Luuk Gieles Crowned Champion of the €3,500 High Roller
Luuk Gieles is the newly crowned champion of the 2018 WSOPC International Holland Casino Rotterdam €3,500 High Roller. He beat Kevin Paque heads-up to take home the grand prize of €53,078. Albert Hoekendijk and Raoul Refos also cashed in the tournament. The tournament started on Day 1a with a running ante, but when the players had talked to the tournament organization they changed the structure so they could play with a big blind ante. They continued with the big blind ante on Day 2.
When Gieles was asked if he ever felt as if he was going to win he replied: “Even during the heads-up match I never felt like if I was going to win the tournament. I started the tournament behind in chips. I have played a lot of heads-up and managed to win the tournament.”
Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luuk Gieles | Netherlands | € 53.073 |
| 2 | Kevin Paque | Netherlands | € 35.386 |
| 3 | Albert Hoekendijk | Netherlands | € 17.693 |
| 4 | Raoul Refos | Netherlands | € 11.795 |
Day 2 Action
There were 17 players that survived Day 1 out of the 31 entries. At the start of Day 2, several players entered as late registration was still open until the start of the second and final day of the tournament. Several players like Tonny van Eck, Luuk Gieles, Jack Salter, Marijn van Puffelen and defending champion Hakim Zoufri made use of the option to (re)enter late in the tournament. Van Eck his tournament only took 16 minutes as he was sent to the rail early after running his pair of tens in the pair of jacks of eventual runner-up Paque.
The players were still far away from the money as the tournament organization announced that only four players would walk away from the tournament with money won. The players that didn't make it to the final table of nine include two-time bracelet winner Mark Radoja, Wim Emo, Ronald Keijzer, defending champion Zoufri, and Day 1 chip leader Clyde Tjauw Foe.
Haci Bayram, Ad Schaap, Firoz Mangroe, and James Romero all did make it to the final table, but weren’t able to claim one of the top four spots in the money. Michal Mrakes was the unfortunate bubble boy after shoving all in with ace-six. He had to win against the pair of jacks of eventual champion Gieles. The board ran out clean for Gieles to send Mrakes home empty-handed.
They played heads-up for quite some time before the first elimination in the money happened. Refos moved all in for his last 11 big blinds from the button and he was called by small blind Hoekendijk. Refos was holding ace-queen and he needed to win a flip against Hoekendijk’s pair of eights to stay in the tournament. Refos bubbled this exact tournament last year at the WSOP Circuit in Rotterdam and improved by ones pot to claim the min cash of €11,795 after Hoekendijk managed to hit a set on the flop. Refos couldn’t improve on the turn or the river and was sent to the cashier to collect his cheque.
Hoekendijk himself was eliminated just moments later after he went all in with his top pair of aces with a king kicker.. Paque had hit bottom two pair with nine-four on the ace-four-nine flop. Hoekendijk wasn’t able to improve and was sent to the rail. Hoekendijk had a shot at becoming the first Dutch poker player with a WSOP bracelet and a WSOPC ring, but he couldn’t get the job done and had to settle for the third place and €17,693.
Paque started the heads-up match with a three to one lead. Gieles managed to double in one of the first hands of the heads-up and stacks were pretty much even. Gieles took over the chip lead a couple hands later after he managed to force Paque to fold on the river, after being called on the flop and the turn. It only took about 20 minutes after Gieles took over the chip lead for the tournament to be over. What seemed like a fairly small pot ended up being the end of the tournament. Both players saw a king-queen-three flop and Paque check-called a bet of 25,000. The 22-year old Paque also check-called a bet of 135,000 on the five turn card to see the four of complete the board. Paque checked for the third time, only to see Gieles move all in for effectively a little over the pot size. Paque called and saw that his two pair fours and treys were no good against the rivered straight of Gieles. Paque had to settle for €35,386 while Gieles took home the grand prize of €53,073 and the WSOP Circuit ring.