Event 33 - $10,000 Limit Hold'em World Championship
Some of the best (or best known) poker pros were in the field of this event, which is obviously one of the most important of the series. Ivey, Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Negreanu, all of them tried to add one more bracelet to their collection. The winner of the event was none of these guys though. It was former hockey player Greg "FBT" Mueller. Mueller actually has quite some history in the World Series. He has been runner-up twice before, and this was his second final table this year and seventh overall!
Mueller had to beat a tough final table to win this one, with veteran poker pro Chad Brown, Daniel Alaei who already won a bracelet this year, and Matt Glantz, who finished in 4th place in last year's $50k HORSE event. And Mueller wasn't really the big force during a large part of the final table. He was like "just there", without involving himself in huge battles. He pretty much chipped up and down until the action became 4-handed (and he had the smallest stack).
Then things kinda changed for him when he won a big pot from Pat Pezzin, which put him on a considerably more comfortable situation in the tournament. Shortly after that he eliminated Daniel Alaei in fourth place, crushing his dreams of joining Ivey and Brock Parker as the only guys to win 2 bracelets this year.
Mueller's next victim would be Chad Brown. It was A9 vs QT and Mueller rivered a straight (board: 587K6). After that hand Mueller entered the heads-up holding a 2:1 chip advantage over Pat Pezzin. The heads-up wasn't really a nail bitter. It took Mueller about 10 hands to expand the advantage to 5:1 and then to finish things off. He got a $460,836 first place prize and his first gold bracelet!
Payouts 1. Greg “FBT” Mueller - $460,841
2. Pat Pezzin - $285,195
3. Chad Brown - $188,855
4. Daniel Alaei - $134,772
5. Matthew Hawrilenko - $100,688
6. Matt Glantz - $80,341
7. Michiel Brummelhuis - $67,647
8. Soheil Shamseddin - $59,995
9. Kenny Hsiung - $55,995
Event 34 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em
I think it's really impressive how many times we see great players reachign the final stages of these gigantic tournaments. They are huge and draw massive fields, but the big guys keep reaching the final tables. Sick! I wont talk a whole lot about this tournament, but it's important to mention that Elky and Mig made it really deep and had pretty good chances of winning the title.
They were eliminated in those situations where everyone says "ouch, unlucky man, but gj". Mig's elimination hand was as bad as it gets. He went all-in preflop with QQ and was in really good shape against Eric Baldwin (eventual winner!) who held JJ. The board really played against Mig, as it gave Baldwin a straight.
Elky's case was a bit different. He had built a huge stack earlier during that day, and he was running like a god. Then he lost a impotant hand with A8 vs KJ (guy hit a K), and then the worst happened. He ran into a wall. Elky called a all-in push with KK, but unfortunately for him his opponent had pocket Aces. No help from the board and he was crippled. 40 minutes later he was eliminated by Eric Baldwin with JT vs A8. Baldwin eventually won the tournament and collected his first WSOP bracelet. He earned $521,991.
Final table results
1. Eric Baldwin - $521,932
2. Jonas Klausen - $322,371
3. James Taylor - $213,046
4. Benjamin Scholl - $150,133
*5. Roland de Wolfe - $112,957
6. Andrew Youngblood - $89,222
7. Steven Bradbury - $74,352
8. Martin Jacobson - $65,487
9. Eric DeFontes - $60,335
* Just a few days after becoming only the 2nd man to win EPT, WPT and WSOP tournaments, De Wolfe final tables another event! Sicko!
Event 35 - $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha
The final table of this event was just great. Awesome players + surprising ending = exciting final table. The winner, Richard Austin, had never even cashed in the WSOP before. Among his final table opponents were Sorel "imperium" Mizzi, Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy and Peter Jetten, runner-up in the $10,000 PLO event at last year's WSOP. Other notables who were in the money, but lost before the final table are Jesper Hougaard, Devilfish and Isaac Baron, who bubbled the final table.
The highlight of the final table (duh) was the last hand. Yeah, because it didn't happen during the heads-up. It happened when the action was 3-handed! Here is a quote from the WSOP live-update:
| | Richard Austin called from the button, Sorel Mizzi completed from the small blind and Cliff Josephy raised to 150,000 from the big blind. Austin called and Mizzi unexpectedly reraised pot to 750,000. Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy moved all in for 195,000 more. Austin then goes into the tank for a minute before flat calling. After confirming that he could not reraise, Mizzi also called the all in. The board came    and Mizzi moved all in for 680,000. Austin called. Mizzi:     (an overpair with aces) Josephy:     (flopped top set with a backdoor diamond draw) Austin:     (baby flush draw and a gutshot) The turn is a blank with the  River:  The river gave Austin a flush and the pot to eliminate both Cliff Josephy (3rd) and Sorel Mizzi (2nd). With the double elimination, Richard Austin takes down the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha title. |
With that hand, Richard Austin killed two ducks with one shot and became the champion of the $5,000 PLO event! He also wins the first WSOP bracelet of his career.
Results and payouts1. Richard Austin — $409,484
2. Sorel Mizzi — $253,048
3. Cliff Josephy — $166,711
4. Dan Hindin — $116,748
5. Rifat Palevic — $86,516
6. Felipe Ramos — $67,663
7. Van Marcus — $55,687
8. Peter Jetten — $48,112
9. Samuel Ngai — $43,359 |
