On Friday, the World Series of Poker Europe shuffled up and dealt in Cannes, France after a four-year stint in the UK. The first of seven bracelet events has gone to Guillaume Humbert, a 26-year-old bartender from Switzerland playing in his first major live tournament. Humbert’s debut was doubly impressive, as it marked the first WSOP bracelet earned by anyone from the land of alpenhorns. The €2,500 buy-in six-handed NLHE event garnered a 360-strong field, and the final table included such notables as Phil Hellmuth, but Humbert kept his cool to take the win and €216k. Runner-up Azusa Maeda (another live tournament rookie) also did his country proud, earning €133k and Japan’s highest WSOP finish to date. Ireland’s Roy Finlay took third and €92k.
Still at the WSOPE, Roberto Romanello was looking to become only the fifth member of poker’s elite Triple-Crown club (needing a WSOP bracelet to go with his EPT and WPT titles) at Event #2, the €1,090 NLHE. Romanello entered final table action third in chips, but the day belonged to Australian Andrew Hinrichsen, who took home €148k for the win. Giancula Speranza took second and €91k, while Tarcisio Bruno settled for third and €67k. Romanello finished fifth, earning just under €38k – nothing to sneeze at, but it ain’t no crown.
Elsewhere, Robert Carstoire has won the World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Southern Indiana main event title. Outlasting a 313-strong field over three days of play, Castoire takes home $107k and a shiny WSOP-C ring (his second this year and third overall, although neither of his earlier wins came in main events). Jacob Bazely came second, earning $66k, while Aaron Massey took third and $48k.
Finally, Queensland native Jack Drake has triumphed at the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Darwin main event. The AU$2,200 buy-in event attracted a field of 64, whom Drake held off over four-days of play to take the title and AU$36k. Brett Dannevig took $25k for his runner-up position, while Fotios Manolakos earned $16k for placing third.
