Oct
20
by Chad Holloway
Matthias Habernig at the LAPT.
How about that WSOP-Europe? The series gets better and better every year, and I think this was the best yet. Congratulations to Phil “The Unabomber” Laak for winning his first WSOP gold bracelet in Event #1: Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em. Laak was, without a doubt, one of the most popular poker characters without a bracelet. While we’re on it, congratulations to Gus Hansen. Gus has dominated the World Poker Tour in the past but has always come up short in the WSOP. That all changed when he took down Event #4: No Limit Hold’em High Roller Heads-Up by defeating Jim Collopy in an epic heads-up confrontation. Congrats again to both, they’ve long been staples in the poker world and it is nice to see them capture their first bracelets.
Other highlights of the WSOPE include Jeff Lisandro winning his fifth bracelet by taking down the PLO event (his first non-Seven Card Stud bracelet); Viktor Blom and Phil Ivey’s deep run in the Main Event; and James Bord taking down the title. Now that the WSOPE has wrapped, we’ll all just have to wait until November to see who will become the new World Champion (I’m leaning toward Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi or John Racener).
I just had a new article in Poker Pro Magazine highlighting the benefits of using social media outlets to improve your Fantasy Poker game. If you want to check it out, you can click here. Speaking of which, we’ve been working hard on revamping the Poker Pro Media social media outlets, and we’ve started a big Twitter campaign. Just by following us on Twitter, you can win annual subscriptions to the magazines while also getting breaking news, industry gossip, tournament updates, special offers and chances to win great prizes. I recommend you follow @pokerpromag, @pokerproeurope, @pokerprocanada, and @onlinepokerpro. While you’re at it, feel free to follow myself (@ChadAHolloway) and Phil Laak (@RealPhilLaak).
In more recent news, I just returned from Rosario, Argentina where I was working the LAPT Grand Final for PokerNews. This was my first trip to South America and I was excited to visit the City Center Casino, which was where the event was held and happens to be the continent’s largest casino. By Vegas standards, the casino wasn’t overly impressive, but it was still pretty nice. While many of the top pros were in Europe for the WSOPE, some managed to make the trip. Chris Moneymaker, Dennis Phillips, Jose “Nacho” Barbero and Terrence Chan were just a few of the pros in attendance. The event ended up drawing 254 players and was highlighted by a young Austrian by the name of Matthias Habernig, who had won the previous LAPT event at Florianopolis. Habernig made the final table and everyone was wondering if he could win back-to-back titles (which Nacho Barbero had done earlier in the year). Unfortunately for him, Habernig could only manage a sixth place finish; regardless, his back-to-back final table appearances are an impressive feat. The tournament was eventually won by Martin Sansour, who eliminated everyone at the final except one opponent.
Also, I have some good news in the poker writing front. Since this year’s WSOP, I have been working for PokerNews on a freelance basis. As of a couple weeks ago, I am now a full-time staff writer for the site! I am really excited about the opportunity and the travel experiences that will surely accompany it. Which means some great blog posts in the future!
Sep
16
by Jake
Phil Laak came into the 2010 WSOPE £2,650 Six-Handed No-Limit Holdem Event #1 with the third most chips and found early momentum that rarely faltered. He eventually went heads-up against Andrew Pantling before finally winning not only his first WSOPE bracelet but his first WSOP bracelet period. Laak also pocketed a tidy £170,802 to go along with the hardware.
The sold out event saw 244 entrants battle it out over three days. The final table saw Willie Tann eliminated first in sixth place(£23,900), followed by Ilan Rouah in fifth place (£33,617), David Peters in fourth (£48,202), and Chris Bjorin in third (£70,473) leaving Andrew Pantling and Phil to go heads-up.
Pantling started with a lead of 1,078,000 to Laak’s 759,000. The tables turned fairly quickly as Laak evened the score and then took the lead. From there the two went back and forth for a while before a decisive hand gave Laak a significant lead.
With a relatively small pot of about 50,000 and the board showing 10c-7c-6c-Ks, Phil made an overbet of 180,000 which brought an all-in push from Pantling. Phil made the call to put his tournament life on the line.
The men flipped their cards to show bottom pair with flush and straight draws for Pantling who held 6s-8c while Phil led with two pair with 6h-7h. The river missed Pantling’s draws with a 10h doubling Phil up to 1.4 million and leaving Pantling with 430,000.
The final hand came when Pantling raised from the button and pushed back with his entire stack. Pantling called for his final 350K and showed Ah-9h to lead over Phil’s Kd-5c. The flop fell 7h-4h-4c giving Pantling plenty of hope by adding a flush draw. But the turn brought a 5d and the crowd roard with excitement as Phil took the lead. The Qc on the river changed nothing for Pantling and Phil Laak took down his first WSOP bracelet.
Congratulations to Phil and here’s to further success at the 2010 WSOPE!