Daniel Brits began the final table of the 2013 World Poker Tour (WPT) Emperors Palace Poker Classic Monday a distant second, but he quickly built his stack, took the lead, and cruised through to play heads-up against Eugene Du Plessis. It was a back-and-forth battle, but Brits won the big hands when it counted, eventually amassing all the chips and winning $132,128.
Going into final table play, the chip stacks looked as so:
Eugene Du Plessis – 2.635,000
Daniel Brits – 1,225,000
Dominik Nitsche – 875,000
Wesley Wiegand – 365,000
Rob Fenner – 335,000
Ronit Chamani – 310,000
Thus, there were clear strata. Du Plessis was a heavy favorite, holding almost as many chips as the rest of the players combined. Then there was Brits, a good 1.4 million chips behind, followed by Nitsche, who was a few hundred thousand behind Brits. The bottom three were in a tier together, all in the 300,000’s.
As one might have expected, the first eliminations came from those short stacks. In what was one of the most significant hands of the day, all three short stacks moved all-in pre-flop early on during final table action. Wiegand was in the lead with A♦-K♦, Chamani had A♥-J♥, and Fenner had A♣-T♠. It looked great for Wiegand, though he did have to dodge some outs and running cards. Just like that, one of those outs appeared in the door, as Fenner took the lead with the T♣-5♣-3♦ on the flop. The turn 3♣ and river Q♣ improved Fenner to a flush and just like that, he tripled up to a million chips. Ronit Chamani was eliminated in sixth place and Wesley Wiegand was crippled, down to just 75,000.
Wiegand moved all-in pre-flop immediately therafter, losing to Brits and bowing out in fifth place (Brits had A-K and flopped an Ace, but Wiegand mucked, so we do not know what he had).
A short while later, Nitsche got coolered, flopping trip Tens on a T-T-2 board only to see Fenner flop a boat with pocket Deuces. All the chips got in and Fenner doubled through, decreasing Nitsche’s stack to 405,000. Nitsche was out on the next hand, his A-J falling to Brit’s A-Q.
Three handed play lasted two hours until Fenner was finally eliminated in third place. He limped from the small blind and Du Plessis checked to bring on a flop of Q♥-7♣-4♥. Then all hell broke loose. Fenner bet 50,000. Du Plessis took it up to 140,000. Fenner four-bet to 400,000 and Du Plessis moved all-in. Fenner, as one would expect after his raising, called. It was no wonder why they were excited: Du Plessis turned over 7♥-6♥ and Fenner showed T♥-9♥, both flush draws. Du Plessis had the lead with a pair of 7’s, though he did not want that flush to come. It didn’t; the turn and river were both blanks and Fenner was out of the tournament.
It was close going into heads-up play, 3,040,000 to 2,690,000, advantage Daniel Brits.
It looked like Brits might run away with it early on, as he took a 1,500,000 chip lead after just 20 minutes. But Du Plessis surged back, gaining a slight edge after about an hour of play. No sooner did that happen, though, than Brits forced his opponent to fold a huge pot over to him and just like that, Brits was up by almost 2,000,000.
A while later, it was almost déjà vu: Du Plessis came back to take the lead, but Brits immediately wrenched it back and not in a small way. Once again, Brits built his lead to almost 2,000,000. Eventually, climbing the mountain was too much for Du Plessis. On the final hand, Du Plessis bet 200,000 pre-flop and Brits called to bring on a flop of Q♦-7♠-2♦. Brits checked, Du Plessis bet, Brits shoved, and Du Plessis called for all his chips. Both players had good hands: Brits with Q♠-8♦ for top pair and Du Plessis with J♦-7♦ for middle pair and a flush draw. The turn was the 9♣, changing nothing. The river produced the Q♣, further solidifying Brits’ hand and giving him the WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic title.
2013 WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic – Final Table Results
1. Daniel Brits – $132,128
2. Eugene Du Plessis – $92,708
3. Rob Fenner – $59,634
4. Dominik Nitsche – $44,136
5. Wesley Wiegand – $33,130
6. Ronit Chamani – $26,504