No matter what Tamir Segal does in his poker career from here on out, he will always have the honor of being a trail blazer, the title of being the “first” in something. And, of course, he will always have his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet, as he won the WSOP Europe Event #1: €550 COLOSSUS on Monday, becoming the first person from Israel to capture a World Series of Poker title.
With eight starting flights, there were plenty of opportunities for players to get in on the action and a total of 2,992 did, creating a prize pool of €1,435,412, which easily eclipsed the €1 million guarantee. Segal grabbed €203,820 of the total for his win.
Segal went into the final table in the middle of the pack with 8.5 million chips, a very solid position. The top two stacks belonged to Wojciech Wyrebski and Hannes Neurauter, who had 11.875 million and 11.825 million, respectively. The story of the stacks was really a top half and bottom half, as sixth place was Bjorn Bouwmans, who had 5.85 million, a serious drop-off from the 8.5 million Segal had.
Going into the heads-up portion of the final table, Segal was a heavy favorite, having amassed 58.550 million chips to just 16.200 million for Wojciech Wyrebski. Now, in these situations we often see the small stack make a huge run and even it up or take the lead, but that didn’t happen in this case. Segal gradually increased his lead until finally putting Wyrebski away.
Wyrebski raised to 3 million chips with A-Q offsuit, after which Segal shoved, putting Wyrebski all-in. Wyrebski knew there was a chance that could happen and likely wanted it, as shoving right away could have scared off Segal. Segal obliged, calling Wyrebski’s all-in with K-T of hearts. Behind, but very live.
The flop produced a King and no hearts, putting Segal in the lead. The turn helped neither and the river was a Ten, giving Segal a superfluous two pair and the victory.
This win is by far the largest of Segal’s live tournament career. In fact, it makes up almost all of his winnings. When converted to United States dollars, the COLOSSUS prize is $234,252; his total live tournament earnings amount to $245,169. Prior to this, he had never cashed for more than $2,000.
2018 World Series of Poker Europe Event #1: €550 COLOSSUS No-Limit Hold’em – Final Table Results
1. Tamir Segal – €203,820
2. Wojciech Wyrebski – €125,966
3. Aksel Ayguen – €92,385
4. Dariusz Glinski – €68,331
5. Hannes Neurauter – €51,854
6. Francesco Delfoco – €38,349
7. Flavio Decataldo – €29,104
8. Krasimir Yankov – €22,281
9. Bjorn Bouwmans – €17,209
10. Nelio Gatta – €13,410
