2015 WSOP Europe Day 9: Greece's 2nd Bracelet, Doug Lee Leads PLO Final Table & More
Day 9 of the 2015 World Series of Poker Europe in Berlin, Germany saw Pavlos Xanthopoulos capture Greece's second-ever bracelet by taking down Event #6: €3,250 No-Limit Hold'em, Event #7 €550 Pot-Limit Omaha reach it's final table, and Event #8: €1,100 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em with Reentry kick off. Here's a look at everything you need to know from Friday action.
Pavlos Xanthopoulos Wins Event #6: €3,250 No-Limit Hold'em
One week ago, Greece was a country without a World Series of Poker bracelet. Now it's a country with two. Greece's Pavlos Xanthopoulos took down the 2015 WSOP Europe Event #6: €3,250 No-Limit Hold’em Friday night in Berlin, Germany, collecting €182,510 and the most coveted prize in all of poker - a WSOP gold bracelet.
"I am super excited," Xanthopoulos told PokerNews. "This is my first big tournament win."
The win comes less than a week removed from Greek native turned German restaurant owner Makarios Avramidis' victory in Event #1: €2,200 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em at 2015 WSOP Europe, claiming Greece's first-ever piece of WSOP hardware.
"I am very excited that this is our second bracelet in Berlin," he said. "But the poker community is small in Greece. There are only one or two tournaments a year, so I don't expect a lot more results."
Here's how the final table finished up:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pavlos Xanthopoulos | Greece | €182,510 |
| 2 | Mario Lopez | Argentina | €112,785 |
| 3 | Thierry Gogniat | France | €81,500 |
| 4 | Sam Chartier | Canada | €59,970 |
| 5 | Farid Jattin | United States | €44,920 |
| 6 | Alex Rocha | United States | €34,270 |
| 7 | Fabrice Soulier | France | €26,520 |
| 8 | Artan Dedusha | UK | €20,860 |
| 9 | Sergi Reixach | UK | €16,685 |
For more on Xanthopoulos' win, click here.
Doug Lee Holds Big Lead at Event #7 €550 PLO Final Table
Day 2 of Event #7 €550 Pot-Limit Omaha saw 25 players from a 503-entry field return to play down to the final table of eight. At the start of the day, Doug Lee held the most chips, a position he maintained when the final seconds of the clock ticked down.
Not only did Lee bag the most chips, he did so by a wide margin up nearly 2-1 over WSOP bracelet winner Barny Boatman (474,000), though both of them are well ahead of the rest of the final table.
The Final Table
| Seat | Player | Country | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shannon Shorr | USA | 242,000 |
| 2 | Dominik Maska | Germany | 167,000 |
| 3 | Doug Lee | Canada | 827,000 |
| 4 | Jose Obadia | Spain | 152,000 |
| 5 | Damian Pawlak | Poland | 155,000 |
| 6 | Barny Boatman | UK | 474,000 |
| 7 | Grzegorz Grochulski | Poland | 284,000 |
| 8 | Pawel Bakiewicz | Poland | 214,000 |
Over the course of Day 2, 17 players hit the rail including Claus Carlsen (16th - €2,220), Marius Fritz (15th - €2,220), Frederic Vacher (14th - €2,780), Wlodzimierz Laczkowski (13th - €2,780), John Gale (12th - €3,510), and Yigit Aktulga, who bubbled the final table in ninth place.
According to updates from the event, it happened when Lee raised from the hijack only to Aktulga three-bet to 57,000. Lee made the call and then snap-called when Aktulga moved all in on the K♥K♠4♣ flop.
Lee: K♣A♠Q♥Q♣
Aktulga: A♦A♣9♦8♠
Neither the 3♠ turn nor 4♦ river helped Aktulga, and he made his way to the payout desk to collect €4,490.
The third and final day will get underway at 12:00 p.m. local time. Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews to see who walks away with the €54,725 first-place prize and the coveted gold bracelet.
Just 25 Players Advance from Day 1a of Event #8: €1,100 Turbo NLHE
Day 1a of Event #8: €1,100 Turbo NLHE saw 289 players take to the felt, but after 15 levels of play, just 25 remained with Byron Kaverman and his stack of 247,000 leading the way.
Others who bagged decent stacks included Benjamin Zamani (135,500), Asher Conniff (107,000), David "ODB" Baker (71,000), and four-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen (45,500), who was actually featured in the 888 Hand of the Day after slow playing pocket rockets.
Top 10 Day 1 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Byron Kaverman | 247,000 |
| 2 | Benjamin Zamani | 135,500 |
| 3 | Volkan Aydin | 108,000 |
| 4 | Asher Conniff | 107,000 |
| 5 | Oluwashola Akindele | 87,000 |
| 6 | Sergio Braga | 79,000 |
| 7 | Alex Gecel | 78,500 |
| 8 | Faraz Jaka | 72,000 |
| 9 | David "ODB" Baker | 71,000 |
| 10 | Paul Tedeschi | 56,500 |
Some others who punched their ticket to Day 2 include Stefan Jedlicka (38,500), Kevin MacPhee (36,500), and Mike Gorodinsky (21,000), just to name a few. Of course not everyone was so lucky. Among those to fall on Day 1a were Max Pescatori, Anthony Zinno, Phil Hellmuth, Shaun Deeb, Will "The Thrill" Failla, Fedor Holz, and Brian Hastings, who spoke to PokerNews about contending for WSOP Player of the Year and more.
Day 1b will kick off at Noon local time on Saturday, and then on Sunday the survivors from both starting flights will reconvene for Day 2.
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