As the €10,000 Main Event prepares to begin today, preliminary action at the 2015 World Series of Poker Europe is beginning to wrap up. Two events have reached their conclusion, with Greece capturing its second bracelet of the WSOP-E and a veteran Brit making some noise in Pot Limit Hold’em.
Event #6 – €3000 No Limit Hold’em
Coming to the final table of Event #6, there were two players who had set themselves apart from the crowd. Mario Lopez (892K) and Pavlos Xanthopoulos (849K) were way ahead of the third place runner Samuel Chartier (670K) and fourth place Thierry Gogniat (502K). The rest of the table – Alex Rocha (298K), Sergi Reixach (197K), Fabrice Soulier (171K), Artan Dedusha (158K) and Farid Jattin (103K) – was going to have to catch a couple of double ups to be able to challenge for the crown.
Jattin was able to double up in the early going to keep his head out of the guillotine, but Reixach wasn’t so lucky. In a blind versus blind battle, Reixach shoved his stack to the center and Chartier, in the big blind, made the call. Reixach’s move with his short stack and pocket nines was expected, perhaps just as much as a deep-stacked Chartier’s call with a 10-7 to eliminate an opponent. Chartier caught a gut shot straight draw on the 6-8-A flop, but the five on the turn didn’t help him. One card away from a big double, Reixach saw the one card he didn’t want to see, a nine that gave him a set but gave Chartier a straight. With that crushing river card, Reixach headed to the rail in ninth place, while Chartier continued to charge by knocking off Dedusha in eighth.
Soulier couldn’t catch a hand throughout his stay at the final table and, when he did, it was run down. After three betting Lopez pre-flop, Soulier called an all-in four bet from Lopez and was leading with his pocket Queens over Lopez’s A-Q. In the window on the flop was an Ace, knocking off Soulier’s ladies and leaving him looking for a third Queen. Instead, a seven and a deuce came, sending the Frenchman home in seventh place.
After Rocha (sixth after losing a race to Xanthopoulos) and Jattin (fifth after he was outkicked against Lopez) had been expelled from the tournament, Lopez was holding a sizeable lead over the final four men. Gogniat tried to pull closer to Lopez in eliminating Chartier in fourth, but he would fall to Xanthopoulos in third to set up a heads up between Lopez (2.55 million) and Xanthopoulos (1.4 million). With the bracelet and the cash on the table, the two men…decided to go to dinner and come back in an hour.
After taking care of their hunger, Lopez and Xanthopoulos went to work satisfying their hunger for WSOP gold. Xanthopoulos came out of the gate fast, winning the first four hands to take over the chip lead from Lopez. Lopes, seemingly stunned by the aggression out of Xanthopoulos, was never able to get his feet under him as, on the final hand, he chose to make a stand with pocket fives and almost 1.5 million chips. Xanthopoulos made what some might view as a questionable call with an A-9 off suit but, when the flop came down A-9-3, it left Lopez looking for another five for survival. After an eight and a trey completed the turn and river, Xanthopoulos was the champion of Event #6.
1. Pavlos Xanthopoulos, €182,510
2. Mario Lopez, €112,785
3. Thierry Gogniat, €81,500
4. Samuel Chartier, €59,970
5. Farid Jattin, €44,920
6. Alex Rocha, €34,270
7. Fabrice Soulier, €26,520
8. Artan Dedusha, €20,860
9. Sergi Reixach, €16,685
Event #7 – €500 Pot Limit Omaha
One of the least expensive events on the 2015 WSOP-E schedule – the €500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament – also proved to be one of the more popular events. 503 players came out at the start and, by Saturday, the final eight were left to contend for the money and the bracelet. Canada’s Doug Lee led a truly international final table (only Poland had more than one competitor with three – Damian Pawlak, Grzegorz Grochulski and Pawel Bakiewicz) while the U. S.’s Shannon Shorr, the United Kingdom’s Barny Boatman, Germany’s Dominik Maska and Spain’s Jose Obadia completed the field.
The Lee freight train continued onward, knocking off Pawlak in eighth place after an hour of play while Boatman slowly began to climb up the rankings. He picked off some chips from both Lee and Maska to crack the 600K mark, but Lee would maintain his lead by taking down Maska in sixth place to keep his stack over a million chips. There would be a clash between the two men that would change both of their courses dramatically.
After a Lee raise, Boatman came along from the button and Shorr defended his big blind to see a J-4-3 flop. The action checked around to Lee, who fired out a 38K bet that was enough to get Shorr out but not Boatman. The duo checked two Kings on the turn and river and Lee showed a Jack for two pair, but Boatman popped up with A-A-Q-J for a better two pair to take the pot. After everything was squared up, Lee was sitting at 880K and Boatman was on his heels with 675K.
The loss against Boatman seemed to send Lee into a tailspin. His chips bled through his fingers until he was eliminated by Shorr in fifth place while Boatman continued to slowly mount his climb up the leaderboard. Grochulski was the stunner, however, as he went on a rush that saw him pull in more than half the chips on the table. Even after knocking off Obadia and Shorr in fourth and third places (respectively), Boatman still faced an uphill charge in taking on Grochulski.
After 30 minutes of heads-up, Boatman’s slow but steady strategy paid off as he pulled in front of Grochulski. Another half hour of jousting led to a hand that, although it didn’t end the tournament, basically sealed its fate.
After a Boatman raise, Grochulski potted to see Boatman four bet the play. Grochulski moved all in with his K-K-J-9 and was called by Boatman’s Q♣ J♣ 10♦ 9♦. On the Q-J-3 flop, Boatman seized the lead and, after an eight on the turn, locked it up with a straight that left the river card meaningless. After the chips were counted, it was found that Boatman was actually at risk for elimination, but not after scraping in all but 106K of Grolchulski’s chips. The very next hand would end the proceedings, earning Boatman his second-ever WSOP bracelet.
1. Barny Boatman, €54,725
2. Grzegorz Grochulski, €33,910
3. Shannon Shorr, €24,520
4. Jose Obadia, €18,000
5. Doug Lee, €13,220
6. Dominik Maska, €9980
7. Pawel Bakiewicz, €7560
8. Damian Pawlak, €5780
