Former World Series of Poker champion Robert Varkonyi has won the Extreme Poker Challenge, an event held in Kemi, Finland on top of the frozen arctic sea. Varkonyi was playing in just a T-shirt when he took the title with temperatures reaching as low as minus 10 °F (minus 23 °C).
The InterPoker sponsored event took place on March 29th in a location chosen by the previous winner, Juha Helppi, a professional poker player from Finland. Helppi selected an arctic ice shelf for the tourney in his native Finland to give him the "home advantage".
The following players were at the final table:
- Robert Varkonyi (2002 World Series of Poker champion);
- Juha Helppi (World Poker Tour champion and title holder);
- Peter Larsson (online qualifier);
- Ulrik Nymand Jensen (online qualifier);
- Rene Christensen (online qualifier);
- Daniel Stein (online qualifier).
Robert Varkonyi running to keep warm.Varkonyi
was hit by a bad beat in the third hand and was forced to re-buy in
exchange for giving up his jacket. He continued the remaining 90 minutes
of the tourney in just a T-shirt. In order to keep warm Varkonyi was
forced to jog around the table inbetween hands.
The final two players at the table where the two poker pros Robert Varkonyi and Juha Helppi. Though Helppi was securely wrapped in his Parka, and Varkonyi was beginning to show signs of frostbite playing in just a T-Shirt, it was Varkonyi who ultimately emerged as the victor.
In the final hand Helppi went all-in with a flush draw against Varkonyi's pair of tens. Varkonyi's pair of tens improved to a full house making him the new Extreme Poker champion.
The first edition of the Extreme Poker Challenge was held underwater off the coast of St. Kitts during the Caribbean Poker Classic in 2005 and won by Juha Helppi. The next edition is to be held 10,000 feet above the Las Vegas desert in a plane. Each player that runs out of chips is forced to parachute out.