Matthew Jarvis Wins First WSOP Bracelet

World Series of Poker 2011 / Matthew Pitt / 27 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

Matthew Jarvis (Photo credit: WSOP.com/PokerNews)

Matthew Jarvis has become the $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Six-handed Champion after outlasting a star-studded field of 732 to win his first World Series of Poker bracelet and boost Canada's haul to five wins at this year's WSOP.

Jarvis should be a familiar name to you poker aficionados and rightly so as just seven months ago he reached the final table of the $10,000 WSOP Main Event to become a "November Niner." He eventually finished in eighth place, good for $1,045,743 but was still bitterly disappointed not to have really challenged for the bracelet but he has now more than made amends by winning one of the toughest live fields on record.

Seventy-two players made it to the money including Nenad Medic, Daniel Alaei, Shaun Deeb, Isaac Haxton, Faraz Jaka, Daniel Negreanu, Shane Schleger and reigning WSOP Main Event Champion, Jonathan Duhamel. A number of British players also made it into the money places, the one going the deepest being Martins Adeniya who was eliminated in 19th place, worth $24,942.

The six-handed final table was reached late into Day 3 after Dan O'Brien was eliminated in seventh place and the players were seated and chipped up as follows:

Seat 1: Matt Vengrin: 760,000
Seat 2: Wesley Pantling: 1,880,000
Seat 3: Robert Merulla: 2,550,000
Seat 4: Justin Flitz: 3,625,000
Seat 5: Matt Jarvis: 1,680,000
Seat 6: Tore Lukashaugen: 720,000

Matt Vengrin had taken a few hits to his stack from the start of the final table and was down to 250,000 chips and with blinds of 12,000/24,000/4,000a he looked down at QcJd and open-shoved from the cutoff. Wesley Pantling, on the button, made the call with As5d and it was off to the races, with Pantling holding the advantage. His lead was soon almost unassailable as the flop came down Ac-7s-8c and when the turn and river were the 4c and 8s respectively it was game over for Vengrin.

Shortly afterwards and Tore Lukashaugen was following Vengrin to the rail after clashing with Justin Flitz. The latter opened to 70,000 on the button (blinds had risen to 15,000/30,000/5a) and when the action was on Lukashaugen he moved all in for what turned out to be 530,000. Flitz made the call and turned over AhQs, which was up against the QhQd of Lukashaugen. The final board ran out 2s-As-3h-Td-9c, which meant Lukashaugen was eliminated in fifth place and Flitz continued to chip up.

The fourth place finisher was Robert Merulla who went from hero to zero in record time. At the time of Lukashaugen's elimination Merulla was the chip leader but after taking a few hits to his stack he found himself having to do battle with just 1,300,000 chips. He opened on the button to 70,000 and when Flitz three-bet to 195,000, Merulla moved all in for the rest of his stack. Flitz asked for a count and when he was informed of the amount he made the call. Merulla held Ah8s but Flitz had him crushed with a dominating AsQh. By the river the five community cards read 5s-9d-Js-7s-2s, gifting Flitz the nut flush and sending Merulla to the cashier's cage.

Pantling was the man who came third to leave Jarvis and Flitz to do battle heads up for the title. Pantling was down to 1,200,000, or 30 big blinds, and these found there way into the middle when he initially opened with a raise to 95,000 only to see Jarvis move all in afterwards. Pantling quickly called and revealed his AdJc, forcing a sheepish looking Jarvis to turn over Qd8d. The Kc-6h-5c flop failed to alter anything but the Qh on the turn propelled Jarvis into the lead. The 6s on the river was not what Pantling was looking for and he left the final table $317,136 richer than when he had started. Not a bad day in the office by anyone's standards.

Going into heads-up Jarvis lead by 7,105,000 to 3,795,000 and the stacks stayed the same for almost four hours. Then, towards the very end of play, the pair sprung into action and Flitz managed to double up with 9d9s against Jarvis' pocket fours and then even took a 2,500,000 chip lead, but a huge hand at the end of the night saw Jarvis catapulted back into a commanding lead. A preflop raising war broke out that saw the AsTh of Jarvis taking on the 7c7h of Flitz. The dealer burned and put out the 8d-Qh-Js flop, giving Jarvis outs to double gutshot straight. The dealer burned another card and put out the Td on the turn, improving Jarvis to a pair of tens. The river was the 3c and with that Jarvis had retaken the lead in emphatic style, a massive 8,150,000 to 2,750,000 lead.

The one-on-one battle had to be paused as ten-levels of play had been completed so the duo returned to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino on Sunday afternoon to finish their battle. Quite ironically it only lasted five hands before it was all over. With blinds now 50,000/100,000/10,000a Flitz open-shoved with Kd9d and Jarvis snap-called with As8h. Neither player improved as the board ran out 5h-3h-6d-2s-3d but Jarvis had the best hand thanks to his ace-kicker, and just seven months after falling at the last hurdle in the Main Event Jarvis had become a WSOP champion.

An overwhelmed Jarvis had this to say about scooping his first bracelet, "You dream of a moment like this from the first time you start playing poker. To win and event like this with as tough a field as this was, is an amazing feeling."

Final table payouts

1.) Matthew Jarvis: $808,538
2.) Justin Flitz: $499,855
3.) Wesley Pantling: $317,136
4.) Robert Merulla: $208,281
5.) Tore Lukas haugen: $141,125
6.) Matt Vengrin: $98,567

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Jason Shows No Mercier on Way to Second Bracelet

World Series of Poker 2011 / Matthew Pitt / 23 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

Mercier collects his second bracelet (Photo credit: PokerNews.com)

Jason Mercier is widely regarded as one of the best poker tournament players in the world and he has added extra weight to this statement by taking down his second World Series of Poker event, the inaugural $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Handed tournament.

Mercier exploded onto the live poker scene back in 2008 when an outright win in the EPT San Remo Main Event, which incidentally was his first major live cash, saw him walk away with €869,000. He cashed a further seven times during the year including making the final table of EPT Barcelona Main Event, the £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament at the WSOPE and an outright win in the £20,000 High Roller event at the European Poker Championships. By the time 2008 had come to an end he had won almost $2,800,000.

He proved that his success was not just a flash in a pan and during 2009 he won more than $1,300,000 from live tournaments and nearly $1,060,000 in 2010 and thanks to this latest in a long line of victories, Mercier has already earned close to $1,158,000 in the first half of this year.

Mercier always seems to do well at the WSOP, having cashed at least four times at each of the series since 2008 if you include the WSOPE. In 2009 he won his first bracelet in a $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event and this win in the $5,000 event was his fourth cash of the 20111 WSOP and was made all the more impressive by the fact it was quite possibly one of the toughest fields ever assembled.

He started the third and final day fifth in chips but got off to a great start when he eliminated both Peter Jetten and Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott in the same hand to take his stack past the 1,200,000 mark. In the hand Ulliott made it 25,000 to play from the button, Jetten three-bet to 110,000 in the small blind and both Mercier (big blind) and Ulliott made the calls. The dealer spread the 2d-Jd-8s flop and Jetten wasted no time in open-shoving for the rest of his stack. Mercier followed suit and Ulliott almost beat them all into the pot, a three way all in with Mercier covering his opponents.

Mercier: Qd-9d-Tc-6c (open-ended straight draw and flush draw)
Jetten: Ah-Ac-9s-5c (a pair of aces)
Ulliott: Jc-Jh-7d-7h (top set)

The dealer burned a card and put out the Qc on the turn, completing a straight for Mercier and leaving Jetten drawing dead but if the board paired Ulliot would have tripled up. But alas the river was the 4c, which did not please Ulliott who called Mercier, "the luckiest f****ng mother-f***er alive!" as he left the table. Mr Ulliott obviously needs to check out a poker odds calculator as Mercier was actually a narrow 48.44 to 46.66% favourite over Ulliott in the hand with Jetten holding the remaining 4.89% equity.

A chipped up Mercier is a dangerous opponent, a chipped up Mercier who is running well is almost impossible to play against so it was no surprise that as the players were gradually being eliminated it was he who found himself heads up against Hans Winzeler for the bracelet. It was quite an uneven match, with Winzeler having only $70,000 in live tournament winnings compared to Mercier's $5,700,000 so once Mercier snatched the chip lead there never looked like any other result apart from a victory for the Florida resident.

The final hand came around 90 minutes into heads up and saw Mercier raise to 160,000 preflop and then call Winzeler's three-bet to 480,000. The flop came down 9d-4s-3d, Mercier bet 90,000, Winzeler potted all-in and Mericer quickly called.

Mercier: Qc-6c-5d-3s
Winzeler: Ac-Kc-Kd-Js

Winzeler held an overpair but was actually slightly behind in the hand in terms of equity due to the nature of Omaha and the fact Mercier held a pair and an open-ended straight draw. None of Mercier's outs landed on the turn as it was the Tc but the 7h on the river completed Mercier's straight and was enough to eliminate Winzeler from the tournament for a well deserved $383,075 addition to his bankroll.

Final table payouts

1st: Jason Mercier: $619,575
2nd: Hans Winzeler: $383,075
3rd: Steven Merrifield: $239,100
4th: David Chiu: $156,628
5th: Joseph Ressler $105,967
6th: Mike McDonald: $73,965

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WSOP Bracelet Goes to Sam Stein

Sam Stein continues to prove his worth at the WSOP. The 2011 World Series of Poker has served up a first win for Stein. While Stein is a poker player who has cashed a lot and made a lot of money playing live poker, he had yet to have a big win at the WSOP. This year changes all that as he claims his first bracelet. Event 31, the $3,000 Pot-limit Omaha, put up $1,870,050 in prize money, and after outlasting 3,752 player Stein walked with $420,802.

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Stein Smashes Stellar Final Table to Win Bracelet

World Series of Poker 2011 / Matthew Pitt / 21 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

Sam Stein with his bracelet and winning hand (Photo credit: PokerNews / WSOP.com)

Sam Stein's first recorded live tournament cash was for just $4,267 when he came 14th from 255 entrants in a $1,500 buy-in event at the 2009 LA Poker Classic. Little did the poker community know that this relatively small win would spark a string of results that even the very best in the game would be envious of.

You would be forgiven for having never heard of Stein but I assure you that you will be hearing much more about the talented 23-year old professional poker player. Just days after his first major live cash, Stein came second in a $1,000 tournament for $44,232 and a few months later he made the final table of the WPT Bellagio Cup V for an even larger score of $61,980. The following month he made another WPT final table, this won at the Legends of Poker, which saw him walk away with a $116,225 addition to his bankroll.

The rest of the year was cashless for Stein but he more than made up with it during 2010 with an amazing run of results. He started off the year by coming second in a $5,000 event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for a then career best score of $168,390 and then the month afterwards finished as runner-up to Tom Marchese in the NAPT Deep Stack Extravaganza for an even larger cash of $522,306. He spent the rest of 2010 cashing a further 10 times, eight of those being for at least five figures, and he ended with winnings for the year totalling more than $900,000.

However, the best was yet to come as Stein once again started the year in stunning form and again at the PCA. This time he finished fourth in the Main Event for a wallet-bursting $1,000,000 prize and just last week he came third in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship for $264,651. Now he has gone one better and won his first major title and a World Series of Poker bracelet by taking down the hotly contested $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament.

A total of 685 players entered this year's event and these were whittled down to just 25 by the time the third day of play began, lead by Stein. It took four hours for these 25 to be reduced to the final table of nine, with Tex Barch being the final table bubble boy when his Ad-As-Td-7s lost to Christian Harder's Ac-Ah-8h-7h when the board ran out 2d-7c-Kc-3h-8s. And what a final table it was with the likes of double WSOP bracelet winner Brock Parker, Adam Junglen, Harder and high stakes cash game pro Ben Lamb all vying for the $420,802 first place prize and of course an elusive bracelet.

First to be sent to the rail was Diluan Kovachecv ($31,360) and he was followed onto the sidelines by Austin Scott ($40,748) in eighth place. Parker's dreams of becoming a triple bracelet winner ended when he was eliminated in seventh whilst Zimnan Ziyard finally lost his stack to finish in sixth spot, worth $71,548. Junglen was next to go, the youngster finishing in fifth place for the second time in a matter of days, mirroring his result in the $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout and when Warren Fund busted out in third there were only Stein and PLO expert Lamb to fight it out for the bracelet.

Stein held a substantial 4,245,000 to 1,920,000 chip lead over Lamb though it took him a couple of dozen hands to finally lead him to slaughter. In the final hand Stein opened with a raise to 120,000 and Lamb called, so both players saw the dealer put out the 3d-Kh-Jc flop. Lamb lead out with a 150,000 bet and Stein quickly called. The turn was the Tc and again Lamb bet out, this time for 255,000, sending Stein into the tank for over two minutes. When he eventually emerged he did so with a pot-size raise, which seemed to completely flummox Lamb who took a few moments before putting the rest of his 900,000 stack across the betting line and Stein called. Lamb turned over Qc-Js-9d-4h for the second nut-straight but Stein held Ac-Qh-Jh-6h for the nuts. The river had to be an ace and only an ace to split the pot and keep Lamb alive but it was the 2d and he was eliminated in second place, leaving Stein to pick up his first piece of poker jewellery and take his lifetime winnings past the $2,800,000 mark.

Final table payouts

1st: Sam Stein: $420,802
2nd: Ben Lamb: $259,918
3rd: Warren Fund: $184,368
4th: Christian Harder: $132,623
5th: Adam Junglen: $96,737
6th: Zimnan Ziyard: $71,548
7th: Brock Parker: $53,633
8th: Austin Scott: $40,748
9th: Dilyan Kovachev: $31,360

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Grospellier Snags WSOP Bracelet

The World Series of Poker $10k Stud event is over and done and has it's winner. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier is the latest WSOP bracelet winner. ElkY, who once said he would retire from being a poker pro, beat out 126 players to win the prize and $331,639. This event was number 21, and ElkY has added its winnings to his total live tournament career earnings, which now approach eight million dollars. His furthest run in a WSOP event before this was a 9th place finish in 2007.

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Bari Wins WSOP Bracelet

The latest WSOP winner is one Allen Bari. The poker pro defeated fellow pro Maria Ho in heads up to cinch the victory. He won the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event in Las Vegas, the latest of the string of World Series of Poker events being held in Sin City. With the victory comes a coveted WSOP bracelet and $874,116, bringing Bari up to $1.7 million in earnings in live poker tournaments, an occupation he has been applying himself at since 2004. Bari has been successful at live tournament poker, but this is his first WSOP win.

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Britain's Bracelet Quest

World Series of Poker 2011 / Matthew Pitt / 25 May 2011 / Leave a Comment

The 2010 World Series of Poker was dubbed by the European and some American media outlets as "The Year of the Brit" after British poker players won five bracelets, made 20 final tables and cashed 275 times for combined prize money of $8,679,918. Although last year's accomplishments were absolutely superb I honestly believe that 2011 will be an even better year for British poker players at the WSOP.

Last year we cheered and applauded as Steve Jelinek, Richard Ashby, James Dempsey, Mike Ellis and Praz Bansi all won coveted WSOP bracelets, with Bansi winning his second piece of poker jewellery. We railed both online and via live reporting feeds the likes of Sam Trickett and Paul Foltyn as they made final tables but ultimate fell just short. This year we will be doing even more of that.

A number of British players are absolutely bang on form right now and are going to cause a major stir on American soil. One of the players already mentioned, Paul Foltyn, had the perfect preparation for the WSOP by winning the $2,100 SCOOP event for $188,100 and somehow followed that up with a third place in the $1,050 rebuy for another $73,320 score! He has not cashed in a live tournament this year but he will more than make up for that in Las Vegas.

Another on-form player is Toby Lewis, known online as "810ofclubs." Lewis burst onto the live poker scene back in 2010 when he won EPT Vilamoura, finished third in the PartyPoker World Open VI and then won a £1,000 tournament at EPT London. This will be Lewis' first World Series of Poker and I am sure it is going to be one to remember. Lewis is also heading out to Sin City after a big online score, his was for $167,200 for his sixth place finish in the $10,300 SCOOP Main Event.

My personal pock for glory in Vegas is John Eames, known in online poker circles as "johne147" or to his friends as "Steady Eddie." Eames made a name for himself online and has won more than $1,500,000 from online poker tournaments but he has managed to make the transition to the live arena almost seamlessly. In the past year he has managed to cash three times at the Aussie Millions, finish third in the EPT Copenhagen Main Event, reach the final table of the Irish Open and cash twice in other major tournaments. His consistency is baffling and I would be surprised if he does not come away with some major honours once the 42nd Annual World Series of Poker is over and done with.

Of course this is just a very select few players who are heading to Las Vegas to seek fame and fortune. When you add names such as Roberto Romanello, Jake Cody, (who are both looking for a Triple Crown), Jack Ellwood, Chris Moorman, James Keys, Trickett, James Akenhead, I could go on for another page and a half, it is easy to see why Brits are going to crush even harder this time around.

All together now, "God save our gracious Queen......."

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