The World Poker Tour (WPT) demands VIP hospitality in your poker memory banks, because of its magical ability to tell the most incredible poker fairy tales. The WPT may have moved online, but those tales keep on coming.
In classic WPT style, the final table of the WPT World Championship Knockout competition pitched some of the world’s most ferocious ‘Goliaths’ against a few ‘Davids’, and the slingshot once again found the mark through the narrowest of strictures.
The beauty of shifting a tournament like the WPT, online, is it gives the coy, the cheeky and those of delicate predispositions to qualify via a host of cheap as chips online satellites. It’s why partypoker and the WPT have been attracting five-figure fields, and how Daniel Smyth managed to parlay $33 into $413,362.
Smyth began the final table fourth in chips, but three people, in particular, looked a better bang for that buck.
Ryan Riess is a former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion with $15m in lifetime earnings, and 17 cashes in the recent WSOP events on WSOP.com and GGPoker. Riess ‘The Beast’ finished seventh.
Artur Martirosian is one of the most dangerous players on the high stakes circuit, right now, and came close to winning the first Poker Masters Online, losing out to Alexandros Kolonias at the death. Martirosian finished sixth.
Manig Loeser was the man who pushed Smyth the hardest. The German star with $11.1m in live earnings to his name is also a European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event winner and former Triton Champion. Loeser has come close to a WPT title before, bubbling the final table of last year’s WPT UK Main Event, and finishing fifth in Fallsview in 2017. Loeser missed out on a third major title, losing to Smyth, in heads-up action.
The final duel began with Loeser holding a near 2:1 chip lead. Smyth doubled into the lead after flopping bottom set. Loeser turned the second pair and found the call when the Irishman moved all-in on the river. Loeser retook the lead, Smyth doubled it back, and after dwindling to chip dust, Loeser put it in holding 8d7d, and Smyth called and won with Ks9h for his first major title.
Results
Daniel Smyth – $413,362
Manig Loeser – $279,359
João Maureli – $174,510
Pim Gieles – $118,980
Pedro Marques – $89,070
Artur Martirosian – $63,875
Ryan Riess – $48,261
Shyngis Satubayev – $24,254
Matheus Luiz Costa E Silva – $32,726
Once upon a time, on a cloud overlooking The Rhine, a choir of angels dusted their hands with flour and began needing the dough that would create the best poker players on the planet.
Fedor Holz.
Steffen Sontheimer.
Dominik Nitsche.
Manig Loeser.
Koray Aldemir.
Julian Thomas.
Rainer Kempe.
Stefan Schillhabel.
I could keep going, but I need to get this over and done with before my fingers snap in this cold.
Where was I?
Ah yes, angels and dough.
When these majestic creatures landed on earth, they remained as one. Add a hint of Vorsprung Durch Technik, and you have a movement designed to dominate poker.
Some things change.
Some things don’t.
The $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl V was not a happy stomping ground for the German crew with the seven ITM spots all devoid of a flag containing black, red and yellow.
After the event, the gang scattered like autumn leaves. Some went to feed the ducks, others had dirty sheets to change, and some stayed in Las Vegas hoping to find better luck – like Manig Loeser.
The former Triton Poker Series Champion topped a 1,250-entrant $400 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack event at The Venetian. Loeser picked up $74,323 for the win after beating the Network Marketing God, Eric Worre, in heads-up action.
Monster Stack Final Table Results
1. Manig Loeser – $74,323
2. Eric Worre – $46,063
3. Chris Banks – $33,500
4. Satish Surapaneni – $25,586
5. Eric Baldwin – $19,263
6. Sevak Papelian – $14,656
7. Dominic Guarnieri – $11,306
8. Eidan Azuly – $8,794
The win was Loeser’s sixth of his career, and the second in December, after winning a 42-entrant $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event at The World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $321,300.
Here’s a reminder of final positions in that one. $25k Final Table Results
1. Manig Loeser – $321,300
2. Elio Fox – $308,700
3. Jake Schindler – $168,000
4. Dan Smith – $105,000
5. Cary Katz – $84,000
6. Nick Petrangelo – $63,000
Rainer Kempe Wins GPI Germany Player of the Year
Loeser earned $3,059,305 in 2018, slightly down on the $3,902,718 made in his High Roller breakout year of 2017, and his performances netted him a third-place finish in the incredibly competitive German Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) race.
Two people finished ahead of Loeser.
Dominik Nitsche took second.
Rainer Kempe took the lot.
GPI Germany PoY Top 10
1. Rainer Kempe – 3,172.45
2. Dominik Nitsche – 3,147.22
3. Manig Loeser – 3,071.59
4. Jan Eric-Schwippert – 2,991.08
5. Robert Heidorn – 2,349.20
6. Koray Aldemir – 2,238.83
7. Marvin Rettenmaier – 2,172.72
8. Ismael Bojang – 1,994.70
9. Ole Schemion – 1,931.26
10. Robin Hegele – 1,803.23
Kempe made money an incredible 41-times in live tournaments throughout 2018, making 26 final tables, and winning six of them. All told, Kempe earned $5,705,799 playing live tournaments, his second-best haul (the best being a 2016 haul of $6,627,498 the year he won the Super High Roller Bowl for $5m).
How did he beat such a powerful and populous field?
I guess that’s the upside when your friends shift their focus to esports, primed mind and whatever it was Dom did all year https://t.co/x6e7Qs5NvQ
2018 was an important year for Stefan Schillhabel who created No-Limit Gaming (NLG) an Esports and Poker organisation backed by his buddies Fedor Holz and Steffen Sontheimer.
They began by creating an impressive roster of poker content providers including the German stars made out of the angel dough, a sprinkling of the best Austrians in the clubhouse, Ana Marquez, Kenny Hallaert and Niall Farrell.
Fortnite star Daniel “likandoo’ Keller joined the team in October, and now they have a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) team who will represent NLG at ESL Germany, 99Damage and ESEA.
I wonder?
Is there another choir of angels preparing to mix more dough, this time with a hint of Esports seasoning?
Rainer Kempe hopes so.
I could be 20-miles away, stealing apples, and I would hear my mother calling me from our doorstep.
There were no mobile phones.
The spectre of Peter Sutcliffe still hung in the Northern air, and although he didn’t kill children, you would have thought we would have been closer to the bosom.
Nope.
Off we went, gallivanting around town playing kiss-chase, spin the bottle, and stealing fruit from an angry man’s backyard.
One place I loved was the library. I fell in love with Asterisk and Obelisk, and later Herge’s Adventures of Tintin. Then one day, I found a book called Deathtrap Dungeon by Ian Livingstone.
It was one of the earliest choose your own adventure books. Become a wizard, dwarf or elf; roll dice to determine your magical powers, and then battle with all manner of mythical creatures with the aim of ending as the hero.
I went through the lot – The Citadel of Chaos, The Forest of Doom and The Firetop Mountain Series.
Mundane life had me on a leash, and I was tugging like a maniac. I was desperate to avoid the clocking in and out life. I wanted to be a millionaire like Del Boy. I wanted any experience, other than the one I was stuck inside.
I wonder if Ben Yu believes he is the hero of his choose your own adventure. Yu is not a name usually associated with the high roller community, but all that may change after what has been a quite stunning World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Yu plays Magic The Gathering competitively, so I am sure had he been as old as me, he too would have found the allure of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone to compelling to ignore.
And here he is, creating a page-turner.
And a few pages ago, Yu was faced with this question:
“Should I play in the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller? If you decide to turn the opportunity down, turn to page 68. If you invest your well-earned gold, then turn to page 69.”
The young wizard turned to Page 69.
Let’s see what happened next?
The Young Wizard Takes on the Bad Asses of the High Roller NLHE Scene
When Yu sat down to play in the highest stakes No-Limit Hold’em competition of his career, the poker universe’s top Warlocks, Elves and the occasional greedy Dwarf surrounded him.
128 of them, to be precise.
The narrative allowed for 14 levels.
31 players survived.
Ten of them owned at least one gold bracelet.
The Austrian pro, Matthias Eibinger, led the way with 2,120,000 chips. Jake Schindler joined him above the two million mark.
The $100k High Roller winner Nick Petrangelo finished with 1,500,000. Elio Fox, the man who finished runner-up to Petrangelo in that event, bagged up 1,875,000. The man who dominated the recent Triton Poker Series in Montenegro, Jason Koon, ended with 1,450,000 chips, and Yu managed to stuff 1,500,000 into a clear plastic bag.
Top Ten Chip Counts
Matthias Eibinger – 2,120,000
Jake Schindler – 2,050,000
Isaac Haxton – 1,955,000
Elio Fox – 1,875,000
Daniel Merrilees – 1,865,000
Juan Pardo Dominguez – 1,650,000
Stefan Schillhabel – 1,570,000
Nick Petrangelo – 1,500,000
Ben Yu – 1,500,000
Jason Koon – 1,450,000
Day 2: Winter’s Coming; Yu Meets it Head-On
With blinds at 20k/40k, the action fell to Ben Yu in the small blind. He looked across at the dangerous, but short-stacked, Nick Petrangelo in the big blind, before moving all-in holding J2o. Petrangelo looked down at 88, called, and doubled to 2m. Yu stumbled to 1.6m.
One level later, and an important moment for Yu.
John Andress moved all-in from midfield, Daniel Merrilees moved all-in from late position, and Yu, who had both beasts covered, made the call from the big blind.
Yu: KK
Merrilees: AQ
Andress: 55
Andress flopped a gut-shot, but Yu faded any potential turn or river booby trap to move up to 2,950,000.
With blinds at 30k/60k, Yu cast a spell on the in-form Chris Hunichen to send him to the rail drawing three streets of value on QT468 holding KQ with Big Huni holding AT. Yu moved up to 5.5m, good enough for the chip lead.
It’s always nice to peer down and see the rockets, and that’s what happened with blinds at 40k/80k. Yu had them. The former champion Ryan Riess had pocket eights, and the pair went for it. Yu rivered the third ace for good measure and moved up to 6.2m; Riess’s tournament was left in pieces.
Yu’s next victim was Jason Koon.
Yu put Koon all-in on a board of 6d6h7d3dKd after rivering a flush holding Qd9h, and Koon reluctantly called with As6c for a flopped set of sixes. And then we had the final table after Yu eliminated Ben Pollak in a blind on blind battle holding J5o v 88. Another flush hit on the river to hand Yu another scalp. The Poker Gods were treating Yu like Zeus and co once treated Perseus.
Final Table
Ben Yu – 7,700,000
Nick Petrangelo – 5,100,000
Manig Loeser – 3,650,000
Igor Kurganov – 3,400,000
Jake Schindler – 3,400,000
Elio Fox – 3,025,000
Sean Winter – 2,850,000
John Racener – 2,340,000
Isaac Haxton – 1,200,000
Elio Fox was the first player to hit the rail when his pocket sixes bumped into the electrified fence of Sean Winter’s pocket jacks. Jake Schindler followed Fox to the door marked ‘exit’ when his A5o failed to beat the lowly looking 43c after Haxton flopped a pair.
And Haxton hadn’t finished swinging his fists.
The next player to feel his wrath was John Racener after he moved all-in holding KJo, and Haxton called with A3s, and once again turned a killer trey. We were down to six.
If there were a High Roller Breakout Award, it would surely go to Manig Loeser, and the German had another phenomenal run finishing sixth after his AK failed to beat the pocket treys of Winter in another sprint to the finishing line.
Winter then emerged as Yu’s primary threat when he eliminated Igor Kurganov. It was another race, this time pocket sixes dodging every ace and queen in the deck to send the Raising For Effective Giving (REG) founder to the rail.
Nick Petrangelo came into a league of his own, winning pot after pot to create a substantial chip lead. The $100k champ was running away with it, and then Yu eliminated Haxton AQ>A7 to bring him neck and neck with Petrangelo, with Winter looking up at them from the bottom of the cliff face,
Petrangelo – 13,100,000
Yu – 12,100,000
Winter – 6,900,000
Winter doubled through Petrangelo A5>T7s before putting in a string of consecutive winning hands to take a substantial lead. Yu slowed him down, doubling-up 99>A8, and then made the chip lead going into heads-up after sending Petrangelo home in third 44>ATo. Heads-Up: Short and Sweet
Yu – 18,275,000
Winter – 13,725,000
And to the final battle.`
Yu v Winter.
Inexperienced high stakes No-Limit Hold’em combatant versus one of the most experienced.
Yu didn’t want this to turn into a battle.
It didn’t.
It was all over before you could type YU.
Winter limped into the pot from the small blind holding A9o. Yu moved all-in holding KQo; Winter called. The J73r flop was clean for Winter, but the Kh on the turn put Yu one card away from victory. The 6d finished the action and Yu was the only wizard left with chips.
So what would Yu’s next choose your own adventure be?
The One Drop? “I think that’s too much for me,” Yu told PokerNews after his win. “I don’t think I’m one of the top 10 or maybe even 20 players in this hundred person field.”
It seems Yu also has a high humility score.
Yu first registered a live tournament ITM finish back in 2008 when he placed 69th in a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout at the WSOP. It wasn’t until 2014 that Yu began competing in the $10k Championship events with increasing regularity, but 2018 has been a breakout year for the rising star.
In January, Yu finished 10/75 in the $25,500 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Lucky Hearts Poker Open for $56,250. Then, during the WSOP, Yu finished runner-up to Shaun Deeb in the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller for $866,924 – a career high until his $50,000 performance.
Yu has won $5,250,029 playing live tournaments, with close to $3m of that bounty earned this year.
He has cashed 15 times at the WSOP, made four final tables, won a bracelet, and has earned more than $2.8m, thrusting him into the business end of the WSOP Player of the Year race, where he is on the trail of his old nemesis, Shaun Deeb.
Here is that up to date leaderboard.
