Day 15 at the World Series of Poker in the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino saw the final tables of the $2,000 no-limit hold’em and $2,500 pot-limit hold’em/Omaha events set while day 1 of the $10,000 World Championship Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em and $1,500 seven-card razz got underway.
Europe witnessed its first bracelet win when Jens Voertmann from Dortmund, Germany lifted the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. title.
With 16 returning players, tournament directors predicted a long road to the bracelet. In just two short hours, however, the field was trimmed to the final eight which included Voertmann and Dutchman Marcel Luske.
Luske was eliminated in third place for $110,264 during the stud round.
He was short-stacked and was forced to commit his remaining chips against Voertmann. Voertmann’s board read J
9
A
78AK for a pair of aces, and Luske’s board read 959Q4J
. Luske needed to hit any one of his board cards to stay alive, but after squeezing it out, he mucked his hand. Luske was eliminated in third place.
Voertmann went on to defeat Doug Ganger who was forced to get it all in holding a board of 8899AK3. Voertmann made the all in call on fourth street, and his board eventually ran out 557AJJ, giving him a better two pair. Ganger was eliminated in second place, earning $182,822 for his runner-up finish. Voertmann collected $298,253 for his victory.
The $2,000 no-limit hold’em event, which attracted 414 players, saw Irishman Conor Tate, Swede Chris Bjorin, Frenchman Stephane Tayar, and Italian Alessandro Dalbello make the final two tables. Tate was the first eliminated in 20th for $13,208.
Tayer was soon all in for 73,000 and was called by Rick LeNoble, who had about 150,000 behind. Stephane showed down 1010 , LeNoble 55. There was no funny stuff and Stephane survived the hand, chipping up to 155,000.
Ten minutes after doubling through Lenoble, Tayer eliminated a very loud Dylan Bircheff when his pocket jacks held up against Bircheff’s KJ . All of a sudden Stephane was up to almost 300,000.
The first action of ten handed play was initiated by Chris Bjorin, the oldest player at the table. Bjorin raised to 52,000 from middle position and Tayer moved all in from the button for 71,000 more. Bjorin showed down 77 , well behind Tayar’s KK. A king on the flop pretty well sealed the deal. Stephane leapt from his seat amid a hail of applause from his cheering section.
Alessandro Dalbello was eliminated in 10th place by David Steicke: Dalbello moved all in under the gun for 90,000 and was called by Steicke, who held ace-queen against Dalbello’s ace-nine. Both players flopped an ace, but Steicke’s kicker held, and Dalbello was the last player eliminated for the night.
Stephane Tayer returns for the final table tomorrow with 323,000 in chips while Bjorin, at his second final table of the Series, is even more short stacked with 247,000. Blinds will be 8,000-16,000 ante 2,000.
Italy’s Max Pescatori is shooting for his first final table of the Series. He is currently 11th out of 457 players in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em / Omaha with 342,000 in chips. Also in line for a final table finish are John Paul Kelly from the UK and Lennart Holtkamp from the Netherlands.
Former Card Player Poker + Sports European bureau chief, Rolf Slotboom from the Netherlands, busted in 25th. He had been short-stacked for much of the day when he went all in preflop and looked in good shape to double up with pocket kings against his opponent’s A-K. Slotboom’s cowboys proved to be ace magnets, however, and his opponent flopped a bullet to send Slotboom to the rail.
Frenchman Pascal Perrault went home in 22nd place. On a flop of 742 , Pascal Perrault was moved all in by Martel De la Chesnaye.
Perrault had AAQ7 while De la Chesnaye had 10764.
The turn and river brought 106 , and De la Chesnaye’s top two pair held up to take down the pot and send Perrault home $7,358 .
Ireland’s Andy Black made the final 32 in the $10,000 World Championship Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em. He will play Michael McNeil. Also returning is Russia’s Alexander Kostritsyn who will play Gavin Griffin.
A total of 256 players entered the event creating a prize pool of $2,406,400 with $539,040 going to first place.
Eliminated from the event in the earlier rounds were Mark Teltscher, Carlos Mortensen, Johannes Strassman, Thomas Wahlroos , Ludovic Lacay, and Dario Minieri.
Russia’s Alex Kravchenko was up against Erik Pettersson after defeating Barry Greenstein. He took an early hit in the game but fought a hard battle with a chip disadvantage before ultimately being defeated by Pettersson. In one hand, Kravchenko completed from the small blind and Pettersson raised his option to 2,000 total. Kravchenko contemplated his options before moving all in for his remaining 11,000. Pettersson released his hand. Despite the improvement to his chip stack, Pettersson defeated Kravchenko on a later hand.
Antonio Esfandiari and Italy’s Marco Traniello fought a fierce heads up battle that ultimately ended with Esfandiari as the
victor. However, Esfandiari established a chip lead early against Traniello and maintained the advantage throughout most of the match.
During hour two, Esfandiari raised to 1,600 from the small blind and Traniello made the call. The flop came A103 and Traniello moved all in for 6,600. Esfandiari paused for a moment to consider aloud what Traniello held. “What do you have, ace-four?” Esfandiari asked before mucking his hand.
Traniello again put all his chips on the line a few hands later, this time pre-flop from his position on the button. Esfandiari deliberated for a long time, twice expressing vocally that he felt Traniello had him beat. He eventually made the call with A7 , the favorite over Traniello’s A5 . The Q65 flop gave the lead to Traniello, but the 7 on the river locked it up for Esfandiari and sent the spectators into a roar of cheers for Esfandiari. “It was tough. Those Italians never die easy,” Esfandiari responded as he prepared for his next match.
The $1,500 seven-card razz event will see 106 of 453 players return tomorrow.
Dutchman Steve Wong was one high profile Euro casualty. His exit hand saw him complete the bet to 200 with a 4 and seat 3 raised all in to 350 with a 3. The short-stacked Wong called all in. Both players turned all their cards face up.
Wong: 45810 – Q38
Seat 3: 345K – 8102
Both Wong and seat 3 had the exact same hand (8-5-4-3) on sixth street. In a dramatic fashion, the dealer dealt the river card face down. Wong turned over an 8 and seat 3 turned over a deuce. Wong was eliminated on the river.
Yesterday saw Daniel Negreanu claim his fourth bracelet in the $2,000 limit hold’em event earning $204,863.00 while Vanessa Selbst won her first in the $1,500 pot-limit hold’em event taking home $227,933.
Elsewhere Scott Seiver won $755,891 for taking down the $5,000 no-limit hold’em event.
Tomorrow will see two events start — the $1,500 no-limit hold’em event and the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha with rebuys.
Check in with CardPlayer.com for all the latest news and updates from the Series.
