World Series Of Poker Euro Update: Day 28A Third German Becomes Champion On Day 28 Of The World Series |
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Germany had something else to celebrate when another native took down the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha high-low split event on day 28 of the World Series. The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was bustling once again today as the $50,000 World Championship Horse and the $1,000 no-limit with rebuys events were on their second leg, and the $5,000 no-limit hold’em six handed and $1,500 seven-card-stud high-low events began.
The fact that German Martin Klaser was no longer the chip leader at the final table of the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha high-low split event did not deter him from his goal. He knocked out Joseph Haddad in seventh place, Chad Burum in sixth, and Michael Fetter in third. This left only Casey Kastle, but Kastle was a fearsome opponent.
Klaser stayed focused and won nearly 80 percent of the hands without having to go to a showdown, and Kastle was pushed down to just under 10 big blinds. Then on a flop of J
9
9
Kastle put in his last 120,000, and Klaser called, turning over an overpair of queens to beat Kastle’s jacks. The queen on the turn sealed the deal, and Kastle was sent out in second place with $137,985. Klaser won his first WSOP bracelet and $216,249. At 21 years and four months old, he ranks among some of the youngest gold bracelet winners in history.
The event attracted 720 entries, making it the largest event of its kind in poker history, and creating a prize pool of $982,800. Europeans who had a share in that prize pool earlier on were Mikhail Ustinov ($7,371) Russia, Laurent Lefrancq ($5,601) France, Petr Jelinek ($4,619) Czech Republic, Vladamir Poleshchuk ($3,636) Russia, Johan Larsson ($3,341) Sweden, Jonas Molander ($3,341) Sweden, Daniel Bertelsen ($3,341) Denmark, Derei Asher ($3,046) England, Gerry Kane ($2,751) Scotland, and Ian Turner ($2,751) England.
As the bubble boy was eliminated on day 2 of the $1,000 no-limit with rebuys event, many of the tournament’s shortest stacks began to risk all their chips preflop.
Dane Simon Ravnsbaek was one of the first, pushing all-in from early position in an open pot. The action folded to Joe Tehan, who was one of the tournament leaders at the time, and Tehan called. The action then folded to the player in the big blind who deliberated for several minutes before releasing his hand. Ravnsbaek turned over A4, an underdog against Tehan’s 88
. The flop fell J97, giving Ravnsbaek the nut flush draw, a gut-shot straight draw, and an overcard, for a total of 15 outs. The turn brought one of them, the J, while pairing the board. Tehan needed either one of the two remaining jacks or eights to regain the lead. The 9 on the river paired the board again, failing to make Tehan’s hand, and Ravnsbaek doubled up.
Frenchman Jean Claude Perrot was knocked out in 19th place, taking home $18,144, and Russian Ivan Demidov was later sent to the rail in 11th with the consolation prize of $39,854. Rene Mouritsen from Denmark did well throughout the day, and had made his way to the top of the leader board by end of play. The final nine will take their seats tomorrow, and European hopes will lie in the hands of one man, Rene Mouritsen.
With only eight eliminations on day 1 of the $50,000 World Championship Horse event, day 2 saw 140 others return to vie for not only the cash and bracelet, but also the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy. Reese, winner of the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E event in 2006, passed away on December 4, 2007. The trophy is in remembrance of the beloved Reese, and is an extra honour for the winner of this event. Unfortunately, the chances of a European getting the trophy dwindled as the second day made up for the first in the elimination department.
During level 7, Irishman Andrew Black and Lithuanian Antanas Guoga AKA 'Tony G' were sent to the rail, and the next level saw the back of Frenchman Bruno Fitoussi, while Russian Alexander Kravchenko was not too far behind.
A short stacked Kravchenko got it all-in preflop with 77 against Ted Forrest’s AJ. The board came AQJ98, giving Forrest two pair on the flop, and Kravchenko busted out.
It wasn’t long before it was Denmark’s turn to take a hit, when two Hansens went up against each other. A short stacked Gus Hansen limped from under the gun and Allen Cunningham limped behind him. Norwegian Thor Hansen raised to 6,000 and both Gus Hansen and Cunningham called the raise. The flop came KK4, and Gus Hansen bet 3,000. Cunningham raised to 6,000 and Thor Hansen reraised to 9,000. Gus Hansen called and was all-in for his last 5,000. Cunningham folded.
Thor Hansen: AAKQ
Gus Hansen: A732
The turn was the 8 and the river was the 8. Gus Hansen failed to improve and was eliminated about halfway through the level.
One European doing slightly better was Russian Alexander Kostritsyn. In one of the biggest pots of the night, Kostritsyn held trip sixes against Greg Raymer's trip nines on fifth street. Kostritsyn went on to fill up while Raymer failed to improve. The result was Kostritsyn taking down a 100,000 pot and grabbing the chip lead with 315,000, while Raymer fell to just over 70,000 in chips.
Frenchman David Benyamine was next to wave ‘au revoir`after going head to head with Doyle Brunson, and at level 10, Germany followed when Jan Von Halle was sent out by David Bach. Finn Patrik Antonius was on his way out when both Isabelle Mercier and Allen Kessler took chunks from his stack in the Omaha and the razz rounds. It was Daniel Negreanu who finished him off, putting him on the other side of the rail.
One ray of hope is that despite all the Euro eliminations, Patrick Bueno from France was holding the fort as chip-leader at end of day.
Day 1 of the $1,500 seven-card-stud high-low began today with 544 players, but only 117 made it to day 2. Dutchman Rolf Slotboom suffered numerous blows to his chip stack, but Italian Marco Traniello and Lithuanian Tony G, who had busted out in an earlier event, were making good progress throughout the day.
Another batch of eliminations occurred during the first day of the $5,000 no-limit hold’em six handed event. At start of day there were 800 entries, but by the end there were less than 100 players left. Notable Europeans who will continue onwards on day 2 are Bertrand Grospellier from France, Roland de Wolfe from England, Yuri Ten Bokkel from the Netherlands, Mikael Hogbom from Sweden, and Stephen Pearce from England.
Players eliminated early session included Brit Dave ‘Devilfish' Ulliott, Frenchman Fabrice Soulier, and Finn Thomas Wahlroos.
Tomorrow will see day 2 of the $5,000 no-limit hold’em six handed and the $1,500 seven-card-stud high-low events, while another beginning is the $2,000 no-limit hold’em. The $50,000 World Championship Horse event will get a bit closer to determining a final table, while the $1,000 no-limit with rebuys event will produce a champion.
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