaponry at the leader, Langset.

With Kd-Qh, Kyllönen went up against Langset’s Pocket 8s. The cards fell in Kyllönen’s favor, with a fourth Diamond on the River to complete a King-High Flush. It took only a few more hands for Kyllönen, now the leader, to oust Langset from the table.

Heads-up action between Kyllönen and Hedlund didn’t last long. Having started with the lowest stack as the final table got underway, Jens Kyllönen now possessed a strong 3-to-1 chip lead over Hedlund. Holding a respectable A-J, Hedlund pushed all-in against Kyllönen’s Pocket Jacks. With no help from the board, Hedlund was eliminated in 2nd place for nearly $650k.

At only 19 years of age, the Finnish poker player Jens Kyllönen won his first EPT Title, pocketing $1.14 million for his outstanding efforts.

PokerStars EPT Scandinavian Open Final Table Results

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1st - Jens Kyllönen ($1,141,474)
2nd - Peter Hedlund ($646,190)
3rd - Anders Langset ($369,414)
4th - Jussi Nevanlinna ($286,335)
5th - Petter Petterson ($236,033)
6th - Rasmus Hede Nielsen ($185,731)
7th - Eric Larcheveque ($147,038)
8th - Jonas Klausen ($104,473)

PokerStars has been promoting its upcoming 25,000,000,000th hand for quite some time now, promising $100,000 to the winner, $100,000 split among the remaining participants, plus an awesome $50,000 prize package to four major live poker tournaments.

The hand finally took place in the wee hours of Monday morning, February 16th, but no one could have predicted how it played out.

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At a $1/$2 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo cash game sat 5 players – “NeonFrost”, chris12080”, “tupapi777”, “FrtSpkndMn” and “n47j25s”. Joining the table just before the prolific hand took place was “Confederate”.

Confederate was given the option to post the Blind out of turn to be dealt in the hand, or sit out and wait for the next hand. In what will be talked about for months to come as the worst decision ever made around the felt, Confederate chose to sit it out.

As the hole cards were dealt and the first betting round set to begin, it was announced that this was the 25,000,000,000th hand at PokerStars. Everyone was incredibly excited at the prospect, including Confederate. Tupapi777 was quick to point out – what would happen should the hand end in a split pot, as is typically the case in Omaha Hi/Lo?

PokerStars.com responded quickly, stating that the split-pot winner would also split the $100,000 grand prize for winning the hand. It was also confirmed that the split-pot winners would both walk away with the $50,000 prize packages, which included the following:

- European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Grand Finals
- PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
- World Series of Poker
- World Championship of Online Poker Main Event

Everyone was pleased with the decision, and the hand continued. Unfortunately it, it was about this time that it dawned on Confederate that since he chose to sit out and post blinds on the next hand, he would not be sharing in the phenomenal prize. He could do nothing but sit and watch as the hand played out, without his participation.

A crowd of near 1,600 joined the waiting list to view the table and watch it play out. This caused a “hiccup” on the server. When it restarted, NeonFrost’s was overcome with anger as his hand disappeared. It appeared as if he had Folded, but “Why would I ever Fold?” came his enraged response. He had $7 remaining in his chip stack, certainly enough to stay in the hand.

Regardless, the hand played out, and tupapi777 was clearly the Low Hand winner. PokerStars was quick to review the hand and determine how NeonFrost would have come out. His hand, a Queen-High Flush, would have been strong enough to take the High Hand half of the pot, and tupapi777 was more than happy to oblige when PokerStars required him to split the $100,000 grand prize with NeonFrost.

The prizes for playing and/or winning the PokerStars 25-billionth hand were doled out a follows:

NeonFrost: High Pot Spilt, $50,000 + $50,000 live tournament prize package
Tupapi777: Low Pot Spilt, $50,000 + $50,000 live tournament prize package
FrtSpkndMn: $33,333.33
n47j25s: $33,333.33
chris12080: $33,333.33

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Over the weekend, there was reportedly an attempt made to hack the accounts of online poker players at PokerStars.com. Several emails were sent out to inform members of the online poker community that may have been accessed, but thus far, no accounts have come up incorrect.

PokerStars sent out urgent emails to various members who they believe may have been the victim of an attempted hacking device, including keyloggers that record every key stroke. The keylogger then sends the full list of key strokes back to the hacker, potentially giving them logins, passwords and any personal information the user may have typed.

What caused a big scare in numerous online poker forums, however, was the way the emails came in from PokerStars. Though written in English, the grammar used was questionable. This caused many recipients of the email to correspond with PokerStars to confirm that the email in fact came from PokerStars Security.

PokerStars replied, validating that yes, the emails did come from PokerStars Security. The online poker room employs many multi-lingual employees, and considering the urgency of the email, grammar was apparently not the main concern.

For example, a portion of the email read: “Please run the Antivirus in your computer and search for any type of virus or spyware. We have the suspicious your computer(s) can be infected by a key logger. That is why need to know your computer is clear from threats.”

PokerStars was forced to block the accounts of all members whose information may have been compromised, but the action was taken to prevent any negative exploitation of these accounts. As we mentioned above, thus far, no accounts have lost funds.

The hack attempt is believed to have originated in the Netherlands. Many members who received the original email received a follow-up asking to confirm whether they accessed their account from the Netherlands at a specific time and date.

For optimal security purposes, PokerStars is asking that all blocked account members fax proof of identity to the online poker room before their account can be reopened. This is cumbersome at best, but well worth the knowledge of knowing your online poker account and personal information is sheltered.

Security has always been a top priority for online poker players, knowing that they are leaving their funds and identities in the hands of an online poker room that may or may not be able to protect them. Fortunately for member of PokerStars, the security measures are of the highest quality in the industry, and they are doing everything they can to continue upholding an impeccable security record.

Another Sunday, another $1.5 million guaranteed at the world’s largest online poker room, PokerStars. But it wasn’t just another day for “hutzlerCrew”, an online poker player who displayed incredible skill and perseverance as he routed the field to pocket $184k.

Once again, PokerStars Download did not see an overlay, but the possibility was closer than it has ever been in recent months. A field of 7,513 boosted the $1.5 million guarantee ever so slightly, increasing to $1,502,600, leveling the bubble at 1,080.

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The grueling tournament went on for several hours as “hutzlerCrew” maintained a steadily growing chip stack throughout most of the competition. His talents became more and more obvious as the final table drew near.

The 3rd place elimination of “BodogAri” brought about heads-up play between “hutzlerCrew” and “MCLegend”, a seasoned American poker player who’s cashed in countless online poker tournaments, earning 5- and 6-digit figures on numerous occasions.

Both online poker players displayed incredible skills at the final table, but when it came down to the wire, “MCLegend” was simply no match for “hutzlerCrew”. The runner up finish awarded “MCLegend” another 6-digit cash of $125,167, while “hutzlerCrew” walked away with $184,820 and the esteemed honor of winning the PokerStars Sunday Million.

PokerStars $1.5M GTD Sunday Million Final Table Results
1st - huztlerCrew ($184,820)
2nd - MCLegend ($125,167)
3rd - BodogAri ($84,146)
4th - FRfr1111 ($69,120)
5th - youjizz ($54,094)
6th - Kripp85 ($39,068)
7th - niuniu09 ($26,296)
8th - kiaswer ($17,280)
9th - freakypokerd ($10,518)