2011 PokerStars.com European Poker Tour London High Roller Day 3: Gruissem Goes Back to Back
At the previous stop on Season 8 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour, Phillip Gruissem defeated a field of 58 to take down the €10,000 High Roller event for €234,500. In that event, he defeated a final table that included Sami Kelopuro, Steve O'Dwyer and Team PokerStars Pro Leo Fernandez. After Thursday's finale in the EPT London £20,000 High Roller, Gruissem is right back in the winner's circle after defeating Igor Kurganov heads up.
At the start of the day, Gruissem sat seventh in chips out of the final eight players. He was only ahead of Michael Tureniec from Sweden, but that didn't seem to stop him. After Tureniec busted on the first hand of play, Gruissem went chip hunting and was able to chip up a little bit through Rob Akery.
Shortly after that, Sam Trickett went out in seventh place at the hands of Kurganov, who increased his chip lead with the elimination. Then, just before the blinds went up, Gruissem busted Joel Nordkvist in sixth place.
According to the PokerStars Blog, Nordkvist raised to 20,000 with the blinds at 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante. Gruissem reraised to 48,000 and then Nordkvist announced that he was all-in. Gruissem called holding A♠Q♣ and was up against Nordkvist's K♠Q♥. The flop, turn and river ran out 8♦4♠3♠9♥3♥ and Nordkvist was eliminated.
Gruissem also eliminated Adrian Bussman in fifth place. With the final board reading K♥9♣5♣5♠10♥, Bussman bet 96,000. Gruissem took some time and then raised all-in, putting Bussman to the test. After a minute or two in the tank, Bussman made the call with the A♣5♥ for trip fives. He was outdone by Gruissem's 10♠10♣ for a full house and eliminated.
The players had struck a deal when four-handed play began and the details were as follows.
| Player | Chips | Money Awarded |
|---|---|---|
| Phillip Gruissem | 1,285,000 | £202,200 |
| Igor Kurganov | 1,120,000 | £196,700 |
| Rob Akery | 868,000 | £186,500 |
| Olivier Busquet | 552,000 | £171,200 |
They made sure to leave some money on the table to play for, which was as follows.
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | £248,000 |
| 2 | £121,600 |
| 3 | £34,000 |
From there, Olivier Busquet went out in fourth place and Akery in third. With the heads-up battle set between Gruissem and Kurganov, it was Kurganov who held the lead with approximately 2.4 million in chips to 1.35 million. Gruissem fought back to take the lead and pull ahead of his competitor before the final hand came up.
Kurganov moved all-in from the button with the Q♦6♠ on the short stack. Gruissem made the call from the big blind holding the 9♣9♥. Although Kurganov flopped a six to give him a pair, his hand was no good on the final board of J♦6♥5♥K♣A♥ and he was eliminated in second place.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philipp Gruissem | £450,200 |
| 2 | Igor Kurganov | £318,300 |
| 3 | Rob Akery | £220,500 |
| 4 | Olivier Busquet | £171,200 |
| 5 | Adrian Bussman | £102,250 |
| 6 | Joel Nordkvist | £72,950 |
| 7 | Sam Trickett | £68,800 |
| 8 | Michael Tureniec | £58,400 |
This high-roller win is the second for Gruissem within about a month to continue the great success he's had in 2011. Back in April, Gruissem took third in the EPT Berlin €10,000 High Roller for €67,000. During the summer, he had a very deep run in the World Series of Poker Main Event and finished in 28th place for $242,636.
The next stop on Season 8 of the PokerStars.com EPT will be Loutraki, Greece in November. The Main Event takes place Nov. 15 through 20, 2011 and PokerNews will be on hand to provide live coverage. For more information about the event, check out the tournament's page.
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