The final table for the World Poker Tour stop in Baden, Austria, is set, with the potential for another chapter in the eleven year history of the tour to be written.
Twenty men came back to the felt at the Casino Baden on Saturday to work their way down to the six handed final table that would determine the champion of the event. Leading the way was Vladimir Bozinovic, who sat on 975K in chips, while Paul Berende was in close pursuit with 895K. On down the ladder were such players as former World Series of Poker runner-up Martin Staszko, Kimmo Kurko (who has hovered around the Top Ten throughout the tournament) as well as two-time WPT champion Marvin Rettenmaier.
The early action saw the departure of a few notable names. Bodo Sbrzesny, who emerged from the two Day Ones as the chip leader, was one of those that hit the rail, soon followed (surprisingly) by two of the top seven chip stacks in Rien de Vries and Arpad Kovecses and Staszko. Staszko’s departure was particularly difficult as he lost most of his stack to Gabor Peteri’s pocket Aces while holding pocket tens.
Berende, on the other hand, was one player who was able to continually grow his stack through the day. He was the man who eliminated Sbrzesny on a wild hand that saw Sbrzesny ahead on the flop with his K-3 on a K-8-3 flop against Berende’s A-K, only to see an eight appear on the turn to counterfeit him. When another three failed to show on the river, Sbrzesny was out and Berende rocketed to the top of the charts.
Rettenmaier was another player who made a charge in a stunning hand. After coming into the day outside of the Top Ten, he was all in against Bozinovic with a K-9 against Bozinovic’s dominant A-Q. The 10-8-8 flop kept Bozinovic in the lead and the four on the turn left the German drawing to six outs for a win. The thunder came with a King on the river, doubling up Rettenmaier and driving him forward to today’s final table.
When play reached seven players, the action slowed down somewhat. Not wanting to miss out on making the final table, the players pulled back on the aggression and waited for the appropriate time to strike. When the final elimination came down, it was a bit of a surprise.
Adrian Appman pushed his stack in from the button in an attempt to steal the blinds, but Kurko decided to look up Appman out of the small blind. Appman tabled an OK hand, A-7, but he was facing an uphill battle against the pocket Queens of Kurko. Once the board failed to bring an Ace, the chips were counted down and Kurko was determined to be the player who was actually all-in. Regardless, Appman was left with less than a blind to continue to fight, which went to Bozinovic when Appman’s A-10 failed to catch Bozinovic’s pocket Jacks on the next hand.
When the six men return to the felt tomorrow in the Casino Baden, here’s how they will line up:
1. Vladimir Bozinovic, 1.985 million
2. Marvin Rettenmaier, 1.565 million
3. Paul Berende, 1.305 million
4. Oswin Ziegelbecker, 1.15 million
5. Kimmo Kurko, 1.09 million
6. Grzegorz Wyraz, 550,000
This is an extremely talented final table for the WPT Baden. Rettenmaier is looking to win his third WPT championship, which would tie him with Carlos Mortensen and Gus Hansen for the all-time lead on the circuit. Bozinovic and Berende are both strong tournament pros in Europe, however, and Kurko and Ziegelbecker have both been hovering around the top of the leaderboard throughout the entire tournament. With the top five so close together in chips (sorry, Grzegorz!), it is anyone’s tournament to take.
The final table of the WPT Baden will begin at 2PM Central European Time (8AM Eastern) and it will be streamed from the WPT website (www.worldpokertour.com). At stake for those six men is the $271,258 first place prize and, perhaps more importantly, earning a place on the WPT Champions’ Cup as a WPT winner.
