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Heading into the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic, players would have had visions of grandeur; thoughts of hearts tumbling around rib cages; priceless poker preserved like Polaroid pictures.

Only a few of those visions came true.

Let’s check out for whom dreams and reality merged into one with a short round-up of the $10,000 action at one of the WPT’s most iconic festivals.

Two people stood out as salt of the $10,000 Bellagio earth, and we’ll begin with Alex Foxen.

Coming into the series, Foxen sat in 12th place in the 2019 Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) race, a title he had in a locket engraved ‘2018’. At the end of the 29-event marathon, he sat on the throne, and it will take a miracle to oust him.

Foxen finished in the money (ITM) of six Five Diamond events, including winning the Main Event for $1,694,995, picking up 1,155.96 GPI PoY points. Amongst that bag of goodies were three ITM finishes in the $10,000 events (2nd, 3rd and 5th).

If Foxen is a lock to defend the GPI PoY, then the same can be said of Sam Soverel, who will almost certainly retain his Poker Central High Roller of the Year title, after also cashing in three of the five $10,000 events. The Poker Central team hasn’t updated the rankings since Nov 14, at which time, Soverel held an 820 point lead over Cary Katz. Katz has had 3 ITM finishes during that time, including a one and two, but Soverel has finished ITM in six events.

So Foxen and Soverel were the stars of the $10,000 events, but this batch of ruffians didn’t do too badly for themselves.

Dan Shak won his first tournament since taking down the €25,000 NLHE Super High Roller at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) in 2017. It’s the first time PLO title for Shak, although he did finish runner-up to Chris Bell in the 2010 $5,000 PLO Hi/Lo 8 at the WSOP – the closest Shak has come to winning a WSOP bracelet.

James Carroll took down his first tournament since winning his second WPT title in April after imprisoning the 1,360-entrant field in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown on his way to locking up a $715,175 payday. Carroll’s first WPT title came in 2014 when he beat 718-entrants on his way to a lifetime best score of $1,256,550 in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars.

Anthony Zinno kept the light glowing on his faint hopes of winning the 2019 Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) award, picking up 211.97 points for his runner-up finish to Carroll. The triple WPT Champ is ranked #4 in the GPI and sat in 9th place in the GPI PoY rankings as of Wednesday, Dec 17.

Chance Kornuth followed up his Poker Masters workshop with another sterling display in the Bellagio. Kornuth finished second in three Poker Masters events before finishing 10/122 in the $10,300 NLHE High Roller at MILLIONS World in the Bahamas, before making two $10,000 final tables at the Five Diamond, finishing second and sixth.

The person who drilled Kornuth into the second position in that $10,000 was Cary Katz. The Poker Central founder proved he could switch his ARIA form to the Bellagio with his fourth victory of what’s been the most accomplished annual return of his career. All told, Katz earned $8.7m playing tournaments in 2019 and had the most significant piece of Bryn Kenney’s action during his $20.5m display at the Triton Million – not bad for someone who calls poker his hobby.

Zachary Clark won his second $10,000 NLHE event of the year after overcoming a field of 60-entrants, including Alex Foxen, heads-up. Clark took down a 32-entrant $10,000 NLHE event at the ARIA in May – the only other time Clark has won a game with a 5-figure buy-in.

Christopher Vitch continued to prove that he’s one of the best card-for-card poker players in the world with a victory in the 8-Game Mix event. It’s the third win of his career, all in different disciplines, and his Bellagio bump was his first outside of the WSOP.

Other poker farmers who have been turning poker tables into arable land all year, and made the final table of at least one $10,000 event include Jonathan Depa (3rd in the PLO), Joseph Cheong (7th in the NLHE), Shaun Deeb (2nd in the 8-Game Mix), Jeremy Ausmus (5th in the NLHE), and Justin Bonomo (9th in the NLHE)

Here are the results in full.

Pot-Limit Omaha

26-entrants

ITM Results

1. Dan Shak – $119,600
2. Sam Soverel – $72,800
3. Jonathan Depa – $41,600
4. Armando Collado – $26,000

No-Limit Hold’em

43-entrants

ITM Results

1. James Carroll – $113,704
2. Anthony Zinno – $100,816
3. Martin Zamani – $90,780
4. Sam Soverel – $43,000
5. Alex Foxen – $34,400
6. Chance Kornuth – $25,800
7. Joseph Cheong – $21,500

No-Limit Hold’em

27-entrants

1. Cary Katz – $124,200
2. Chance Kornuth – $75,600
3. Alex Foxen – $43,200
4. Ben Yu – $27,000

8-Game Mix

33-entrants

1. Christopher Vitch – $116,600
2. Shaun Deeb – $101,200
3. Denis Strebkov – $52,800
4. Adam Friedman – $33,000
5. Matt Glantz – $26,400

No-Limit Hold’em

60-entrants

1. Zachary Clark – $180,000
2. Alex Foxen – $120,000
3. Sam Soverel – $84,000
4. Ralph Wong – $60,000
5. Jeremy Ausmus – $48,000
6. Sean Winter – $36,000
7. Barry Hutter – $30,000
8. Byron Kaverman – $24,000
9. Justin Bonomo – $18,000

At the end of the $10,000 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, a 43-year-old cash game grinder from Dallas, Texas, named Aaron Van Blarcum, collected his $50,855 prize for finishing 212/8569, and said to himself, “I’m going to give this tournament thing a shot.”

Van Blarcum planned to play in six World Poker Tour (WPT) events. He had never competed in one before, and when he entered the first one – the 520-entrant $5,000, $2m GTD NLHE WPT Legends of Poker – he walked away with the first prize of $474,390.

What a rush.

November rolled into town.

Van Blarcum followed the parade to the Bahamas for partypoker’s MILLIONS World, and finished runner-up to Adrian Mateos in the $10,000, $10m GTD MILLIONS World Main Event, earning $970,000, after cutting a three-way deal with Chris Hunichen, and the eventual winner, Adrian Mateos.

By the time Van Blarcum had entered the 37-entrant, $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) High Roller, at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in the Bellagio, Van Blarcum wasn’t merely a cash game; he was a tournament player on fire.

Van Blarcum would make his way to the final table.

Joining him would be five of the best NLHE tournament specialists in the business.

Igor Yaroshevskyy came into the final on the back of a final table appearance in a $10,000 NLHE High Roller at the Merit Poker Retro in Kyrenia. The Ukranian finished 8/107 in that event, and he would be the first to eke into the money in this one, finishing in the sixth position.

It’s not been the best year for Nick Petrangelo.

The Massachusetts man has only finished in the money (ITM) in seven events throughout 2019, meaning he has been spending more time in the market, or his purple patch went on vacation, leaving only his skill to face the full uproar of the high stakes scene. Of those seven ITM finishes, six of them were final table appearances, including finishing 5th in a $25,000 at the Five Diamond Series. The same catch landed in this one.

Amongst the mighty Englishmen, only Stephen Chidwick ($33,358,121), Sam Trickett ($21,337,841), and Charlie Carrel ($9,571,776) have won more live tournament dollars than Jack Salter. Today, his earnings register in at $8,303,273 after picking up a 4th place finish in this one. Salter has been ruling the roost of late, winning a WPTDeepStacks title in Montreal, and a $1,200 NLHE Turbo event at the WPT Seminole Rock & Roll Poker Open in Hollywood.

Like Van Blarcum, the man who finished in third is a relatively new proponent of the NLHE tournament scene. Wolff had finished ITM 22 times in 2019, after barely a whimper since 2012. Amongst those finishes sit 13 final table appearances, including 7 top 3 finishes.

Heads-up fell between Van Blarcum and Jake Schindler.

It’s been Schindler’s lowest annual haul ($1,427,309) since 2015, but he still has the game to make anyone blush and blabber. Given his 47 heads-up matches, opposite the 3 of Van Blarcum, all of the experience, and arguably the skill, sat on the Top Trumps card with the name ‘Schindler’ emblazoned on the front.

It didn’t matter.

Van Blarcum erased the pain of finishing runner-up to Gediminas Uselis and Adrian Mateos in the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) High Roller in Choctaw and the MILLIONS World Main Event in the Bahamas, by taking this one down. It was Schindler’s 6th heads-up defeat of the year.

ITM Results

1. Aaron Van Blarcum – $333,000
2. Jake Schindler – $222,000
3. George Wolff – $148,000
4. Jack Salter – $92,500
5. Nick Petrangelo – $74,000
6. Igor Yaroshevskyy – $55,500

That’s a wrap for $25,000 NLHE events at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

Here is the summary of winners.

Seth Davies – 53 entrants – $424,000
Sean Winter – 38 entrants – $342,000
Aaron Van Blarcum – 37 entrants – $333,000

Word on the street is the final two-day, $100,000 Super-Duper High Roller will become a one day $50,000 Not-So-Super-Duper High Roller, rounding off the series.

The $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) High Roller at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic inside the salubrious surroundings of The Bellagio feels the bite of Winter.

In the wake of the Main Event, Winter placed 38-entrants into the crucible and ground away until there was nothing left. The win, his 10th of his career, and 4th of 2019 edge him over the $15m in live tournament winnings mark, once again proving that the cash game ace is much more than a dab hand at this art.

Aside from the $342,000, which now goes into the Winter children trust fund, the Floridian also picks up 297.76 Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) points. Winter was in the run-in coming into December. Still, his latest bounty won’t be enough given the incredible Five Diamond performances of Alex Foxen, who is sure to be unveiled as the new number one when the results tot up on Wednesday.

Winter has been like a spear through the heart of the winter months, cashing nine times since November 4, including in the money (ITM) finishes at The Poker Masters, MILLIONS World and the WPT Five Diamond. It doesn’t take much coaxing to get Winter to the Bellagio for a tournament. In 2015, he defeated 301-entrants to win the $10,400 NLHE Bellagio Cup XI for $562,772, a personal best at that time, and at this series, he finished 6/60 in a $10,000 NLHE side event.

The win also keeps him in contention for the Poker Central High Roller Player of the Year. Winter was sitting in the fifth position at the last tally (November 14). Still, the leader and defending champion, Sam Soverel, has been as consistent as ever, cashing in six qualifying events since then, and that might wrap it up for the British Poker Open (BPO) and Poker Masters champion.

As you would expect in a $25,000 buy-in event, it wasn’t all wagon wheels and hot chocolate for Winter.

Paul Volpe finished second to David Jackson in a 511-entrant, $2,700, $1m GTD NLHE Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship in November, earning $197,215, so his sixth-place finish wasn’t a surprise.

Stephen Chidwick, the current GPI World #1, flew into Las Vegas after winning the €50,000 NLHE Super High Roller at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Prague, earning €725,710. Chidwick is another player vying for the 2019 GPI PoY award but didn’t pick up any qualifying points despite his fifth-place finish.

Like Winter, Elio Fox is also a former Bellagio Cup winner. Fox won the 224-entrant, $10,080 Main Event in 2011 for $669,692, and his assault on this title ended in fourth place. The third-place finisher was the WPT Champions Club member, Matas Cimbolas. The Lithuanian won his title in the UK back in 2014.

That left Cary Katz, the most consistent non-pro in the business, to take on Winter for the title. Every day must seem like a wedding day for the Poker Central founder, who moves over the $26m in live tournament earnings mark after this latest cash, 15th in the All-Time Money List. Katz cashed in the Main Event in 44th place and won a 27-entrant $10,000 NLHE at the same series. He also won the inaugural Super High Roller Bowl London in September for $2.6m.

Neither player would have had the confidence of the only round wheel in a square wheel shop going into heads-up. Katz lost 50% of his previous 46 heads-up battles, and Winter had lost 15 of his 24.

In the end, the pro defeated the non-pro with Winter taking the $342,000 first prize, and Katz picking up $228,000 for his second-place finish.

ITM Results

1. Sean Winter – $342,000
2. Cary Katz – $228,000
3. Matas Cimbolas – $152,000
4. Elio Fox – $95,000
5. Stephen Chidwick – $76,000
6. Paul Volpe – $57,000

Seth Davies warmed up for the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event at the Bellagio by successfully defending his $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Bellagio High Roller title.

This time last year Davies defeated 50-entrants to win the $341,920 first prize after defeating Isaac Haxton, heads-up. Fast-forward 12-months and Davies was at it again, this time beating a 53-entrant field to take the woolly mammoth share of the $1,325,000 prize pool.

Coming into the final table, four players arrived with the taste of iron underneath their tongues. The world of poker is full of hammerheads, tigers and bulls, but in 2018 there was only one great white. Justin Bonomo won $25.4m in an all-conquering year, and he’s followed it up with the second-best annual haul of his career: $5.6m.

Amongst Bonomo’s recent results is the 8th place finish in the $250,000 Super High Roller Bowl Bahamas for $510,000, and two wins on the Triton Super High Roller Series tour, winning an HKD 250,000 NLHE Short-Deck event in Jeju for $586,114, and a £100,000 NLHE in London for $3.2m. The former One Drop winner came into this one on the back of a 9/60 finish in the $10,000 NLHE event, and won this event in 2017, beating 27-entrants to capture the $310,500 first prize.

Then you had Julien Martini.

The Frenchman is fast becoming known as one of the top tournament players in Europe with his $3.7m 2019 haul a personal best. Martini, who finished runner-up to Ramón Colilas in the $25,000 NLHE PokerStars Player’s Championship in January for $2.9m, came into this one on the back of a 7/541 finish in the €10,350 NLHE World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event for €132,017, and a victory in the Poker Masters, taking down the $10,000 Big Bet Mix for $166,400.

Alex Foxen waltzed into the Bellagio knowing that only a superhuman effort would give him a gnat’s thong chance of retaining the Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) title he won in 2018. He’s still got a long way to go (ranked #10), but what a shift he has put in finishing 5/43, 3/27 and 2/60 in $10,000 NLHE events, and 5/127 in a $5,200 NLHE event. Foxen finished third in this event last year.

If anyone was going to be holding the hound’s leash in pursuit of the fabulous Foxen, then the smart money was on Seth Davies. The Oregon All Time-Money #1, followed up his $25,000 NLHE win at the 2018 Five Diamond with a win in a $10,000 NLHE at the Bellagio (Foxen finished fifth). He strolled into this one in fine fettle, after finishing 5/34 in the $50,000 NLHE Poker Masters Main Event for $136,000, and 5/51 in the $250,000 NLHE Super High Roller Bahamas for $1,020,000.

Bonomo would finish in eighth, Martini in fifth, and Foxen would pick up a further 226.42 GPI PoY points for his third place finish. Davies would use all of his skills, savvy and subterfuge to defeat Giuseppe Iadisernia, heads-up, for the title and $424,000 in prize money, erasing the heartache of losing to Juan Dominguez in the heads-up phase of the €50,000 NLHE event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona in August.

Here is the final in the money results (ITM).

ITM Results

1. Seth Davies – $424,000
2. Giuseppe Iadisernia – $278,250
3. Alex Foxen – $185,500
4. Julien Martini – $132,500
5. Nick Petrangelo – $106,000
6. Freddy Deeb – $79,500
7. Joseph Orsino – $66,250
8. Justin Bonomo – $53,000

Most humans are born with between 2 to 4 million sweat glands; ducts that allow for the process of perspiration.

The purpose of sweat is to keep you cool.

It’s rare, but there are people in the world suffering from hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia – they don’t have any sweat glands, and they have a low mortality rate because of the risk of overheating.

In even rarer cases, there are people, who, when exposed to situations that make them nervous and anxious, don’t produce a drop of sweat, and don’t suffer from that long-named condition I don’t feel like retyping.

You may call them superheroes, and in the poker world, one of them goes by the name of Alex Foxen.

On December 7, I reached out to the President of the Global Poker Index (GPI) and The Hendon Mob (THM) to ask him who he thought would win the 2019 GPI Player of the Year (PoY).

In his response, Danis told said it was the tightest race in the history of the award, and ended his statement with, “and even someone ranked as low as #12, like the defending champion, Alex Foxen, could win it.”

As that guy got a crystal ball?

Foxen leads the GPI PoY race with a little over a week left before the moonlight dims on 2019 after an incredible two-month spurt of form in November and December culminated in his first World Poker Tour (WPT) title.

The 2018 GPI PoY winner, topped a record field of 1,035 (429 re-entries) entrants, in the $10,400 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic, to capture the $1,694,000 first prize, and overtake Bryn Kenney at the top of the 2019 GPI PoY rankings, after starting the day in tenth place.

The win was Foxen’s 12th in the money (ITM) finish in Nov & Dec. Included in his haul: two final tables at the Poker Masters, three ITM finishes at MILLIONS World, and six final tables at the WPT Five Diamond, an incredible feat of consistency from one of the best NLHE tournament players in the world.

As the final table came into view, four players looked as hard as cured leather. Foxen, of course; joined by two WPT Champions Club members and a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner.

Jonathan Jaffe won the CAD 3,850 NLHE WPT Montreal in 2014 for $409,657, Daniel Park won a 2,452-entrant $1,000 NLHE Super Turbo Bounty event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the summer, and then you had Seth Davies.

Davies, who won the CAD 3,500 WPT Candian Spring Championships in 2016 for $203,992, also won the $25,000 NLHE High Roller on the day the WPT Five Diamond Main Event began, beating a field of 53-entrants to the $424,000 first prize. Davies won the same event in 2018, beating Isaac Haxton heads-up on his way to the $341,920 first prize. It’s been the best year of his life, with $4.1m in live tournament earnings, while also finding the time to slip a ring on his partner’s finger.

Let’s see how Foxen managed to lock these three in the vault on his way to a fantastic victory.

The Nutshell Action

Seat 1: Alex Foxen – 9,750,000
Seat 2: Peter Neff – 2,075,000
Seat 3: Seth Davies – 4,825,000
Seat 4: Jonathan Jaffe – 9,075,000
Seat 5: Toby Joyce – 4,575,000
Seat 6: Daniel Park – 11,100,000

Peter Neff doubled through Jonathan Jaffe twice, first when pocket fours beat AcQc, and then when AcQC beat pocket tens.

Alex Foxen then took the chip lead from Danny Park. He would never relinquish it. Park raises to 275,000 from the small blind, and Foxen called in the big blind. The flop of QsJc6h slithered onto the flop like a snake, Park bet 325,000, and Foxen called. A club draw hit the turn when the 8c appeared, and the same action ensued, this time for 475,000. That club flush materialised on the river when the 2c landed on the felt with a thump, Park bet 775,000, Foxen raised to 3,175,000, and Park called. Foxen showed Qc3c for the flush, and Park mucked his hand.

Then we lost Jonathan Jaffe.

Park opened to 275,000 from the hijack, Foxen called from the cutoff, and Jaffe moved all-in for 2,250,000 from the big blind. Park grabbed his blanket and nestled back into his chair. Foxen called, and all the tumblers fell into place to unlock the fifth-place money for everyone but Jaffe when pocket nines beat KcQs.

Toby Joyce doubled through Park when AhKc turned and rivered trip kings to beat pocket treys, but Park doubled back when pocket nines beat KcJs, before also doubling through Neff when KsTs hit AsJc for six thanks to a ten on the flop and another on the river to give him trips versus top pair.

Toby’s double-up run good ended when he moved all-in holding pocket tens versus a Joyce three-bet with AhQd. Joyce called, and a queen on the river bit like a blade. Tang was out.

Peter Neff secured fourth-place when Seth Davies treated him like a candle in the wind. Neff moved all-in for 3,875,000 from the under the gun holding KdQc, and Davies licked his Ac and Js before placing them over the wick dousing Neff’s flame for good.

Alex Foxen – 25,700,000
Toby Joyce – 8,625,000
Seth Davies – 7,075,000

Davies doubled through Foxen when Ac5s beat KhTc.

Joyce doubled through Foxen when Ac9d beat Ad6d.

Davies did it again when KsJc beat Ah9c.

He didn’t do it a third time.

Davies moved all-in from the button for 3,600,000, and Foxen called from the big blind. Davies showed Ac5c, and Foxen had him dominated with AhQh. The board changed nothing; Davies was out in third.

Heads-Up Chip Counts

Alex Foxen – 29,500,000
Toby Joyce – 11,900,000

Joyce never managed to intrude on Foxen’s chip stack. The final hand came when Foxen limped the button with AcJs and called when Joyce moved all-in holding Jh9c. The jack-high flop paired both players, but ultimately, Foxen’s ace kicker would prove to be the crucial factor, sending the Irishman to the rail without his cigar.

Foxen’s win means he’s now earned $6,346,433 in 2019, beating the $6,632,556 he made in 2018 when finishing the year as the GPI PoY, a feat he is a shoo-in to repeat.

Final Table Results

1. Alex Foxen – $1,694,995
2. Toby Joyce – $1,120,040
3. Seth Davies – $827,285
4. Peter Neff – $617,480
5. Danny Park – $465,780
6. Jonathan Jaffe – $355,125

Four other high rollers who produced a little sweat in this one were Darren Elias (14th), Ali Imsirovic (16th), Cary Katz (44th), and Daniel Negreanu (62nd).

The brick wall that is Chin Wei Lim continues to prove impassable as the Malaysian star continued to shine at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Prague.

Lim won the first €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Single-Day High Roller. The game attracted 50-entrants (14 re-entrants) like broken suitcase wheels to cobblestones, and Lim took out the in-form Jorryt van Hoof, heads-up, to claim his second title of the year.

Let’s see how Lim did it.

Final Table Seat Draw

Seat 1: Scott Margereson – 120,000
Seat 2: Timothy Adams – 435,000
Seat 4: Yan Wang – 415,000
Seat 5: Matthias Eibinger – 675,000
Seat 6: Jorryt van Hoof – 1,250,000
Seat 7: Pavel Plesuv – 360,000
Seat 8: Jun Obara – 530,000
Seat 9: Chin Wei Lim – 990,000

Nine seats and one of them would feel like the loneliest place in the world with only eight getting paid. It turned out to be the #1 seat. With blinds at 20k/40k/40k, the action folded to the short-stacked, Scott Margereson, and he piled his final three big blinds in from the button holding AhTs. Timothy Adams looked down to see pocket fives from the small blind and moved all-in. The big blind folded. The pocket fives won the race. Margereson won nothing.

Yang Wang was the first to leave with a return on his investment. €63,020 ended up in Wang’s bank account after moving all-in for 340,000 from the button with blinds at 20k/40k/40k. Matthias Eibinger moved all-in from the small blind for 580,000, and the pair went at it like woodcutter and wood once Jorryt van Hoof folded the big blind – Eibinger’s Ah7c beating Kh7h over the five-card sprint.

Pavel Plesuv fell next.

With blinds at 25k/50k/50k, Plesuv opened to 125,000 from the hijack seat, and then moved all-in for 220,000 more, after Jun Obara had three-bet from position. Plesuv was ahead with pocket sixes facing As7s, but Obara flopped the world on KsQs7c, and the Romanian’s tournament ended when the Ah hit the turn.

Adams then doubled through Chin Wei Lim when AcTc beat Ts8c, and Eibinger doubled through Obara when pocket sevens beat AdQh. Then van Hoof doubled twice, once through Eibinger when KcJh beat the dominating AdJc, and then through Obara when Kh3h beat Jc4d in one of those blind on blind tussles you hear so much about.

Obara then doubled through Adams when KsQh beat Qs3h before Lim dealt with him like a father dealing with a couple of eggs after his daughter responds “scrambled eggs,” to the question, “what do you want for breakfast?” Obara moved all-in holding Ac6c, and Lim found a pair of queens for the call and win. \

Three-handed play broke through the mist after Eibinger removed Adams from the equation. Adams went for it holding 9d7h, and Eibinger took him out with QsJc. But the Austrian couldn’t turn that elimination into momentum. Lim threw a stick over the rail, moving all-in holding Ah8s, and the players last saw Eibinger bolting over the rail to fetch it holding Kc8c.

Heads-Up Tale of the Tape

Chin Wei Lim – 2,820,000
Jorryt van Hoof – 2,180,000

It was always going to be a tight one with neither player having much experience in live tournament poker. Lim had only won one of his five heads-up encounters, and van Hoof had a two for two record.

Lim’s first win came, this year, at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), taking down the €100,000 NLHE Diamond High Roller for €2.17m. He also finished second in the €250,000 NLHE Super High Roller at the same series for €1.757m. Lim also finished second to Mikhail Rudoy in a €25,000 at EPT Barcelona in August.

Van Hoof also entered the arena with a win in tow after taking down the €10k High Roller at the Master Classic of Poker in Amsterdam at the end of November. It was his sixth final table of the year. Lim was appearing at a final table for the tenth time this season.

Van Hoof began the brightest, only for Lim to lurch ahead. Then Van Hoof doubled up when Ks2d flopped two pairs against Jh7d, only for Lim to send him to the sewage system shortly after when AdJh beat pocket nines in your standard ‘sunglasses off’ final flip.

Final Table Results

1. Chin Wei Lim – €378,160
2. Jorryt van Hoof – €273,120
3. Matthias Eibinger – €174,070
4. Timothy Adams – €132,055
5. Jun Obara – €102,040
6. Pavel Plesuv – €78,035
7. Yang Wang – €63,020

The Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1 threw his hand into the GPI Player of the Year (PoY) ring with an excellent victory in the €50,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) at the European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague.

The event attracted 44 wizards of varying wickedness, including two men seeking their second titles of the series after Adrian Mateos won the opening €10k, and Jean-Noel Thorel took down the first €25k.

Ben Heath also made his second final table of the series (second in the €25k), as did Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier (fifth in the €10k).

Let’s see how Chidwick took it down to the old Prague town.

Final Table Seat Draw

Seat 1: Bertrand Grospellier – 1,200,000
Seat 2: Stephen Chidwick – 1,920,000
Seat 3: Ben Heath – 615,000
Seat 4: Steve O’Dwyer – 1,770,000
Seat 5: Adrian Mateos – 2,795,000
Seat 6: Jean-Noel Thorel – 2,705,000

Ben Heath came in with the short-stack, and Jean-Noel Thorel didn’t give the young British star enough time to get goosebumps. With blinds at 20k/40k/40k, Thorel opened to 100,000 from the first position, and then called when Heath moved all-in for 575,000 on the button. It was a flip with Thorel’s 77 defeating the AQ of Heath.

Thorel turned into a poker plague after that hand, picking up pot after pot, until Stephen Chidwick found the antidote. With blinds at 25k/50k/50k, Thorel check-called a 75,000 Chidwick bet on a 7s7d6d flop. The Th appeared on the turn, Thorel checked, Chidwick bet 500,000, Thorel raised to 1,000,000, and Chidwick called. The final card was the Qh, Thorel checked, Chidwick moved all-in for 1,555,000, and Thorel called. Chidwick showed pocket tens for the full house, and Thorel showed 8d9d for the straight.

Bile continued to rise in Thorel’s throat when Bertrand Grospellier doubled with KsQs>AsQd after flopping a second king, and Steve O’Dwyer finished the job when KdTs beat QhJd when all-in pre-flop.

O’Dwyer then doubled through Chidwick when pocket sevens beat Kc9c, but Chidwick exacted the ultimate revenge when his pocket aces thrashed O’Dwyer’s pocket eights to send him to the rail in the fourth place.

ElkY would take on Chidwick, heads-up after Adrian Mateos fell in the third spot. The most in-form player in the world, crossed the border of the rail when he got it in good AsTc v QcJc only for Chidwick to eliminate the Spaniard with a second jack on the turn.

Heads-Up Tale of the Tape

Stephen Chidwick – 9,400,000
Bertrand Grospellier – 1,600,000

Heads-up was a case of the new school versus old school, with Chidwick holding all of the chips and most of the form. I use the word ‘most’ because ElkY did win a bracelet at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) in October, his first tournament win since 2012.

Chidwick also began the most experience, in heads-up play, with a record of 20 wins and 13 seconds. This year, he lost to Timothy Adams in the $50,000 at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in January, and Jason Koon in an HKD 1,000,000 at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju in March.

ElkY has 12 wins, and seven losses, and started the heads-up action with most ring rust. ElkY’s most prominent heads-up defeats came against Magnus Petersson in the 2007 EPT Main Event in Copenhagen, and second to Doug Polk in the 2017 $111,111 One Drop High Roller at the WSOP collecting $2,278,657.

Grospellier began well, chipping away at the Chidwick’s stack before the Brit once again lengthened his lead. Then Grospellier doubled-up when his wheel rolled over the rivered two-pair hand of Chidwick, but the piles still tilted 8.3m>2.7m in Chidwick’s favour.

Then Grospellier brought parity to the situation.

With blinds at 40k/80k/80k, ElkY opened to 200,000 on the button, and then called when Chidwick three-bet to 575,000. The dealer placed the AhTs4c onto the flop, and ElkY called a 300,000 Chidwick bet. The 6h landed on the turn, and Chidwick bet 475,000. Once the call came, the dealer planted the Kh onto the river. Chidwick put ElkY all-in, and the Frenchman called. Chidwick showed 7c4h for a pair of fours turned into a bluff, and ElkY showed Ac9c for top pair.

Chidwick’s stack didn’t hover too close to ElkY’s for long. The former US Poker Open winner edged ahead, only for ElkY to double again after rivering a straight flush to beat Chidwick’s nut flush.

Yet, each time, ElkY got close, Chidwick pulled away until he was so far in the distance, not even ElkY’s eagle eyes could spot him. The pair eventually got it in with ElkY’s AdKh ahead of the QsTs of Chidwick, only for the Tc to give Chidwick the winning pair on the turn.

Final Table Results

1. Stephen Chidwick – €725,710
2. Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier – €501,590
3. Adrian Mateos – €320,170
4. Steve O’Dwyer – €245,460
5. Jean-Noel Thorel – €192,100
6. Ben Heath – €149,410

The win hands Chidwick 314.10 GPI PoY points and that puts him into contention in the tightest PoY race in history.

For Jean-Noel Thorel, it seems live tournament wins are like buses. You wait for ten-years for one to show up, and then another eases up to the exhaust when you’re least expecting it.

The Frenchman has been a fixture on the European Poker Tour (EPT) for other a decade, competing in the highest stakes, but it was the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) where all of his hard work, and substantial investment, finally paid off.

Thorel finished runner-up to Chin Wei Lim in the 72-entrant €100,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) WSOPE Diamond High Roller for a career-high €1.34m, before winning his first-ever title, at the same event – a €10,350 NLHE Turbo.

Thorel only had to beat four people to win his first title.

He had to blaze a beast of a trail to win his second.

The first €25,000 NLHE event of the annual pre-Christmas jaunt to the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Prague contained 28-entrants (8 re-entries), and Thorel collected the €248,740 first prize after beating a bucket full of players who typically excel in this series.

Sam Greenwood has won $8.1m in 2019, his best-ever year. In 2015, Greenwood lost to Steve O’Dwyer in the heads-up phase of a €50,000 NLHE, in Prague, before returning a year later to win a €25k event, ironically, after beating Jean-Noel Thorel.

Greenwood squeezed into the money in the fifth spot.

Danny Tang is also enjoying the best year of his career, winning $6.1m, including the $50,000 NLHE at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and Tang also likes the grunt and groan of the Hilton Prague Hotel.

In 2016, he won a 389-entrant €1,100 NLHE event for €54,425. He returned a year later to win the 256-entrant €10,300 NLHE for €381,000 and finished 4/195 in the same game, last year.

Tang’s run ended in the third place.

Thorel’s heads-up opponent drew strong parallels with Tang. Ben Heath’s $7.5m 2019 haul is a personal best, and he also won a $50,000 NLHE event at the WSOP for $1.5m for his first bracelet. Both Tang and Heath have also won seven-figure scores at Triton Super High Roller events, this year, with Heath finishing third in the £100,000 NLHE in London for $1.6m, and Tang picking up a massive payday in Montenegro.

Reputations mean nothing to Thorel, who jettisoned all of them to the moon without a helmet. The win takes Thorel’s career live tournament earnings to $7.2m. In 2015, the Frenchman finished second to Rainer Kempe in a €25k NLHE event at this series, and also collected that second-place finish to Sam Greenwood in the same game a year later.

Now he has a golden spade of his own.

ITM Results

1. Jean-Noel Thorel – €248,740
2. Ben Heath – €171,430
3. Danny Tang – €109,250
4. Yuan Li – €78,900
5. Sam Greenwood – €63,870