2013 WSOP Europe Day 13: Main Event Final Six Set; Gruissem Leads High Roller
The 2013 World Series of Poker Europe continued in France on Wednesday with Day 4 of the Main Event and Day 2 of the €25,600 High Roller. Leading the six-handed final table in the Main Event is Spain’s Adrian Mateos, who bagged 3.781 million chips after eliminating Shannon Shorr and Andrei Konopelko in eighth and seventh place, respectively.
There is a day off on Thursday for the final table of the High Roller, and joining Mateos on Thursday will be Benny Spindler, Fabrice Soulier, Dominik Nitsche, Ravi Raghavan, and Jerome Huge. For Spindler, this is his second trip to a WSOP Main Event final table outside of the United States - he finished sixth in the WSOP Asia-Pacific Main Event for $153,008.
2013 WSOP Europe Main Event
| Seat | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benny Spindler | Germany | 1,748,000 |
| 2 | Fabrice Soulier* | France | 1,871,000 |
| 3 | Dominik Nitsche* | Germany | 2,354,000 |
| 4 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | 3,781,000 |
| 5 | Ravi Raghavan | USA | 898,000 |
| 6 | Jerome Huge | France | 637,000 |
*Denotes a WSOP bracelet winner
Day 4 began with 24 players, and Mateos was in the lead. The Spaniard quickly added to his stack, recording the first two knockouts of the day against Ludovic Lacay and Jordan Cristos. Mateos cracked Ludovic’s pocket kings with the A♥Q♦, and Cristos moved in with the J♥9♠ against Mateos’ aces. The aces held.
The next few players to go were Alain Bauer, Roman Romanovsky, Hans Martin Vogt, and Mark Teltscher. Teltscher bumped heads with Jeremy Ausmus several times before five-betting all in against him with the J♥J♣. Ausmus called with the A♦K♣, and made a full house as the board came 10♦A♣10♣10♥9♦.
Ausmus was one of the next players to exit, however, alongside Flavien Guenan, Ariel Celestino, Ognjen Sekularac, and Adam Jerney. According to WSOP.com, Ausmus check-called a bet on all three streets, including a shove, on a board of 3♦5♣J♠10♦3♣. His opponent, Mateos, tabled the J♦J♥ for a flopped set of jacks that turned into a full house, and Ausmus hit the rail. Mateos crossed the two million-chip threshold.
Adrian Allain bowed out in 13th place, Sergio Aido in 12th, and Ivan Tikhov exited in 11th when he lost a two million-chip pot to Nitsche. It started when Daniel Steinberg opened to 32,000 from under the gun at 8,000/16,000/2,000. Nitsche three-bet to 75,000 on his direct left, Tikhov cold four-bet to 168,000 on the button, and Steinberg gout out of the way. Nitsche then moved all in for effectively 900,000 or so, and after uttering a curse word under his breath, Tikhov called with the Q♣Q♠. The queens were dominated by Nitsche’s A♦A♣, and the aces held as the flop, turn, and river came 3♠4♦7♦5♠10♣.
An unofficial final table of nine was formed when Romain Kazarian’s pocket nines were cracked by Soulier’s pocket fours, eliminating him in 10th place. It took more time to move the players to the final table area than it did to reach the official final table of eight, because after less than an orbit Steinberg moved all in with pocket threes. Soulier made the call with the K♣Q♣, and flopped a pair of queens and a flush draw. The turn improved his hand to kings and queens, the river was a brick, and Steinberg was out in ninth place.
Like Tikhov, Shorr’s exit was courtesy of a massive cooler. After a preflop raising war, 95 big blinds went in the middle between him and Mateos, but the Spaniard’s A♣A♦ dominated the American’s K♦K♣. There were several shouts for a king coming from the high roller area, but Shorr received no help from the board and was eliminated in eighth place.
Mateos sealed the deal five hands later, moving all in for effectively 310,000 on the river of a 10♣J♥A♥2♥5♠ board. Konopelko tank-called the pot-sized bet for his tournament life, then tried to muck when Mateos showed the A♦2♣ for two pair. As Konopelko was walking away from the table, the dealer tabled his hand — the J♦9♥.
The six finalists will return on Friday to play down until there is a champion. All six players a guaranteed a minimum of €126,000, while the winner will walk away with €1 million and the gold bracelet.
Event #8: €25,600 High Roller
Day 2 of Event #8 concluded with 13 players, including chip leader Philipp Gruissem. The German was the only player to bag more than a million chips (1.269 million to be exact), while his closest competitors were Scott Seiver (770,000), Jason Koon (702,000), and Erik Seidel (610,000).
Gruissem won a 700,000-chip pot in Level 17 when Jason Mercier check-raised all in on a board of Q♣10♣3♣6♥. The German begrudgingly called with the A♣A♥, which had the American’s A♦Q♥ crushed. A meaningless 6♦ rolled off on the river, and Gruissem picked up the pot.
The man named “Philbort” is no stranger to high roller events — in 2013 alone he’s won the WSOP Asia-Pacific High Roller ($863,386), finished second in the Aussie Millions $25,000 Challenge ($197,416), third in the GuangDong Asia Millions Main Event ($221,427), and fifth in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Super High Roller ($400,700).
Also surviving Day 2 were November Niner Marc McLaughlin and five-time gold bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu. Both of these players can overtake Matthew Ashton in the WSOP Player of the Year race, and Negreanu can lock it up if McLaughlin busts before the money bubble bursts.
Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philipp Gruissem | Germany | 1,296,000 |
| 2 | Scott Seiver | USA | 770,000 |
| 3 | Jason Koon | USA | 702,000 |
| 4 | Erik Seidel | USA | 610,000 |
| 5 | David Peters | USA | 538,000 |
| 6 | Nicolau Villa-Lobos | Brazil | 527,000 |
| 7 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 411,000 |
| 8 | Marc McLaughlin | Canada | 304,000 |
| 9 | Byron Kaverman | USA | 273,000 |
| 10 | Timothy Adams | Canada | 240,000 |
| 11 | Phil Laak | USA | 144,000 |
| 12 | Tom Bedell | Norway | 124,000 |
| 13 | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | 113,000 |
The top nine players will earn a minimum of €50,400, while the winner will receive €725,000 and the WSOP gold bracelet.
Day 2 began with 62 players, and a handful of players late registered, including Stanley Choi, Daniel Alaei, Zachary Clark, and Jeremy Ausmus. Unfortunately none of those players survived, and Clark was busted in one of the craziest pots of the day. After a series of preflop raises, he was all in and at risk with pocket kings against the pocket aces of Timothy Adams and the pocket queens of Mercier. There was an ace and a king on the flop, and a queen on the river, giving all three players a set, but Adams' set was the best.
There were also two royal flushes hit in the span of 10 minutes. Kyle Cheong made one with the A♠10♠ on a board of Q♠2♠J♠K♠2♥, and doubled through Joni Jouhkimainen, who moved all in on the river with the Q♦Q♥. Guillaume Darcourt made his in a race with the K♠Q♠ against the 8♥8♠ of Paul Volpe. The flop, turn, and river came 4♥10♠A♠J♠9♣, and Volpe exited.
Unfortunately for both Cheong and Darcourt, they too busted before the money, alongside Sorel Mizzi, Antonio Esfandiari, Juha Helppi, Matthew Ashton, and Phil Ivey.
Ivey was the last player to bust on Day 2, when he moved all in with the 8♥5♦ on a board of 5♣9♠8♣6♣. David Peters, his opponent, quickly called with the 9♣9♦, and Ivey was already out the door by the time the 6♣ completed the board on the river.
The 13 survivors will resume play at 1 p.m. local time on Thursday. Once the players reach an official final table of eight, they will move from the main tournament area to the theatre in the main casino.
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