2007 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE)

Event 3 - £10,000 No-Limit Holdem Main Event
Day: 5
1a1b2a2b345
Event Info

2007 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE)

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
7♥7♠
Prize
£1,000,000
Event Info
Buy-in
£10,000
Level Info
Level
21
Blinds
15,000 / 30,000
Ante
4,000
Sort
320 Show newer posts

Final Table Bios: Seat 6 - Matthew McCullough

[user24788]
[user24788]
Seat 6 - Matthew McCullough
Seat 6 - Matthew McCullough
Hometown: Cherry Hill, NJ, USA
Chip Count: 1,278,000

Matthew McCullough doesn't get to play as much poker as he likes. He admitted that he logs long hours at work as an anesthetist, which prevents him from playing more poker. The 33-year old lives outside of Philadelphia and plays in the card rooms of Atlantic City about once a month.

This is McCullough's first appearance at a final table of a major poker tournament. He won his seat from an online satellite. According to BoDog, "McCullough won a prize package estimated to be worth about $36,000 that included round-trip airfare, a ten-night stay in a five star hotel, a custom-tailored suit from Savile Row, car service, spending money and the $20,000 WSOP Main Event buy-in."

McCullough was a short stack for most of Day 3 until he doubled up late. He also eliminated Phil Hellmuth on Day 3. McCullough hung on for most of Day 4 and took the chiplead on the last hand of the night after busted Gus Hansen in 10th place. His pocket Kings held up against The Great Dane's Queens. Matthew McCullough holds a slight chiplead over Magnus Persson. He's the only American left in the event.

Tags: Matthew McCullough

Final Table Bios: Seat 5 - Dominic Kay

[user4144]
[user4144]
Seat 5 - Dominic Kay
Seat 5 - Dominic Kay
Hometown: London, UK
Chip Count: 982,000

I first met 30-year old Dominic Kay last year at the Gutshot World Series of Poker. Back then he was just as animated as his is now, dwelling for lengthy spells to insure a correct decision, refusing to hide his emotions when face with a tricky decision and favouring Negreanu-esque analysis of hands by assessing situations out loud. What truly stuck in my mind, however, was that he was a very capable, tricky, yet instinctive player who wasn’t afraid to make a bold move or pass a big hand if he felt it was the right thing to do.

Playing this tournament free of charge, Dominic was fortunate enough to be put into the comp by a fellow online player who had qualified via a Betfair freeroll but was ultimately unable to play. Dominic didn’t know the individual, but was a friendly face at the right time and so was offered a 50-50 deal, meaning he could win half a million pounds from the comfort of his own chair.

Having confined himself to small comps in the London area, Dominic doesn’t have the most extensive of experience at this level, his major wins coming online. Recently, he triumphed in a big online comp for $20k, but in his own words, “I tend to have won a lot of smaller sums”.

Tags: Dominic Kay

Final Table Bios: Seat 4 - Annette Obrestad

[user24788]
[user24788]
Seat 4 - Annette_15
Seat 4 - Annette_15
Hometown: Sandnes, Norway
Chip Count: 697,000

If you play online poker tournaments, you have probably come across Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad. She's been taking the poker world by storm over the last few months. Her real name is Annette Obrestad. The 19-year old student is from a coastal town in southwest Norway that was once considered the herring capital of the world. These days, it's the home town of one of the premiere online poker players in the world.

Some people consider her to be the best female No-Limit Hold'em player in the world. Some consider her the best NL tournament player under 21-years old in the world. And others consider her one of the best online NL tournament player... period. It's hard to argue with her outstanding record.

Her appearance at the final table marks her coming out party. For the first time, the poker world can catch a glimpse of the prodigy. She's often in the top spot on Pocket Five's leaderboard and has won their Triple Crown. Most people don't know about her yet, because she's not old enough to play in US-based tournaments.

Annette_15 has been crushing the competition online over the last year. In the first two weeks of May of this year, she's earned over $68,000! That's substantially more money than most adults make in a single year. She final tabled the $2,500 buy-in World Championship of Online Poker main event on PokerStars last year. Last month, she took down the $500K on Full Tilt, where she put on a clinic at the final table.

There's a rumor floating around that she started playing online poker at the ripe age of 15, hence the screen name Annette_15. She got her first exposure to poker from her father who taught her how to play five-card stud and seven-card stud as a young girl. She eventually signed up for an online poker account and as the legend goes, her mother refused to let her fund an account with a credit card so Annette_15 ended up winning $9 in a freeroll and has not looked back since.

At the tables, Annete_15 is fearless. She's tough to read and is willing to play any two cards. She's an aggressive player and will re-raise you with absolutely nothing if she senses the slightest weakness. She's a shark at the tables and often destroys veteran NL players, which is mind blowing because most girls her age are more interested in going to the mall or spending endless hours on the phone instead of multi-tabling several tournaments.

The young gun took down two of the top female pros. Annette_15 busted Annie Duke at the featured TV table on Day 4. She also eliminated Jen Harman. At one point, Annette_15 held the chiplead. She comes into the final table 5th in chips. She is trying to become the youngest WSOP bracelet winner of all time.

Tags: Annette_15

Final Table Bios: Seat 3 - John Tabatabai

[user4144]
[user4144]
Seat 3 - John Tabatabai
Seat 3 - John Tabatabai
Hometown: London, UK
Chip Count: 982,000

John Tabatabai is well known for his online prowess, terrorizing his virtual opponents under the name of Kunkuwap with his unrelenting, aggressive style and any two cards philosophy. Well versed in tournament play, he has experience at GUKPT level, but is yet to set the circuit alight with any notable wins. In fact, his biggest victories came online, most notably his third place finish in the Ladbrokes European Poker Championship.

Very much like PokerNews’ own Tony G, John is very much in favour of table talk, and will often use his gift of the gab to influence his opponents. This was on full display at this year’s World Series in Vegas, John inexplicably convincing an opponent to call with an inferior hand at the very last moment before being cruelly outdrawn.

Currently residing in Guilford, this 22-year old Backgammon and Chess enthusiast has brought a horde of fans with him this week, the shouts and cheers from the Tabatabai rail providing the James Keys crew with their only competition.

Tags: John Tabatabai

Final Table Bios: Seat 2 - Oyvind Riisem

[user4144]
[user4144]
Seat 2 - Oyvind Riisem
Seat 2 - Oyvind Riisem
Hometown: Bergen, Norway
Chip Count: 664,000

Young and Norwegian are two words that seem to crop up a lot in European poker, especially on final tables, and hotshot Oyvind Riisem is no different. In fact, looking at his fellow Scandinavians, there isn’t too much that separates them: annoyingly good looking, bright blonde hair and an incredibly fearless attitude to the game with the phrase ‘flat calling’ an unfavourable part of their vocabulary.

If anyone from the home nation were to stand a chance against our Scandinavian friends, it was Karl Mahrenholz, but he was seen off in rather fortunate style by Oyviind, the 22-year old pro from Bergen turning 2 pair against Karl’s flopped top pair with bigger kicker to eliminate the gangly Brit in 15th place.

A genuine threat at this final table, and perhaps even a dark horse of sorts, Oyviind Riisen will be a familiar name in future WSOPE events, Betfair allegedly offering all their online qualifiers who make the final table free entry for the next three years.

Tags: Oyvind Riisem

Final Table Bios: Seat 1 - Johannes Korsar

[user24788]
[user24788]
Seat 1 - Johannes Korsar
Seat 1 - Johannes Korsar
Hometown: Uppsala, Sweden
Chip Count: 1,134,000

Johannes Korsar is a 20-year old poker pro from Uppsala, Sweden. He's trying to become the youngest WSOP bracelet winner. For most of the tournament, Korsar was among the chipleaders. At one point on Day 4, he took over the chiplead after he won a massive pot against Annette_15. After that hand, everyone was talking about it at The Empire and all across online poker forums.

Here's a recap. Annette_15 raised 22,000 and Korsar re-raised to 100,000. Annette_15 moved all in. She had Korsar covered and he quickly called for his entire 551,000 stack.

Korsar: {Q-Clubs}{Q-Spades}
Annette_15: {3-Clubs}{3-Spades}

The flop was {Q-Diamonds}{7-Clubs}{6-Clubs} and Korsar solidified his lead with a set of Queens. The turn was the {10-Clubs} and the river was the {A-Clubs}. Korsar ended up winning with a Queen high flush and increased his stack to over 1 million, while Annette_15 lost the chip lead and slipped to about 250,000. That hand pushed Korsar into the chiplead. He managed to protect his big stack for the remainder of Day 4.

Coming into the final table, Korsar is third in chips, not far behind his fellow Swede Magnus Persson, and chipleader Matt McCullough.

Tags: Johannes Korsar

Not long now.....

[user38334]
[user38334]
We are less than an hour away from the final table of the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. The finishing touches are getting put on the television set, and a press conference is being set up on the mezzanine level of the Empire Casino.

As yet there is no sign of the playing group, but the excitement in the air is building.......

£10,000 No-Limit Holdem Main Event Final Table Set

[user24788]
[user24788]
Matthew McCullough - Chipleader
Matthew McCullough - Chipleader
The final table of the £10,000 No-Limit Holdem Main Event will begin at 2pm local time here at the Empire Casino. 362 players started on Monday and action was spread out over three different casinos. After six grueling days of poker, we're down to the final nine. American Matthew McCullough is the chipleader with 1,278,000.

One of the following players will win £1,000,000 and a coveted WSOPE bracelet.

Seat 1: Johannes Korsar (Uppsala, Sweden) - 1,134,000
Seat 2: Oyvind Riisem (Bergen, Norway) - 664,000
Seat 3: John Tabatabai (London, UK) - 982,000
Seat 4: Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad (Sandnes, Norway) - 697,000
Seat 5: Dominic Kay (London, UK) - 490,000
Seat 6: Matthew McCullough (Cherry Hill, NJ, USA) - 1,278,000
Seat 7: Theo Jorgensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) - 605,000
Seat 8: Magnus Persson (Gothenburg, Sweden) - 1,231,000
Seat 9: James Keys (Bury St. Edmunds, UK) - 172,000

Final Table Payouts:
1 - £1,000,000
2 - £570,150
3 - £381,910
4 - £257,020
5 - £191,860
6 - £152,040
7 - £114,030
8 - £85,070
9 - £61,540

Check back in with PokerNews starting at 2pm for complete final table coverage including hand-for-hand details, chip counts, color commentary, videos, photos, and our state of the art Final Table Live simulator.

Tags: Matthew McCullough

1…2930313233