The World Poker Tour has wrapped up its pre-World Series of Poker schedule with the close of action at the Holland Casino in Amsterdam. As to their WPTDeepStacks Main Event, Daniel Daniyar started the day with the second biggest stack and finished it with all the chips to take the title, while Andreas Klatt celebrated an outstanding run of poker between Monte Carlo and Amsterdam to win the “MonteDam Swing.”
As previously stated, Daniyar (1.8 million) started the day with the second biggest stack, trailing only Jan Jansma (2.365 million) on the leaderboard. They were the only two players above a million chips as Jorn Walthaus (845K), Louis Salter (735K), Jonathan Rozema (495K) and Shyngis Satubayev (430K) rounded out the final table on Saturday. From the start, Daniyar was on the offensive, starting a run that would only end with him winning the title.
Daniyar set the tone from the first hand of action, calling Rozema’s all-in and proving to be correct in the call when his K-Q was besting Rozema’s 7-5 pre-flop. There was a seven on the flop, but it was joined by a King to keep Daniyar in the lead. After an uneventful turn and river, Rozema would hit the rail in sixth. Ten minutes later, it was Walthaus’ turn to hit the exits, with Daniyar pulling off another knockout with K-Q. With Walthaus leading pre-flop with his A-8 off suit, the 10-3-5 flop looked innocent enough. After a nine came on the turn, Daniyar now had outs to a straight along with his potential to pair his paint. The river not only was paint, it was a Jack, giving Daniyar a winning straight and sending Walthaus out in fifth place.
Now with the lead, Daniyar did not take his foot off the gas. Although Salter would take down Satubayev in fourth, Daniyar dived right back into the pool in bumping off Jansma in a shocker of a hand. After doubling up both his opponents, it looked as if Daniyar would do it again when he made a bit of a questionable play. In that hand, Jansma put out a raise, Daniyar three-bet and, after Jansma moved all in, made the call. His 6♠ 3♠ shrunk up against the red Kings of Jansma, but the fates held another story. A 6-3-4 flop hit Daniyar squarely and, by the time the river brought another trey to give him a boat, Daniyar had vanquished the mighty Cowboys of Jansma, ending Jansma’s night in third place.
Everyone thought it would be a quick heads up session – Daniyar held a monstrous 6.2 million stack to Salter’s 500K – but Salter would prove to be a worthy opponent. Three double ups over a half-hour span would shoot Salter to the lead and another half-hour would put him up by a margin similar to what Daniyar started with. Daniyar would recompose himself and got back in the game, however, and with a flourish. Another half-hour of play would see Daniyar not only retake the lead after he hit a flush to best Salter’s Kings, but stunningly win the tournament.
On the penultimate hand, Salter pushed all in with a J-8 off suit and Daniyar was happy to look him up with a leading A-4. The board never presented any threats, coming down 10-2-3-K-6, to keep Daniyar in the lead, making him the first champion of the WPT to hail from Kazakhstan.
1. Daniel Daniyar, €152,600
2. Louis Salter, €106,710
3. Jan Jansma, €65,570
4. Shyngis Satubayev, €39,885
5. Jorn Walthaus, €30,800
6. Jonathan Rozema, €25,525
Along with Daniyar’s victory was the awarding of the PokerStars Championship/WPT “MonteDam Swing.” The WPT and PokerStars teamed up for a joint promotion in which players had the opportunity to win excellent prizes if they competed in both the PSC Monte Carlo and the WPT Amsterdam. Two events in Monte Carlo – the €5000 Main Event and the PokerStars National Championship – and two in Amsterdam – the WPTDeepStacks Main Event and a smaller buy in event prior to the Main – were used to compile points for the players, with the caveat that the winner had to have cashed in both Monte Carlo and Amsterdam.
After Monte Carlo, there was pretty much no reason to go on. Germany’s Andreas Klatt, who won the National Championship in Monte Carlo and cashed in the Main Event, didn’t even know there was a special competition going on when he traveled to Amsterdam for the WPT festivities. Once informed that he was in line to take the “MonteDam Swing,” Klatt made the most of it, finishing tenth in the WPTDeepStacks Main Event to earn the qualifying cash to meet the requirements and pick up the “MonteDam Swing” championship. As a reward for his efforts, Klatt earned his buy-in for the PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event, which will be contested later this year.
