Peter Willers Jepsen, a former soldier in the Danish army who left the service after suffering a serious injury in Iraq, won the European Poker Tour Polish Open title in Warsaw on Saturday.

Jepsen, 24, beat 283 rival players to take the €325,633 top prize (1,266,711 zlotys) in Poland’s first ever major poker tournament.

Held at Casinos Poland in the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the four-day, 15,000 zlotys buy-in event generated a total prize pool of 4,260,000 zlotys (over €1m).

Jepsen, who served in the Military Police, was acting as a body guard for visiting diplomats when he was involved in a car bomb incident in 2003, leaving him with a serious injury to his left knee. While convalescing at home in Copenhagen, Jepsen struggled to adjust to a less active life - and took up poker as an outlet for his energy.

“Winning money is great but I really, really wanted to win this. I made $165,000 at a tournament in St Kitts last year, but I didn’t win it - it’s important to me to have this title.”

Jepsen triumphed in Warsaw after 90 minute heads-up against Parisian Farid Meraghni, who takes home 708,225 zlotys (€182,063). Third and fourth place went to two PokerStars qualifiers - John Conroy from London (€109,238) and Norway’s Marius Torbergsen (€78,027). German professional Katja Thater, a member of Team PokerStars, came fifth (€64,502).

EPT director John Duthie said: “This is the first time an EPT tournament has been held in Eastern Europe, but I was delighted with the quality of the venue and the professionalism of the staff in Warsaw. The EPT will want to come back, and so will the players.”

As part of his prize package, Jepsen wins a seat in the €10,000 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final, Europe’s richest poker tournament, which starts March 28, 2007. With huge interest and strong advance ticket sales, the event looks set to break all EPT records, with over 550 players expected for the six day tournament. For more details, please visit www.ept.com.

Final table results
1st: Peter Jepsen (Denmark) $430.889
2nd: Farid Mehrang (France) $240,912
3th: John Conroy (UK) $142,009
4th: Marius Torbergson (Norway) $101,435
5th: Katja Thater (Germany) $83,853
6th: Andrew O'Flaherty (UK) $66,271
7th: Patric Martensson (Norway) $52,746
8th: Frederick Hostrup (Denmark) $38,869