2015 WSOP Europe Day 6: Gryko Grabs Gold, Clements Leads in 8-Game Mixed
Tuesday marked Day 6 of the 2015 World Series of Poker Europe from Berlin, Germany, and three events were in action. Most notably was Event #3: €3,250 Eight-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha, which saw the final table play out and the third gold bracelet of the festival awarded to the UK's Richard Gryko. Also taking place were Day 2 of Event #4: €1,650 "Monster Stack" No-Limit Hold'em and Day 1 of Event #5: €2,200 8-Game Mixed.
Gryko Grabs Gold
"I haven't really begun to process this yet," an elated Gryko told PokerNews after the win. "All I can say is that I've been a poker player since well before I should legally have been a poker player, so I guess a long time has been leading up to today."
Gryko entered the final table second in chips with tough competition still remaining in the final eight.
Ismael Bojang and Max Pescatori were two of those competitors, but they finished in eighth and seventh places, respectively. Both of them are fighting for a distant chance at snatching the Global Poker Index WSOP Player of the Year title away from current leader Mike Gorodinsky, with each earning a decent chunk of points to move up. After their results, Pescatori moved to 1,701.37 points and is in eighth place, and Bojang increased to 1,808.40 points and is in sixth place.
Following their eliminations, Benjamin Pollak went out in sixth, Lawrence Lazar busted in fifth, and then the man seeking the final piece of poker's Triple Crown puzzle, Roberto Romanello, was eliminated in fourth place.
According to reports from the event on WSOP.com, Romanello called a 20,000-chip raise from Mike Leah. Leah had opened from early position, and Romanello called from the big blind. The flop fell J♠10♦6♠, and Romanello checked. Leah bet 28,000, Romanello check-raised to 104,000, and Leah reraised the pot. The two eventually got all the money in with Romanello's stack and tournament life at risk.
Romanello had the 9♠9♥8♠8♥, and Leah had the A♦J♦J♣7♦. The turn was the 10♠ to give Romanello a flush, but also pair the board and give Leah a full house. The river was the K♥, and that eliminated Romanello.
Then, start-of-day chip leader Mikkel Plum was bounced in third place to set up heads-up play with Gryko against Leah.
For Leah, he was looking for his second WSOP gold bracelet and aiming to become the first player to win a gold bracelet in Europe and Australia, but not have one from the US. Unfortunately for him, the run fell short in second place, and it was his seventh top-10 finish in a WSOP event that fell short of Leah finding the winner's circle.
On the final hand, Gryko's A♣J♥10♦2♦ defeated Leah's A♥K♠7♣6♣ after the money went in on the A♦K♦6♠ flop. The turn was the 10♣, and the river was the 3♦. Gryko made a flush, and Leah was awarded with a €78,150 consolation prize.
For the victory, Gryko earned €126,345 and his first WSOP gold bracelet.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richard Gryko | Germany | €126,345 |
| 2 | Mike Leah | Canada | €78,150 |
| 3 | Mikkel Plum | Denmark | €55,755 |
| 4 | Roberto Romanello | UK | €40,480 |
| 5 | Lawrence Lazar | United States | €29,940 |
| 6 | Benjamin Pollak | France | €22,535 |
| 7 | Max Pescatori | Italy | €17,240 |
| 8 | Ismael Bojang | Germany | €13,445 |
Click here to read more about Gryko's win.
22 Remain in "Monster Stack"
On Day 2 of Event #4: €1,650 "Monster Stack" No-Limit Hold'em, 182 players started from the field of 580 entries. Those that remained were vying for a piece of the €843,900 prize pool, and the top 63 spots were set to reach the money.
In true poker tournament fashion, someone had to earn the title of "bubble boy." In this event, it was Gylbert Drolet who busted in 64th place when he ran pocket kings into the pocket aces of Carlos Kuo Chang. That secured a min-cash worth €2,785 for those remaining, and Chang went on to bag up 533,000 in chips, which was good for sixth overall of the surviving 21 players.
Leading the way into Day 3 was Sweden's Jerry Oedeen with 873,000 in chips. From the looks of it, this cash is the first of Oedeen's live poker career, and he's put himself in a great position for a highly impressive finish.
Also still remaining were David Peters (441,000), Casey Kastle (282,000), Stefan Jedlicka (217,000), Simon Deadman (168,000), and Yorane Kerignard (124,000). When the players return for action at 12 p.m. local time on Wednesday, the blinds will be 8,000/16,000/2,000. Everyone remaining is guaranteed €7,425, but it's the €176,205 top prize that they'll all be gunning for.
Clements Bags Chip Lead in 8-Game Mixed
None other than Scott Clements finished atop the leaderboard in Event #5: €2,200 8-Game Mixed after Day 1. The tournament attracted 113 entries, and the winner will receive €65,740. There were 24 players remaining following the conclusion of Day 1, and the top 12 spots will reach the money.
Clements finished with 116,200 in chips, but there remains plenty of top-level competition in the field. In second place was Gorodinsky, the current GPI WSOP Player of the Year leader, and then Shaun Deeb bagged the third-biggest stack. Per Hildebrand finished fourth, and Jonathan Duhamel finished in fifth.
Elsewhere on the leaderboard were Mohsin Charania, Roland Israelashvili, Bojang, Bryn Kenney, Stephen Chidwick, Richard Ashby, and Brian Yoon.
Those remaining will return on Wednesday at 1 p.m. local time to play down to a final table.
Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews.com from now until Oct. 24 as we continue to provide coverage from the 2015 WSOP Europe.
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