On Friday, Day 1A of Event 1 of the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe kicked off from the Casino at the Empire in London, England. When the smoke cleared on Monday night from the European metropolis, Jesper Hougaard defeated a field of 410 entrants en route to a ₤144,218 payday in the ₤1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament.
With the win on Monday night, Hougaard became the first player ever to win World Series of Poker bracelets on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. He took down a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament in Las Vegas during the 2008 WSOP, banking $610,304. The former player and coach of the Danish National Table Tennis Team, Hougaard also became only the second player to capture two WSOP bracelets in 2008. John “The Razor” Phan won a pair of events during the Las Vegas WSOP. Tournaments played as part of the WSOP Europe also award gold bracelets to the winners.
Hougaard entered the final table eighth in chips, but managed to become the chip leader when play was three-handed. He was a 4:1 chip leader heads-up against Fuad Serhan and, on the very last hand of the tournament, Hougaard’s A-J of diamonds beat Serhan’s big slick when the flop came three diamonds. Headed into final table play, Serhan told WSOP officials, “This is the impossible dream. I really want win that gold bracelet. The money is nice, but that bracelet is what I am here for.”
Here is how the final nine shook out in London:
1st Place: Jesper Hougaard, ₤144,218
2nd Place: Fuad Serhan, ₤89,175
3rd Place: Yevgeniy Timoshenko, ₤55,350
4th Place: Neil Channing, ₤44,588
5th Place: John Dwyer, ₤36,285
6th Place: Adam Junglen, ₤28,598
7th Place: Linda Lee, ₤22,448
8th Place: Ian Woodley, ₤17,835
9th Place: Daniel Nutt, ₤13,222
Junglen was a commanding chip leader entering the final table, but received the cold end of the deck much of the day. His pocket fives ran into pocket aces, doubling up Serhan early on. His stack was all but crippled holding A-Q against Channing’s A-K. A few hands prior, his pocket jacks lost to A-K suited when Timoshenko turned a flush against him. He was eventually ousted in sixth place.
The £2,650 buy-in HORSE event, the second tournament as part of the WSOP Europe, started on Monday. It’s a three day event. Here’s a look at the rest of the schedule:
Event 3: Wednesday, September 24th at 3:00 PM
Pot Limit Omaha (Event 3)
£5,250 buy-in
WSOPE Main Event: Saturday, September 27th at 1:00 PM
£10,350 buy-in
At the time of writing, the HORSE event was down to the final 31 players. Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Ivey and Raul Paez led the field with 85,000 chips each. Others still in contention included Daniel Negreanu, Isaac Haxton, Gus Hansen, Phil Hellmuth, David Williams, Jason Gray, Andy Bloch, and Robert Williamson III. We’ll have the full results for you right here on Poker News Daily.
