The World Series of Poker Europe 2008 came to a fitting climax this week with John Juanda emerging as the champion in the GBP 10 000 buy-in NLHE Main Event.

It was a tough contest with an initial entry field of 362 players, many of them top names in the international game, generating a prize pool worth GBP 3.62 million, and a star-studded final table that ground on for an exhausting 22 hours and 484 hands.

In the end, a methodical and skilled John Juanda met Stanislav Alekhin in the heads up and triumphed after 242 hands and nearly eight hours of play, winning his fourth WSOP bracelet and a bank-booster main prize of GBP 868 800. Alekhin took home a well deserved GBP 533 950 second place purse.

“It’s been so long ago since I won my last bracelet, I can’t remember. It’s embarrassing,” said a modest Juanda, referring to his last bracelet win in Las Vegas in 2003.  Exhibiting good sportsmanship, he said reading his youthful opponent in the heads up had been almost impossible, and he also paid tribute to the skill of third finisher, Ivan Demidov.

“Today there are so many young excellent tournament players from all over the world. Like the two young Russians and the Scandis. Much more than it used to be, ” Juanda said.

His reference to Demidov was an appropriate salute to the remarkable young Russian player, who was one of the outstanding players at the final table and made it to a third place finish and a pay check of GBP 334 850.

Last year Demidov used the WSOP Europe to get up to speed for the WSOP Vegas event, and made the final table. In Vegas he went on to finish one position back from the chip leader among the WSOP final nine who are yet to play for poker’s biggest prizes on November 9th.

Demidov is the first player to final-table both Main Events in Europe and the US with his third-place finish in London.

To say the overall main event field in this year’s London spectacular was impressive is an understatement. Starting fields included names like 2007 WSOPE Main Event Champion Annette Obrestad, 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Doyle Brunson, 2008 WSOP HORSE winner Scotty Nguyen and 2008 WSOPE PLO Champion Theo Jorgensen.

Then there was Phil Laak, Chris Ferguson, David Ulliott, Antonio Esfandiari, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Marco Traniello, Nenad Medic, Jennifer Tilly, Gus Hansen, David “Chino” Rheem, Roland de Wolfe, Juha Helppi, Allen Cunningham and Daniel Negreanu.

The nine final-table competitors were a mix of grizzled WSOP veterans and new kids on the block with Daniel Negreanu, Scott Fischman and John Juanda combined holding nine prior WSOP bracelets, and newcomers Chris Elliott, Toni Hiltunen and Stanislav Alekhin making their first WSOP final tables.

All but one of the nine final tablers picked up six figure pound sterling checks, with the big money list after Juanda, Alekhin and Demidov featuring fourth placed Bengt Sonnert on GBP 271 500; Daniel Negreanu in fifth place for GBP 217 200; sixth placed Scott Fischman on GBP 171 950; Robin Keston in 7th place with GBP 135 750 followed by Toni Hiltunen in the number 8 spot for a worthwhile GBP 108 600 and 9th placed Chris Elliott who took home GBP 81 450.

Other events in this year’s WSOP Europe, and the winners were:

GBP 1 500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em taken by Jesper Hougaard, who collected GBP 144 218 for his first placing.

GBP 2 500 buy-in H.O.R.S.E., won by Sherkhan Farnood for GBP 76 999.

GBP 5 000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha, where the victor was Theo Jorgensen who’s winning check was GBP 218 626.

source:online-casinos.com

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker News | No Comments » October 5th, 2008

The “big names” that sat down at the final table of the World Series of Poker Europe’s Main Event when play began on Thursday in London were Daniel Negreanu and John Juanda.

The “big story,” however, was Ivan Demidov, who carved out a piece of poker history for himself by becoming the first player to make the final table at the Main Event of both the World Series of Poker and the World Series of Poker Europe.

But the 27-year-old Russian pro fell short in his bid of trying to win both events. That’s because after a grueling 22-hour final table, veteran John Juanda was the last man standing and was crowned the WSOPE Main Event champ.

Juanda, who was the chip leader coming into the final table when it started play on Thursday afternoon, is the first American player to win a WSOPE event after taking out Stanislav Alekhin following a seven-hour heads-up match.

Demidov ended up finishing in third place, but will now head to Las Vegas in five weeks with a ton of momentum as the WSOP returns from its 117-day hiatus to crown the 2008 champion.

At 23 years old, Alekhin was the youngest player at the final table, which was a good omen for him heading into Thursday since Annette Obrestad was the youngest player at last year’s inaugural WSOPE Main Event final table and she went on to win. The appearance of both Alekhin and Demidov marked the first time in WSOP history that two Russian players made the same final table.

The casual fan knows all about Negreanu and Juanda. Heading into this event, the two veterans had seven WSOP bracelets between them. But Juanda, who last won a bracelet in 2003, has now caught “Kid Poker” by winning his fourth bracelet while adding to his more than $7 million in career lifetime earnings.

Negreanu, meanwhile, is one of the most recognizable stars in the game today. With four bracelets – including one that he won this past summer in a $2,000 Limit Hold’em event – he had more than any other final tableist in London, but his quest for No. 5 fell short early Friday morning in London when he finished fifth.

Sonnert, who finished fourth, is a 27-year-old professional from Sweden who was making his first appearance at a WSOP final table. He came into the day as the short stack but played well enough to make it to the late-evening, early-morning portion of the event.

The four other players eliminated from the final table Thursday night included Robin Keston, Chris Elliot, Toni Hiltunen and Scott Fischman.

Keston cashed in at a WSOP event for the ninth time in his career while Elliot, who was in 176th place when there were 179 players remaining in the tournament, is an online player who was making his first appearance in a live tournament.

Hiltunen is a 31-year-old poker pro from Finland who fell short in trying to become the first Finnish WSOP gold bracelet winner in history. Fischman is a two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner from Las Vegas. He won both of his bracelets at the 2004 WSOP and is the author of the poker book, “Online Ace: A World Series of Poker Champion’s Guide to Mastering Internet Poker.”

source:online.casinocity.com

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker News | No Comments » October 4th, 2008