WSOPE Main Event PDF Print E-mail
wsope4juandaday400.jpgJohn Juanda Captures WSOP Europe Main Event In Marathon Final

Veteran Pro from Indonesia and California Is Now King of Europe

by Chris Hall wsope4juandaday3.jpgJohn Juanda Captures WSOP Europe Main Event In Marathon Final

Veteran Pro from Indonesia and California Is Now King of Europe

by Chris Hall


In what was the longest final table in the history of the WSOP, John Juanda picked up his first bracelet in almost five years, and undoubtedly it’ll be seen as his greatest triumph. Having watched his friends Allen Cunningham, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey pick up bracelets in the intervening years, it has been a barren bling patch for the man originally from Indonesia. After an epic final, which like the Lord of the Rings films, never seemed to end, Juanda – a poker millionaire eight times over – was able to
triumph over a heavily stacked table of talent to win his fourth bracelet.
    There were so many tables crammed into the Empire that navigation around the casino was as difficult as negotiating the tourist haven that was Leicester Square outside. Nevertheless, this did not stop 362 players turning up on the two days to play for
the more than £800,000 first prize. Coincidentally, exactly the same number played in the inaugural event that Annette Obrestad won last year.
    Obrestad wasn’t the only Internet prodigy in the main event, in fact, they were too numerous to mention, especially due to the under-21 age limit many American casinos have. This meant a veritable invasion from Stateside, mixing with some of Europe’s young elite, like Chris ‘Moorman1’ Moorman – the top-ranked UK online player – who almost didn’t make it to the casino due to having lost his passport, though an express visit to the passport office later and the problem was solved.
    It wasn’t just the online kids who had come over. There were a smattering of celebrities also in the event, with most of the cameras, attention and focus on former Aussie cricketeer Shane Warne. Sadly, his poker game wasn’t on par with his spin-bowling on this occasion as he was an early exit on the first day.

Media Frenzy
The constant media attention did not appeal to some players who got rather irked when the film crews came around asking players on certain hands to show their cards to a specialised camera that looked more like a mini-vacuum that you’d find in a car. A few people felt this began to hold up the tournament too much, but with two-hour levels and a 20,000 starting stack, it was only a minor sacrifice to most.
    Two of the biggest names to depart early on were David Benyamine and Howard Lederer. The former was holding kings against aces on a six-high board while the latter walked aces into Chris Moorman’s flopped set of sixes. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for the big names, as Daniel Negreanu led the way with 150k alongside Justin ‘BoostedJ’ Smith, with Jamie Rosen and David ‘Raptor’ Benefield loitering behind.
    Day 2 saw old-school stalwarts Andy Bloch and Erik Seidel take over the top of the leaderboard, but it was much more interesting watching the latest part of the Phil Hellmuth story unfold and the rest of the banter from the floor. Hellmuth drew the same table as Sherkhan Farnood, the winner of the H.O.R.S.E. event and the man who
busted Hellmuth in said same event. On seeing his nemesis, Hellmuth began with his usual tact and diplomatic style: “How did you get through Day 1? You must have left a bloody trail in your wake. All-in with fours against aces? All-in with fives against kings?”
    Elsewhere, November Niner David ‘Chino’ Rheem was rubbing shoulders with Roland de Wolfe, the latter claiming he was ‘from the streets’ like the Main Event hopeful, except that those ‘mean streets’ were actually in Barnet, a fairly pleasant northern part of London. But neither these two, nor Hellmuth, nor Farnood would make it through the day.

Goodbye, Phil – Again!
Despite this, though, Farnood did manage to eliminate Hellmuth a second time, flopping a set against Hellmuth’s kings. Hellmuth had previously referred to Farnood as “The worst player in the world,” and when a couple of the other players, including Mike Matusow, heard about this bustout, they repeated this statement, rubbing salt into the wound. Farnood, for his part, simply said, “I’m trying to prove I’m only the second worst.”
    On Day 3 the players were finally about to make some hard-earned cash for their play. One player who probably thought he wouldn’t make it was Soren Kongsgaard, who when down to just 15k with the blinds 1k-2k with a 200 ante managed to double up with K-Q against 9-9, then again with K-K against Q-10 and within one hour, he’d gone from having no stack to having a real stack capable of making the final with almost 170k.
    With 38 players left and 36 being paid, Chris Moorman and Johnny Lodden got involved in a huge chip leader pot worth 550k when Moorman’s kings ran into the Norwegian’s aces. The British youngster was crippled and exited soon after. The actual bubble boy was Stephen Ladowsky, who lost a crucial flip to Peter Turmezey. All this meant that James Keys, who made the final table last year, became the only person to cash in both WSOPE main events, though sadly for him this time, it wasn’t going to be quite as big a cash.
    Though, he’s been tipped so many times to conquer one of these big events, the 2008 WSOPE proved a false dawn once more for European star Johnny Lodden, eventually being eliminated in 11th place. After Peter Neff was eliminated in tenth, the final table looked like this:

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
   
    The final seemed to have the right mix of everything. You had the big names in Fischman, Juanda and Negreanu, the local boys Keston and Elliott, the tricky Scandies Sonnert and Hiltunen and finally the unknown quantity in the cool, calm Russians, with November Niner Demidov having a chance at being the first person to win the WSOPE and the WSOP main events. (He is the first to make final tables at both. Speaking of records, Jesper Hougaard of Copenhagen, Denmark, won Event 1 – £1500 NL hold’em – and became the first person to win bracelets on both sides of the pond. He won Event 36 – $1500 NL hold’em – in Vegas this summer).
    It wasn’t a good start for the locals. Chris Elliott flopped top two pair and turned a flush draw holding 10♦-9♦ on a 10♠-9♠-2♦-7♦ board against Alekhin’s A♦-5♦. The young Brit must have been thinking there were more than enough clubs on the board already, but the poker gods disagreed and put down the king of clubs on the river to eliminate him. The Russian eliminated Hiltunen next with queens vs. jacks, and then a couple of hands later it was his compatriot’s turn. Demidov called Robin Keston’s all-in and found his nines in a strong position against the Englishman’s
A-8, especially after he turned a set on the K-10-4-9-6 board.
    Truly, it seemed like a Russian 1-2
wasn’t out of the question as they seemed to take turns bullying and knocking out the other players. In a three-way pot, Scott Fischman led out on an A-J-10 board with Alekhin raising him. Demidov got out of the way and Fischman moved all-in, Alekhin quickly calling. Fischman’s A-Q looked solid except that Alekhin had flopped the nut straight with K-Q and Fischman couldn’t catch running cards to win or even a king for a split. Instead, he was cast aside in sixth position.
    Daniel Negreanu would have been a popular champion amongst many players and fans alike, but here he could only manage fifth place with his A-9 being picked off once again by Alekhin’s jacks. Alekhin then knocked out Bengt ‘Bennyboi’ Sonnert with A-8 vs. A-5 and with the two Russians remaining against Californian Juanda, it looked like it was going to be another year before an American won a WSOPE bracelet.

Marathon Battle
Three-handed it seemed like the battle would go on forever, but Juanda managed to eliminate Demidov, whose
profile for the November Main Event final at the Rio will no doubt be much improved by his run here. Demidov was all-in on an 8↔-5♥-3♥ flop with Q♥-10♥ for a strong draw, though the flush needed to be made since Juanda held A♥-A♦, but a couple of blanks later and there remained just two competitors for the last bracelet of the year.
    Juanda started off with around
4.4 million in chips to Alekhin’s
2.85 million, but with the blinds so small relative to the antes, you could sense that the players knew they were in for the long haul. So it proved, as the hours dwindled away and the chip lead swung forwards and back, with both players gaining vital double-ups when needed. The final went on so long that we had reached 11am in the morning without a winner – it was no longer just a battle of minds, but bodies also.
    Juanda managed a crucial double-up when he held K♠-6♠ on a K♦-Q♠-7♦ flop against Alekhin’s 4♦-3♦, which crucially missed, leaving the Russian incredibly short even with this deep structure. And the K-6 seemed to stay good for Juanda when he called Alekhin’s all-in move with A-9 with that hand, and an equally tired dealer rattled off a 6-6-2 flop.
    A queen on the turn meant Juanda was the champion, and for some exquisite icing on a very gorgeous and expensive cake he made quads with the case six falling down on the river like an exclamation point from the gods of poker.
    After the victory, Juanda admitted it had been a long time since his last bracelet win and that it can be tough
trying to keep up with Negreanu, Cunningham and Ivey. He also paid
tribute to his opponent and said that tournament poker was now harder than ever and that he sometimes wondered if he’d ever win anything again.
    He need not worry about that now, though, as for the moment, he’s the King of Europe.                                                 

 

Visit Us At...

Like it? Share it!

Survey