Avalanche poker tournament finalists named

MONTREAL, Quebec -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Everest Poker is pleased to announce that it has selected the 10 finalists for its $1,000,000 Avalanche high seas poker tournament.

Four Germans, two French, two Dutch, a Spaniard and a Swede with ages ranging from 21 to 55 will battle it out for a $1,000,000 purse aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruises luxury liner, Navigator of the Seas, from May 29th - June 2nd.

The 10 finalists of the Everest Poker Avalanche who are guaranteed to win at least $12,500 each are:

- Andreas Robert Peschel (Anrope), 38, from Wermelskirchen, Germany

- Mieczyslaw Basara (matchpoint), 53, from Bremen, Germany

- Andreas Hoffman (sailfun), 41, from Germany

- Monika Kees (Doha2006), 55, from Augsburg, Germany

- Brice Cousin (BriceInParis), 25, from Paris, France

- Fabien Cauvet (tapygris), 31, from Houilles, France

- Wing Kwok Tang (Mofox_IP), 25, from Zwolle, the Netherlands

- Jelmer Attema (jattema), 21, from Groningen, the Netherlands

- smael Arribas Munoz (ismaelpsx), 26, from Madrid, Spain

- Stefan Anders Hägg (simbastra), 44, from Linköping, Sweden

The form book seems to favour the older Germans as 46 year old Frank Stumpf from Nurenberg took the $220,000 prize last year from his fellow countryman, Matthias Lotze. That puts 55 year old poker grandmother, Monika Kees, in the frame as well as Bremen's Mieczyslaw Basara.

Swedish players also have a good record in Everest Poker events with the last two winners of the Everest Poker European Cup hailing from there so the French, Dutch and Spanish players must do their country proud and take the trophy - not to mention $220,000 - home.

The payment structure for the event is:

1st $220,000, 2nd $120,000, 3rd $90,000, 4th $70,000, 5th $50,000, 6th $40,000, 7th $30,000, 8th $20,000, 9th $17,500, 10th $12,500.