Part of the beauty of poker is that on any given day, the most amateur of amateurs can beat the best professionals in the world. To those unfamiliar with the game, that may sound ridiculous; how can a “sport” be at all attractive when the least skilled players can win? Well, that is, in fact, one of the things that has kept poker appealing to casual players since the poker boom – you always have a chance.
This weekend, cafeteria owner Farid Yachou was a perfect example of this as he won the inaugural World Poker tour Amsterdam Main Event in what was the very first time he had ever played in a live poker tournament. According to WPT.com, he learned the game like many of us did, playing simple cash games with friends. But he recently decided he wanted to change things up, so he entered the WPT Amsterdam Main Event because he “wanted to compete against the best players in the world.”
It certainly worked out.
Yachou made it through Day 3 an into the final sixteen players in decent shape, but not anywhere close to the lead. With 413,000, he had a solid 51 big blinds in his stack, but he was only in twelfth place, a million chips behind the leader. By the end of the day, he only had 1.195 million chips – not even as many as the chip leader had to start that day – but he had made the six-handed final table.
Yachou was in fifth place going into the final table, but it was a fairly packed leader board. Steve Warburton led with 2.810 million chips, followed by Fredrik Andersson, one of the tournament’s early leaders, with 2.195 million. After them, it was another early leader, Joep van den Bijgaart, with 1.650 million, then Kees van Brugge with 1.270 million, Yachou, and Jason Wheeler as the short stack with 1.095 million chips.
Wheeler, the WPT Amsterdam High Roller champ, was the first to go, done in by Farid Yachou. It is funny reading WPT.com’s report on the hand, as Yachou was not shy about revealing how much of an amateur he really was. With a board reading J-2-3-5, Yachou bet and Wheeler shoved, prompting Yachou to take another look at his hole cards while his hands were shaking. He made the call, flipping over pocket Threes for a set versus Wheeler’s J-5 and two pair. After winning the hand, Yachou said, “I’m shaking so much. I really needed to double-check my hand.”
After Warburton eliminated Joep van den Bijgaart in fifth place, Yachou was second in chips with 3.405 million. Andersson went soon thereafter, but it took quite some time before Kees van Brugge was knocked out to bring the tournament to the heads-up match between Yachou and Warburton.
It was a very close match, virtually even after just a few hands. The two went back and forth for a while, neither taking too big of a lead, but on Hand 160 of the final table, the game turned. Yachou bet 260,000 pre-flop and Warburton made the call. On the flop of K-J-9, Warburton checked, Yachou bet 330,000, and Warburton again called. Warburton checked the turn 5, but moved all-in after a Yachou bet. Yachou was more confident this time, calling with a set of Nines against Warburton’s K-5, two pair. The river didn’t help Warburton and Yachou doubled-up to around 8.5 million.
Two hands later, it was over. Warburton went all-in with A-8, Yachou called with Pocket Sixes and the pair held up.
World Poker Tour Amsterdam Main Event – Final Table Results
1. Farid Yachou – $239,559
2. Steve Warburton – $167,134
3. Kees van Brugge – $100,281
4. Fredrik Andersson – $75,768
5. Joep van den Bijgaart – $56,826
6. Jason Wheeler – $45,973