Event #3 of the 2013 World Series of Poker Europe, the €5000 Mixed Max tournament, came to a conclusion early this morning with Darko Stojanovic stunning Dan O’Brien in taking down the bracelet.
The 140 players who originally came to the felt on Sunday had been whittled down to the Final Four by Wednesday afternoon, with such players as November Niners Marc-Etienne McLaughlin and Mark Newhouse, Phil Ivey and Final Four bubble boy Shannon Shorr all among those who dropped by the wayside. With so much time left after a dinner break, WSOP-E officials went about drawing up the heads up matches, seeding them by their chip counts, which set these battles:
Dan O’Brien (#1, 1.412 million) vs. Jason Mann (#4,182,000)
Darko Stojanovic (#2, 318,000) vs. Noah Schwartz (#3,189,000)
While it might be thought that the O’Brien/Mann match would be concluded quickly, it was the Stojanovic/Schwartz battle that lasted only one hand. Moving all in, Stojanovic put Schwartz to an immediate decision for his tournament life and he made the call. Turning up pocket nines, Schwartz was ahead of Stojanovic’s A-5 off suit, but an Ace on the flop was all it took to reverse the advantage. When neither of Schwartz’ two outs came on the turn or river, he was out of the event in fourth place.
Mann almost joined Schwartz on the rail quickly, but he would double up with a 9-8 against O’Brien’s A-7 on a J-9-7-2-10 board to extend the festivities. For over an hour, the twosome would duke it out until O’Brien was finally able to vanquish Mann. On the final hand, O’Brien made a raise to 20K and, after Mann pushed his remaining chips all in, O’Brien made the call and tabled a leading pocket pair of Kings against Mann’s bluff Q-2 push. No help came for Mann and he was gone in third place.
This afternoon in Cannes (this morning U. S. time), O’Brien and Stojanovic came to the table to determine the champion with O’Brien (1.594 million) holding over a 3:1 lead over Stojanovic (507,000). That lead went away on only the second hand of play when, on a 3-8-4-2 flop and turn, Stojanovic pushed all in with a 3-2 (two pair) and was called by O’Brien (pocket sevens). A needless deuce on the river gave Stojanovic a boat and drew him nearly equal in chips.
Stojanovic kept the pressure on over the course of the next dozen hands, moving out to a lead, but O’Brien pulled back to even with Stojanovic on Hand 21. Stojanovic continued to be the aggressor, however, and reestablished a 1.35 million/750,000 edge over O’Brien by the 44th hand of play. The final hand came only nine hands later and in a dramatic fashion.
Stojanovic made a raise and O’Brien called to see a 4♣ Q♥ 6♥ flop, which is where the fireworks went off. O’Brien checked his option and, following a Stojanovic bet of 53K, put the price to play at 130K. Stojanovic moved all in and, after some consideration, O’Brien called and revealed an A♥ 5♥ for the nut flush draw, an Ace and backdoor straight draws. Stojanovic’s pocket sevens stood tall, though, maintaining the edge on the J♠ turn and an 8♦ river to earn Darko Stojanovic the WSOP-E bracelet in the Mixed Max event.
1. Darko Stojanovic (Paris, France), €188,160
2. Dan O’Brien (Las Vegas, NV), €116,280
3. Jason Mann (Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada), €62,770
4. Noah Schwartz (Sunny Isles Beach, FL), €62,770
Juha Helppi Leads Pot Limit Omaha Final Table
In action at this point is the six-handed final table for the €1500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, a star-studded event that should have a great deal of action on it. Leading the way is Finland’s Juha Helppi, who eliminated final table bubble boy Jonathan Little on the final hand on Wednesday night to set up today’s play. Helppi, sitting on a 227,500 stack, will have to contend with Jeremy Ausmus (203K), Jan Jachtmann (149K), Martin Kozlov (127,500) and a short stacked Jason Mercier (81,500) if he is to take the PLO bracelet.
Three events remain on the schedule for the WSOP-E. Starting today will be the €3000 Mixed-Max Pot Limit Omaha tournament, while Saturday marks the start of the €10,000 WSOP-E Championship Event. On Tuesday, the money will be flowing as the €25,000 High Roller tournament kicks off.
