Shulman Defeats Negreanu To Win WSOPE Main Event

With the PokerNews Cup being the focal point for many poker players in Australia at the moment, the rest of the world have been watching the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event in London with the final table wrapping up today.

The Empire Casino in Leicester Square was the place to be in London for the most anticipated and stacked final tables of recent times. Two November Niners, six individual bracelet winners with a combined eleven bracelets and all-in-all nine quality players that started the day as follows:

Seat 1: Barry Shulman - 1,090,000
Seat 2: Jason Mercier - 3,198,000
Seat 3: Praz Bansi - 1,160,000
Seat 4: Markus Ristola - 784,000
Seat 5: Chris Bjorin - 518,000
Seat 6: James Akenhead - 1,398,000
Seat 7: Daniel Negreanu - 438,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout - 701,000
Seat 9: Matt Hawrilenko - 674,000

With Jason Mercier holding a greater than two-to-one advantage over his nearest opponent, he began the day where he finished, by accumulating chips at will. Daniel Negreanu stepped out of the danger zone before doubling up through Mercier in a set-over-set confrontation.

Just under five hours into the final table, we lost our first player with November Niner James Akenhead collecting £66,533 after his failed to improve against Negreanu’s .

Only thirty minutes later there would a succession of eliminations with Matt Hawrilenko being sent to the rail in eighth place courtesy of Barry Shulman before Antoine Saout would lose a race holding against Negreanu’s when three spades fell to see the last November Niner on the final table exit in seventh for a £114,228 payday.

Chris Bjorin would top off the whirlwind twenty minutes when he busted to the wrecking ball Negreanu when his dominated failed to improve against Negreanu’s to see him exit the tournament in sixth place.

Markus Ristola was next to go courtesy of . . . you guessed it . . . Negreanu after ‘Kid Poker’ called the all in holding to be ahead of Ristola’s . Although taking the lead on the turn, the river would see Ristola exit in fifth place after the final board ran out to see the Finn still walk away with £200,367 for his deep run.

Praz Bansi - 2,925,000
Daniel Negreanu - 2,865,000
Jason Mercier - 2,320,000
Barry Shulman - 1,925,000

After the four remaining players returned from dinner, Barry Shulman managed to double up when his flush draw improved to a bigger pair to return the stacks to a relatively even nature before Mercier would hit the rail in fourth place.

Negreanu opened the action holding a wired pair of nines, and after a call from Shulman, Mercier moved all in holding pocket sevens. Negreanu called, Shulman passed, and after the board blanked out. Mercier exited while collecting £267,267 on his way out the door.

Daniel Negreanu - 4,765,000
Praz Bansi - 3,230,000
Barry Shulman - 2,040,000

Bansi took the chip lead courtesy of Shulman before the CardPlayer Magazine CEO managed a double through Negreanu.

Finally after eleven hours of intense poker action, heads-up play would be reached when Bansi moved all in from the button holding and was called by Negreanu and his . The cries of a deuce from the rail would be unmatched by the dealer as the board ran out to see the English player collect £360,887 for his third place finish.

Daniel Negreanu - 6,180,000
Barry Shulman - 3,855,000

The first major hand of heads-up play came after a raise and re-raise preflop to see a flop of fall and all the chips fly into the middle. Negreanu was well ahead holding , but Shulman would be drawing live holding for the nut-flush draw and backdoor outs. Ding! Right on the turn the dealer would drop the to ship Shulman the double up, and just to rub it in, the would land on the river to see Shulman gain a three-to-one advantage.

Negreanu started to creep back slowly, eventually seeing his deficit sit at only a two-to-one disadvantage and then a near even count as play ticked into hour fourteen. Shulman would not be pushed around that easy as he started applying the pressure back on Negreanu to eventually capture an even greater advantage at nearly four-to-one.

As was the case during the whole final table, the chips went back and forth between the two before Negreanu wrestled the slight lead back before both players saw a flop fall. Shulman would three-bet all in over a Negreanu raise for all his chips, and after half-discussing the decision with the rail, Negreanu made the call tabling to be behind Shulman’s . Just like Shulman earlier, Negreanu would hit lightning on the turn when the fell to give him one hand on his fifth WSOP bracelet. However, there would be some life left in Shulman when the dealer burned and turned the on the river to see Negreanu sink back down to a four-to-one disadvantage.

Only a few minutes later, Negreanu’s last chips would enter the middle holding a dominated up against Shulman’s . The board ran out to see the CardPlayer Magazine CEO crowned 2009 WSOP Europe Champion collecting £801,603 for a great tournament and truly epic seventeen-hour final table.

Negreanu was unable to collect his fifth bracelet, but will head back home with an additional £495,589 in his pocket and new place on the top of the All Time Tournament Money List courtesy of his back-to-back WSOP Europe Main Event Final Tables.

With another successful WSOP Europe all wrapped up, the WSOP Main Event Final Table is only a month away, but here on our local shores, the PokerNews Cup Main Event is in full swing with all the action being found here.