Day 47 of the 38th World Series of Poker saw three Europeans attempt to win the most prestigious and richest prize in poker, the $10,000 world championship no-limit hold'em tournament.
Dane Phillip Hilm started the final table as chip leader with just over $22 million in chips, but was first to be eliminated, busting out in ninth place, after a series of clashes with Jerry Yang.
Hilm was an early aggressor but Yang appeared undaunted. The ultimate hand saw a board of K
J 5
2
in which Jerry Yang bet $4 million and Hilm moved all in. Yang made the call and flipped over A K
. Hilm showed 8 5. The river brought the 6 and Hilm was gone. He earned $525, 934 for his marathon effort.
Englishman Jon 'Skalie' Kalmar started the day third in chips with $20,320,000 but exited in fifth place when he moved all in for $10,490,000 after facing a bet of $2.5 million from Raymond Rahme. Kalmar's A K could not improve against Rahme's J J and the Lancashire lad pocketed $1,255,069.
It was left then to recent bracelet-winning Russian Alex Kravchenko, who started the day as the short stack with $6,570,000, to head the European challenge. With four players left after the dinner break Kravchenko had $11,750,000 in chips, Tuan Lam had $11,250,000, Raymond Rahme had $33,200,000, and Jerry Yang had $71,275,000.
Kravchenko would last several hours before his preflop all-in with A K ran into 8-8, which hit a third 8 on the flop. The turn and river cards offered no help for the Russian and he was eliminated in fourth place, earning $1,852,721 in prize money.
The winner was Jerry Yang, who dominated Tuan Lam during their heads-up battle and eventually took down the $8.5 million first prize.
Check back at CardPlayer.com regularly for more detailed analysis of the main event final table and more WSOP news.
