If you’re going to notch the first live tournament win of your career, you might as well go big. That’s exactly what Poland’s Marcin Wydrowski did over the weekend, as he won the 2012 World Poker Tour (WPT) Prague Main Event and over $400,000.
Along with the prize money, a windfall compared to the $3,538 he had earned in his only other live tournament cash, Wydrowski won the coveted WPT Champions Trophy, and perhaps just as significant, became the first player from Poland to have his name engraved on the WPT Champions Cup.
It was a fairly tight final table to start play Saturday, with Bodo Sbrzesny leading the six players with 4.605 million chips. Tony Chang was second with 3.61 million and then Alexandr Lakhov, Wydrowski and Michael Gagliano were bunch together with 2.815 million, 2.745 million, and 2.375 million chips, respectively. Alin Grasu was the short stack, holding just 855,000 chips.
Not surprisingly, it was Grasu that was the first to go at the final table, falling on just the second hand of the day. He opened with a raise to 75,000 and Chang called. After the flop of Q♣-7♠-7♦, Chang checked, Grasu bet 130,000, and Chang called. When the 4♥ came on the turn, Chang check-called again, but this time it was after Grasu shoved for 630,000. Chang had played it perfectly, as he held J♣-7♣ for trips against Grasu’s A♦-Q♦ and top pair. The river was inconsequential and Grasu was out in 6th place.
About an hour later brought the second elimination of the day, one which required a bit of luck (or bad luck, depending on one’s perspective). Chang, Sbrzesny, and Gagliano got into a raising war pre-flop with the latter two players eventually getting it all-in. Gagliano looked to be in great shape with pocket Aces against Sbrzesny’s pocket Queens (Chang said he folded Jacks). To Gagliano’s horror, though, a Queen was dealt on the flop and he was shown the door just moments after thinking he was about to double-up.
Chang was the next to go, though it took almost two more hours. After a flop of 6♠-5♠-3♠, Chang moved all-in with just K♣-2♣ and was called by Lakhov, who had 5♥-3♥, good for two pair. Chang wasn’t able to hit his gut-shot and was sent home in 4th place.
Shortly thereafter, Wydrowski, who had been quietly accumulating chips, made a big move, doubling through Sbrzesny after moving all-in pre-flop with pocket Kings against Sbrzesny’s K-Q. That took Wydrowski up to 8.8 million and he soon found himself with a chip stack of over 10 million.
That stack grew to 12.805 million after he eliminated Sbrzesny, allowing him to go into heads-up play against Alexandr Lakhov with a 3-to-1 chip advantage. It took only nine hands for Wydrowski to finish off his opponent.
Lakhov raised pre-flop, only to watch Wydrowski three-bet to 500,000. After some thought, Lakhov decided to go all-in with 7-6 and Wydrowski made an immediate call with pocket Sevens. Perfect timing. The flop of J-8-5 gave Lakhov an open-ended straight draw, so there were some tense moments for Wydrowski, but the straight never materialized and Marcin Wydrowski won the 2012 WPT Prague Main Event.
2012 World Poker Tour Prague Main Event – Final Table Results
1. Marcin Wydrowski – $423,957
2. Alexandr Lahkov – $278,866
3. Bodo Sbrzesny – $179,246
4. Tony Chang – $132,736
5. Michael Gagliano – $99,506
6. Alin Grasu – $79,723