Congratulations to Pascal LeFrancois, Event No. 8 Champion ($568,974)!
The eighth bracelet of the 2010 World Series of Poker has been won and French-Canadian Pascal LeFrancois is your champion! LeFrancois has just one previous WSOP cash in last year's $1,500 no-limit hold'em event. This will definitely be memorable for LeFrancois who had a entire contingency of friends rooting him on throughout this last day of play.
Play began on Wednesday with 2,341 hitting the felt, all with hopes of being crowned champion. After Day 1, 277 players remained. At the end of the second day, the field had been whittled down to 25. Saar Wilf led the way into Day 3 with the chip lead and not too far behind was Phil Hellmuth, who was looking to take home his 12th bracelet.
Hellmuth will have to wait for another event to snag that elusive 12th bracelet however, as he was eliminated in 15th place. Action was fast and furious at the start of Day 3 and players were heading to the payout desk almost as fast as we could write up the hands. Soon though, we found ourselves at the secondary feature table in the Amazon Room with ten players looking for the gold.
Jose Gatmaitan was eliminated in 10th place, giving us our official final table. Soon after, the day's chip leader Wilf hit the rail followed by Joshua Brikis, Kurt Disessa, and James Andersen. David Aue was eliminated in fifth place and Daniel Wjuniski, who was in competition with LeFrancois for loudest railbirds was eliminated in fourth. Kevin Howe left us heads up with LeFrancois holding a nine-to-one chip lead over Max Steinberg. It wasn't too long after that that LeFrancois finished the deal.
LeFrancois took home $568,974 for his victory and his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet! Congratulations to him for conquering Event No. 8. Here's how the entire final table wrapped up.
1. Pascal LeFrancois - $568,974
2. Max Steinberg - $352,916
3. Kevin Howe - $249,351
4. Daniel Wjuniski - $179,286
5. David Aue - $130,617
6. James Andersen - $96,422
7. Kurt Disessa - $72,087
8. Joshua Brikis - $54,579
9. Saar Wilf - $41,843