WSOP 2011 – weekly round-up
Thursday, 30 June 2011
It's been a week that has seen Fabrice Soulier crowned king of H.O.R.S.E, Hellmuth, Esfandiari and Mizrachi get tantalisingly close to bracelets and the Bluff Europe cover karma work its magic for Chris Moorman. Catch up on all the action with our weekly round up.
Soulier wins $10,000 H.O.R.S.E.
The heads-up battle between Fabrice Soulier and Shawn Buchanan lasted several hours, though only five or six minutes of those were actually played on the final day. The hard stop rule meant that the two bagged up chips after ten levels despite Buchanan being on the very bad end of a chip deficit. It didn’t take long for Soulier to take home the bracelet.
Middleton, Nash and Spinks miss out on more UK bracelets.
The UK’s bracelet total is impressive but in danger of being overtaken by Ukraine, France and we’re already behind goddamn Canada. Step it up, lads! Last weekend we saw three of our players go close but fail to secure the jewellery – Tom Middleton made the final day of the $2,500 NL event but busted in third when he lost a coinflip against eventual winner Mikail Lakitov; John Spinks and Paul Nash both went deep into the field of thousands in the $1,500 NL event. Spinks busted in 15th but Nash went all the way to the final table, busting out in fifth after a good effort.
Esfandiari and Hellmuth go deep in $1,000 Weekend Warrior Donkament
The $1,000 NL events that entice fields of thousands don’t usually attract our attention. Often the last four or five tables are a list of names that the tournament director might as well be making up for all we know. However, this one was a little different.
With a little over three tables left in contention, Phil Hellmuth joined Antonio Esfandiari and David “Bakes” Baker in the final fraction of the tournament.
Unfortunately for the Poker Brat his WSOP 2011 theme of close but yet so far continued and he busted in 28th place after getting it in with a king-high flush draw against A-T on a A-Q-x flop. Esfandiari went on to make the final table and finish seventh, pocketing $58,288.
The event was eventually won by former US Marine Kenneth Griffin, who took home $455,356 and his first bracelet.
Ben Lamb, $3k PLO runner-up, wins $10k PLO and goes deep in $10k 6-max
Ben Lamb is currently leading the WSOP Player of the Year race and it’s easy to see why. He had earlier put his name on the scoreboards by finishing second to Sam Stein in the $3,000 PLO event, narrowly missing out on a bracelet. He came back fighting, though, and realised the dream in the $10,000 PLO Championship event which he won for over $800,000. He beat Sami “LarzLuzak” Kelopuro heads-up while Britain’s John Shipley finished in third.
Not only that, but Lamb went on to make another deep run in the $10,000 6-max NL event, entering several hours late after winning the PLO Championship and still running up a stack before busting in 12th for over $55,000.
Stacked final table at $10,000 6-max NL Championship
As expected, the final six in the $10,000 6-max NL Championship had nary a soft spot to be seen. Mike Sowers, online giant Taylor Paur, Tristan Wade, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Chris “Moorman1” Moorman and Joe Ebanks all hit the final six with ElkY looking for his second bracelet and many online players seeking their first.
At the end of Day 3, just two remain with the UK’s Chris Moorman – online tournament crusher extraordinaire – heads-up versus Joe Ebanks with a 3.9m to 10.3m chip disadvantage. ElkY busted out in third place, still good for an extra half a million dollars in earnings. The winner of this event becomes the 2011 WSOP’s first millionaire.
The Grinder grinds towards bracelet number two
Michael Mizrachi had a stellar WSOP last year with more final tables than you could shake a stick at including THE final table at the November Nine as well as the most coveted and difficult bracelet in the $50,000 Players’ Championship. This year he has taken it upon himself to defend Phil Ivey’s bracelet and almost did so, finishing second in the $2,500 Omaha 8/Stud 8 Mix to Owais Ahmed. Mizrachi wins $158,000 while Scotty Nguyen also appeared at this final table, busting out in fifth place.
Tags:
WSOP 2011 weekly round up, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Chris Moorman, ElkY, Fabrice Soulier, Michael Mizrachi, Scotty Nguyen, Tom Middleton, John Spinks, Shawn Buchanan, Paul Nash