BALDWIN AND AUSTIN CLAIM MAIDEN WSOP BRACELETS
(Update)
26 June 2009
Big entry fields and a surprise ending for
two aces
26-year-old Las Vegas professional player Eric Baldwin
took home his first World Series of Poker bracelet and
the main prize of $521 932 in Event 34 - the $1 500
buy-in No Limit Hold'em competition, besting an entry
field of 2 095 players that included aces like the UK's
Roland De Wolfe and Internet and live tournament star
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. The prize pool for the
event was $2 859 675.
In the end it was none of
these whom Baldwin faced in the heads up, which saw him
pitted against Jonas Klausen, a professional poker
player from Denmark.
The departure of Young Phan
engineered by Ben Scholl formed the final table, which
featured Klausen with a clear chip lead on 2 535 000.
His closest rivals were Baldwin on a chip count of 1 586
000 and Benjamin Scholl n 1 075 000, followed by Steven
Bradbury (942 000), Andrew Youngblood (895 000), James
Taylor (859 000), Martin Jacobson (686 000), Roland de
Wolfe (419 000) and Eric DeFontes (385 000).
In
the end, Baldwin and Klausen used their dominating
stacks to dismiss the rest of the final table, leaving
them in the heads up.
Klausen - an aggressive
and highly successful Internet poker player, usually on
Pokerstars, was a formidable opponent although Baldwin
went into the heads up a little ahead on chips. The lead
changed hands several times but the deciding hand was a
real cooler which saw Klausen flop top two pair on a
Q-10-4 board, only to find that Baldwin had pocket fours
for bottom set and managed to fade queens and tens to
double up and take a commanding 7 to 1 lead in the
match. The game ended in a Baldwin victory a few hands
later in a preflop race with Baldwin holding a pair of
tens that held against Klausen's A-Q.
Jonas
Klausen's second placing was worth $322 371.
A
former college basketball player from Wisconsin, Baldwin
may be young but he's no stranger to live tourney
action, having previously cashed in the Venetian Deep
Stack and Bellagio tournaments.
"I was coming out
here [to Las Vegas] several times a year for some
tournaments so I figured I would just buy a place out
here," he said, explaining his move to Vegas. "Plus I
hate shoveling snow!"
The win this week is his
biggest poker achievement in terms of the gravitas of
the competition, the quality of his opponents and the
size of the paycheck.
"It's head over heels
above anything else I've done in my life," a delighted
Baldwin said. "The bracelet is the measuring stick that
most people look to in judging poker players."
Event 35 - the $5 000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha competition
ended in victory for Richard Austin in a spectacular
double elimination with millions on the table before the
flop.
The event attracted 363 players who
generated a prizepool of $1 706 100, and going after the
money were Internet and live tourney aces like Jesper
Hougaard, Sorel Mizzi, Cliff Josephy, Chris “Jesus”
Ferguson, Fabrice Soulier, Isaac Baron, Van Marcus,
Sandra Naujoks, and David “Devilfish” Ulliott.
Entering Day 3 of the event it looked as if Mizzi might
carry the day; he was playing strongly and held a good
chip lead. However, when it came to the final table
Cliff 'Johnny Bax' Josephy was leading the pack on 1 027
000, followed by Rifat Palevic (989 000), Sorel Mizzi
(869 000), Richard Austin (563 000), Van Marcus (544
000), Felipe Ramos (452 000), Peter Jetten (430 000) and
Dan Hindin (282 000).
Down to three-handed
action it was Josephy and Mizzi ahead with Austin
contending strongly, when the game came to a spectacular
and totally unanticipated end. Austin knocked out both
of his rivals in a single hand where each player had
wagered around a million chips before the flop. Mizzi
and Josephy proved that talent counts but you need good
cards too when they were busted out with some bad luck
on the final hand - Mizzi's aces were outflopped by
Josephy's kings....and Josephy's kings fell to Austin's
gutshot and flush draw combination.
Austin will
be boosting his bank account by $409 484 thanks to his
victory, and of course he will be the proud recipient of
a WSOP bracelet - his first.
A surprised Josephy
left the table with a third placing and $166 771, whilst
Mizzi claimed the second spot and $253 048.
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
More news here.
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