On Saturday, Parkland, Florida’s Matt Waxman accomplished something no American had ever been able to do before: he became the first American to win the World Poker Tour (WPT) Grand Prix de Paris. One of just two Yanks to reach the final table and one of just five to cash at the venerable Aviation Club de France, Waxman earned €518,750 ($706,823) for outlasting the other 311 opponents.
Going into the final table, Waxman was the second shortest stack at the table, but aside from Martin Jacobson, who had just 482,000 chips, nobody was being left in the dust. Waxman himself had 1,423,000, while the big stack, Byron Kaverman, had 2,079,000. With blinds at 10,000/20,000 and a 3,000 chip ante, the 600,000 chip gap wasn’t insignificant, but considering it was the spread between first and fifth, it was not too bad at all.
A major turning point came fairly early on for Waxman. On the 33rd hand of the final table, with one player already gone, Mikko Sundell raised to 75,000 from the small blind and Waxman defended his big blind. After a monochromatic 7c-4c-9c flop, Sundell bet 85,000 and Waxman popped that up to 210,000. Sundell asked Waxman how many chips he had, prompting the response, “This is more than 1.7 [million].” After a minute and a half, Sundell re-raised to 680,000, Waxman moved all-in, and Sundell called. Sundell had Ad-Kc for two over cards and the second nut flush draw, but Waxman already had a made hand, as his 5c-6c gave him a flopped flush, not to mention a straight flush draw. Two inconsequential diamonds fell on the turn and river and Waxman saw his stack grow to 3,700,000. Sundell was crippled and eliminated on the next hand.
When heads-up play came around, Waxman had a commanding chip lead over Hugo Lemaire: 7,863,000 to 1,550,000. It took just three hands to take the whole thing down. After winning the first two with no resistance, Waxman called a pre-flop raise to 130,000 by Lemaire. The two saw a flop of 5c-3c-Qh and Waxman checked. Lemaire bet 145,000, likely thinking Waxman would fold, but instead Waxman moved all-in. When Lemaire called, he showed Qd-8h for top pair, while Waxman was once again working with club connectors: 8c-9c. The 6h on the turn gave Waxman a gut-shot possibility, but that was unnecessary, as the Tc spiked on the river, giving him a flush and the tournament title.
Waxman is young – just in his mid-20’s – so he does not have a long and illustrious list of live tournament results yet, but he is obviously well on his way. The WPT almost doubled his lifetime earnings on the tournament circuit, taking his total winnings up to $1,692,457. He has had a few six-figure cashes prior to this one, though, including a win in the Harrah’s Atlantic City World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Main Event ($117,797) late last year, two WSOP final tables ($138,393 in 2009 and $104,770 in 2011) and a third place finish at the 2011 Wynn Classic Main Event ($120,814). All told, this was Waxman’s third WPT cash to go along with twelve WSOP cashes.
2011 WPT Grand Prix de Paris Final Table Standings
1. Matthew Waxman – €518,750
2. Hugo Lemaire – €311,100
3. Fred Magen – €211,100
4. Byron Kaverman – €155,550
5. Mikko Sundell – €133,330
6. Martin Jacobson – €88,900