The main event of the World Series of Poker Europe, presented by Betfair, found its champion after more than 21 hours of play at the final table, including a mind-boggling eight hours heads-up. The event will go down in history for the long period of final-table play and also for Ivan Demidov’s success. The seating and chip counts going into the day were:
Seat 1: Robin Keston — 849,000
Seat 2: Daniel Negreanu — 1,002,000
Seat 3: Chris Elliott — 281,000
Seat 4: Bengt Sonnert — 385,000
Seat 5: John Juanda — 1,349,000
Seat 6: Ivan Demidov — 1,006,000
Seat 7: Toni Hiltunen — 386,000
Seat 8: Scott Fischman — 732,000
Seat 9: Stanislav Alekhin — 1,278,000
Chris Elliott was first to go out in ninth place for £81,450, and Toni Hiltunen followed him at the hands of one of the aggressive Russians, Alekhin. He received £108,600 for eighth place.
Robin Keston battled with the other Russian dominator, Ivan Demidov, resulting in him taking to the exit in seventh for £135,750, and Scott Fischman, fell in sixth for £171,950.
Negreanu played astoundingly over the duration of the event, but it was his time to go in fifth place for £217,200. He left to rapturous applause and should be consoled by the accomplishment of three cashes from four WSOPE events.
Alekhin then tore through Sonnert, sending him reeling to the rails in fourth place, accompanied by a rather large cheque for £271,500. This left American John Juanda to face the Russian duo for the top prize of £868,800.
Although Demidov now becomes part of poker history for making two World Series main event final tables in the same year, he is not the champion of at least one so far. However, he remarkably achieved a third-place finish, and received £344,850 for an incredible effort.
Juanda took Alekhin on next, and for more than eight hours the two went at it gladiator-style. Two hundred and fourty one hands later, Juanda emerged from the dust as a champion, despite being dominated 6-1 by Alekhin for most of the heads-up match. The final hand came when Alekhin pushed the last of his stack in holding A
9
, and Juanda called with K 6. The fateful flop fell 6 6
2, giving Juanda trips. Then, to wrap things up, a final 6 fell on the river to make quads.
John Juanda deservedly takes his fourth bracelet and the World Series Of Poker Europe main event championship title.
For a thorough update on the WSOPE final table, and for ongoing live updates from the European Poker Tour London, check out CardPlayer.com.
