2011 WSOPE Event #2, Day 2: Hinrichsen Wins; Trickett Leads Event #3, and More
Tuesday was the busiest day at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe thus far. The final table of Event #2: €1,090 No-Limit Hold'em took place with Roberto Romanello going for poker's Triple Crown, Event #3: €5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha made its way down to the final table, and Event #4: €3,200 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout kicked off. PokerNews has the recap of all three events. Read on to find out who scored the bracelet in Event #2, who leads the Omaha final table, and which players advanced to the second round of the Shootout.
Event #2: €1,090 No-Limit Hold'em — Aussie Andrew Hinrichsen Tastes Victory
It's all over but the shouting and passing of the proverbial sugar. In just over seven hours of play Tuesday, Andrew Hinrichsen completed his quest to achieve poker's most iconic prize, a piece of WSOP gold, adding nearly €150,000 to his pockets in the process.
When the day began, Hinrichsen was second in chips, though still a long way behind chip leader Gianluca Speranza. And the Italian was flexing that chip lead in the opening levels. Speranza was responsible for the elimination of ninth-place finisher Gregory Lejolivet and sent Eric Baudry out in sixth place. That gave him more than half the chips in play with five left.
Roberto Romanello came into this final table just eight players away from his first bracelet, and a win would have made him only the fifth player to achieve poker's elusive Triple Crown. But the day did not go as he had hoped for, and he soon found himself all-in with his ace-deuce in awful shape. Bernard Guigon's ace-king was too much in the end, and Romanello was forced to settle for a €37,874 consolation prize.
Guigon was next to fall in fourth place, and the final three broke for dinner in a near deadlock for the chip lead. When they returned, things began to go south for Hinrichsen. He found that lucky double when his 9♥10♥ flushed Speranza's A♥10♠ to keep him afloat and then chipped up close to 650,000 when he played another decisive, double-up-or-go-home pot. It was a flip, and the 10♥8♥ of Hinrichsen managed to outrun Speranza's pocket fives to give him the chip lead for the first time.
In the last hand, Hinrichsen took Speranza to Valuetown with A♠K♠, and he ended up out-kicking his opponent on a king-high board to seal the deal. Speranza looked less than thrilled as they announced his name in second place but good enough for a big five-figure score.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Hinrichsen | €148,030 |
| 2 | Gianluca Speranza | €91,262 |
| 3 | Tarcisio Bruno | €67,281 |
| 4 | Bernard Guigon | €50,146 |
| 5 | Roberto Romanello | €37,874 |
| 6 | Eric Baudry | €28,977 |
| 7 | John Eames | €22,449 |
| 8 | Nabil Nadjai | €17,608 |
| 9 | Gregory Lejolivet | €13,982 |
So, Australia has another gold bracelet to add to its tally. That's six by our count, and this one moves Hinrichsen into Australia's all-time Top 25 most winning players. Hinrichsen had a small rail here to support him this week, but he sends his regards to everyone who was rooting for him back home.
Event #3: €5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha — Trickett Heads Final Table
Event #3 continued it’s progress at Le Cannes Croisette Casino Tuesday. Forty-nine players survived Day 1 and all turned up hoping to make the final table of nine, which would signify the end of Day 2.
When we reached the final table our chip leader was the current golden boy of poker, Sam Trickett, with 713,500 chips. This year has been one heck of a year for Trickett with over $3 million in live tournament winnings and a berth as the chip lead in the Partouche €8,500 Main Event final table to be held in November. In a recent interview at Poker in the Park in London, he told his audience that despite all of his money and success, he still craves that WSOP bracelet, and he now has a better chance as any to achieve one of his dreams. Trickett eliminated Mike Guttman, Alexander Dovzhenko, David Benyamine, Michel Abecassis and David Callaghan on his way to the top spot.
Also joining Trickett at the final table is someone else who has a final table date in November, and a very important one at that. Eoghan O’Dea is one of the WSOP November Nine and this elite group of individuals are well-known for their heaters in between the Summer and November. Only recently, fellow November Niner Matt Giannetti won WPT Malta and O’Dea will be hoping to capture his own major title and WSOP bracelet when play resumes tomorrow.
Other notables in the final table include former WSOP circuit event winner Sam Chartier and WSOP bracelet winner Steve Billirakis.
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eoghan O'Dea | Ireland | 115,000 | 23 |
| 2 | Ramzi Jelassi | Sweden | 379,500 | 76 |
| 3 | Konstantin Uspenskiy | Russia | 359,500 | 71 |
| 4 | Sam Chartier | Canada | 109,500 | 22 |
| 5 | Erich Kollmann | Austria | 156,500 | 31 |
| 6 | Jerome Bradpiece | United Kingdom | 146,000 | 29 |
| 7 | Steve Billirakis | United States | 459,500 | 92 |
| 8 | Sam Trickett | United Kingdom | 713,500 | 142 |
| 9 | Michele Di Lauro | Italy | 261,500 | 52 |
The final table kicks off at 1500 CET (0600 PDT) in Cannes.
Event #4: €3,200 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout — Grospellier, Selbst and Deeb Among Those to Advance
Day 1 of the €3,200 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout came to an end after the 256 players were reduced to 30, all of whom are now in the money and guaranteed to take home at least €6,913 for their efforts in this tournament.
The first player to progress from their table was Vanessa Selbst, who overcame the likes of Dominik Nitsche, Lari Sivho and the great Erik Seidel on her way to Day 2. Other notable players who will return for a three-handed shootout Wednesday include David Peters, Taylor Paur, Chad Brown, Tobias Reinkemeier, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Tristan Wade, Terrance Chan and Freddy Deeb.
Among those who bought in but failed to navigate the extremely tough field were Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanul, David Williams, Kevin MacPhee, Ben Lamb, Isaac Haxton and Sorel Mizzi.
Play resumes at 1500 CET (0600 PDT) and will see the blinds rolled back to 500/1,000 with a 100 ante. Play will be across ten three-handed tables and play until a winner emerges at each.
Be sure and follow all the action on PokerNews.
Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
