Magnus Petersson, a 29-year-old financial advisor from Stockholm, beat off competition from some of the best poker players in the world to win more than four million Danish Kroner (approximately €550,000) at this year’s European Poker Tour tournament in Copenhagen at the weekend.

In a tense heads-up battle against Team PokerStars’ Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Petersson showed phenomenal daring against the French player before finally triumphing with two pairs.

He won his €5,000 seat for the event in a $475 PokerStars online satellite tournament.

ElkY, 26, from Nancy, eastern France, won 2,308,608 Danish Kroner (approximately €309,955) for second place. The pair were among 400 players who entered the sell-out, four-day event, creating a total prize pool of more than 13 million Danish Kroner (approximately €1,855,000).

When there were just three players left, Petersson - whose biggest win until now was $30,000 after coming 438th in last year’s World Series of Poker - was the small stack. Then he won a huge pot with 7-2 off-suit, statistically the worst hand in poker.

“That really turned things around for me. It completely changed my table image. It’s been an incredibly tough tournament, with no weak players. On the first day, I was sitting with Martin Wendt, Johnny Lodden and Peter Eichhardt, maybe the best three tournament players in Scandinavia.”

Petersson went on to outlast world-class players such as TJ Cloutier, Dutch stars Noah Boeken and Marcel Luske, Team PokerStars’ players Luca Pagano, Katja Thater, Tom McEvoy and Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier, as well as actor Mads Mikkelsen, who played Le Chiffre in the latest James Bond film.

In third place was 24-year-old Hungarian Richard Toth who won 1,340.928 Danish Kroner (approximately €180,000).

A total of 14 PokerStars qualifiers made it into the money (out of 97 who won a seat), with cash qualifier Alexandre Poulain, 31, coming sixth. The electronics goods retailer took 663,552 Danish Kroner back home to Paris. Cole Morrow, a 19-year-old student from Ontario, Canada, was on his first ever visit to Europe, and his first visit to a casino. His trip cost him nothing at all after he won his seat in a PokerStars Frequent Player Point tournament. He won 228,096 Danish Kroner after coming tenth.

The next EPT event is in Dortmund from March 8-11, 2007 - the first to be held in Germany. It is closely followed by the EPT Polish Open in Warsaw, the first event in Poland, which takes place March 14-17, 2007.

The tour will culminate with the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort in Monaco, starting on March 28, 2007. As well his Copenhagen win, Petersson also wins a €10,000 seat at the event.