What started as a field of 346 entrants in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe Main Event played down to a winner on Tuesday night. When the smoke cleared, Britain’s James Bord took down the title on his home turf at the Casino at the Empire in London. The £10,000 buy-in event marked just the second WSOP Europe tournament he had ever entered.
Bord started the final table in fifth place on the leaderboard and, after the field was whittled down to six players, Daniel Steinberg hit the rail. In his final hand, Steinberg called the 4bet of Ronald Lee with A-J of clubs for his tournament life. Lee flipped over pocket fours, setting up a race situation. The board ran out Q-9-6-3-8 and Steinberg was relegated to the rails, albeit with his bank account growing by £156,000.
Nicolas Levi was the next to depart. Seven hands after Steinberg was eliminated, Levi followed suit after calling all-in before the flop with a wired pair of nines. Lee was once again the executioner and showed K-Q, including the queen of hearts, for another coin flip. The flop came 8-5-4, all hearts, giving Lee additional outs if a fourth heart were to hit. Instead, the turn was a king and, down to his last out, Levi watched as the 10 of spades hit on the river. Levi collected £208,000.
Live poker Triple Crown winner Roland de Wolfe was ousted in fourth place from the 2010 WSOP Europe Main Event. The WSOP bracelet winner, European Poker Tour event champ, and World Poker Tour victor hit the skids in a blind-versus-blind situation. In the small blind, de Wolfe moved all-in and tabled K-Q; he was up against Fabrizio Baldassari’s A-8. Baldassari flopped two pair and de Wolfe was eliminated with £278,000 to show for his efforts.
Bord moved all-in with A-3 and received a call from Lee, who showed K-Q. Lee bricked out and Bord doubled up as a result. The Brit’s rail, which included fellow poker pros Andrew Feldman and Sam Trickett, erupted in celebration. Baldassari then drew out on Lee’s A-K with A-4 to lodge a double up of his own.
After the pair of courtesy double ups, Lee found the exit after 3betting all-in with pocket fives. Bord insta-called with A-K and hit a king on the flop. Another cowboy came on the river and coverage found on WSOP.com detailed the scene: “Bord was jumping up and down with them while they crowded the rail, going nuts for their mate.”
Heads-up, Bord doubled with A-K against Q-8 and, in the tournament’s final hand, pocket fives once again went down in flames. This time, Baldassari 4bet all-in with “presto” and Bord called with a wired pair of tens. The better pre-flop hand held and the 29 year-old Bord took down the 2010 WSOP Europe Main Event title.
Bord made the final table of a $1,500 2-7 Draw Lowball tournament in Las Vegas during this year’s WSOP for $13,000 to come within inches of his first bracelet. On finally breaking through, he told WSOP officials on Tuesday night, “I never thought I would win a bracelet. Being so close, you just never know when it’s going to come again. And it’s even more special to win it in my hometown. It’s just something very special.”
Here’s how the final nine players cashed out in the 2010 WSOP Europe Main Event in London:
1. James Bord – £830,401
2. Fabrizio Baldassari – £513,049
3. Ronald Lee – £376,829
4. Roland De Wolfe – £278,945
5. Nicolas Levi – £208,119
6. Daniel Steinberg – £156,530
7. Dan Fleyshman – £118,643
8. Brian Powell – £90,617
9. Marc Inizan – £69,754
Bord joined Phil Laak, Jeffrey Lisandro, Scott Shelley, and Gus Hansen as bracelet winners in London this year. Visit WSOP.com for more information.
