In a thrilling heads up showdown, Matthew Salsberg rallied from behind to deny Theo Jorgensen a place in the World Poker Tour history books in winning the 2012 Grand Prix de Paris last night.
Coming to the final table at the Aviation Club along the Champs-Elysees, Salsberg was facing arguably one of the most accomplished final tables in WPT history. Defending European Poker Tour Grand Final champion Mohsin Charania sat in second place, a scant 300K in chips behind him, while 2012 World Series of Poker bracelet winner Timothy Adams and former Grand Prix champion Jorgensen (who was looking for WPT history by becoming the first player to win the same event twice) lurked. Rounding out the final table on the short stacks were Philipp Gruissem (who led this tournament for two consecutive early days) and Fabian Quoss.
As the short stack, Quoss was looking for a spot to get his money in good and, when he chose to go, it proved to be the wrong time. After a Gruissem raise, Quoss popped his remaining chips to the center of the felt and Gruissem made the call. Quoss unveiled his off suit K-J and saw he was behind Gruissem’s pocket Queens and the twosome went to the board. Although a Jack would come on the flop, there wasn’t any additional help for Quoss as he was eliminated from the tournament in sixth place after about an hour and a half of play.
Not content to sit back and wait, Salsberg and Jorgensen clashed in a hand that left the former Paris champion behind a short stack of his own. On a 6♦ 5♥ 2♦ 7♦ flop and turn, Salsberg and Jorgensen wouldn’t back down, with Jorgensen reluctantly calling a 175K turn bet from Salsberg. On the K♦ river, Jorgensen would once again make a call of a big bet from Salsberg (200K) only to see his worst thoughts realized; Salsberg showed the A♦ 9♦ for the turned nut flush and Jorgensen pitched his pocket sevens to the muck.
Momentarily set back, Jorgensen got back in the game with a double up that left Adams in the position of a short stack. Pre-flop, Jorgensen got his 1.3 million chips in against Adams and showed a dominant pair of Aces over Adams’ A-K. The board double paired (4-4-2-2-6), which was of no help to Adams, as Jorgensen shot back into contention with the double up.
Although Adams was in a difficult spot, he wasn’t the next player to depart the plush setting of the Aviation Club. Salsberg and Charania went to battle, with Charania pushing all in from the button with K-Q only to run into Salsberg’s A-J in the big blind. After an uneventful ten high board, Charania was out in fourth place and Salsberg improved on his chip leading stack.
Down to four players, Adams was left in “push” mode as he attempted to regrow his stack. After a few successful attempts as the first action, it was an all-in after a raise that eventually caught Adams. After Gruissem opened the action pre-flop to 80K, Adams put out his roughly 750K in chips in response. Gruissem immediately made the call, showing a dominant A♠ J♠ over Adams’ A♣ 8♣. The flop ended any drama immediately, coming down 10♠ 7♠ 6♠, to give Gruissem an unbeatable nut flush and Adams was gone from the event.
Gruissem, Jorgensen and Salsberg then settled in for an extensive fight. For almost two hours, the trio shifted chips around the baize in an attempt to seize control of the final table. It wasn’t until a clash between Gruissem and Jorgensen that heads up action was determined.
After a raise from Jorgensen and a Salsberg fold, Gruissem decided to make his stand and push all in. Instead of getting a fold, Gruissem instead saw Jorgensen make the call. When the cards were turned up, the call was a bit of a surprise; Gruissem’s pocket Jacks held a lead over Jorgensen’s K♦ 9♦ and it looked as if play would remain three handed a bit longer. The window on the flop held a King, however, to put Jorgensen in the lead. After neither of his two outs came home the rest of the way, Gruissem was out in third place.
Holding the edge as heads up play began, Jorgensen kept the pressure on Salsberg and would eventually build a substantial lead. After two hours of play, Jorgensen wasn’t able to put away Salsberg, however, who started to use the all-in move judiciously during heads up play. He caught two double ups during that time (once when his A-4 out-flopped Jorgensen’s A-5, the second his A♦ 10♣ hitting a diamond four flush against Jorgensen’s A-Q) to move into the lead.
After another hour of jousting, the end came in a surprising manner. After Jorgensen limped from the button, Salsberg pushed the action to 435K and Jorgensen moved all in. Salsberg nearly beat Jorgensen into the pot with the call, tabling his pocket Queens for battle. All Jorgensen could muster was an off suit Q-10 and he was in difficult shape. The innocuous board ran seven high, earning Salsberg all of Jorgensen’s chips and crowning a new champion in the City of Lights.
1. Matthew Salsberg, $515,720
2. Theo Jorgensen, $341,149
3. Philipp Gruissem, $219,265
4. Timothy Adams, $162,162
5. Mohsin Charania, $121,987
6. Fabian Quoss, $97,684
* – Payouts in U. S. dollars
After earning over $400,000 in his tournament poker career, Salsberg – who is the executive producer of the hit Showtime series “Weeds” – took down the biggest cash of his career with this championship. Kudos should be handed to every member of the final table and, in particular, Jorgensen, whose charge for his historic second WPT title provided thrills to the assembled audience at the Aviation Club and the railbirds watching over the live stream online.