Georgios Sotiropoulos has won Greece’s third World Series of Poker bracelet, in the same week, after topping a stacked final table in Event #8: Turbo No-Limit Hold’em w/Re-Entry in Berlin.
When Event #8: Turbo No-Limit Hold’em w/Re-Entry reached the money; there were more Davids than Goliaths.
Players of the ilk of Fedor Holz, Connor Drinan, Mike Gorodinsky, Jeff Gross, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, Kevin MacPhee, Faraz Jaka, Mohsin Charania, Mike Leah, David Baker, Dominik Nitsche and Alexander Lakhov were all in contention for the €112,133 first prize at the tournament entered the money.
None of those Titans reached the final table. It was inconsequential. It still proved to be the most stacked final table of the series thus far.
Benjamin Zamani was making his third WSOP final table appearance of the year. He won a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) event for $460,640, and also finished runner-up to Barry Hutter in the $1,500 NLHE Shootout Event for $174,771. He has also recorded final table appearances at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) and World Poker Tour (WPT).
The former WSOP Main Event runner-up, John Racener, was making his second WSOP final table of the year. He finished fourth in the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E event for $75,559, and Brian Hastings was making his third final table (he won his previous two: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship and $1,500 10-Game Mix Six-Handed).
The Global Poker Index (GPI) World Number One Byron Kaverman also made the final table. He was making his second WSOP final table of the year, and he also won his previous one earning $657,351 after topping the $10,000 NLHE Six-Handed Championship. Reigning WPT World Champion Asher Conniff rounded off an impressive list; this was his first WSOP final table of his career.
But there was one man who seemed to have the drive of a nation behind him. Georgios Sotiropoulos is one the greatest Greek players in their history. Prior to this series the Greeks had never won a single WSOP bracelet. By the time Sotiropoulos took his seat at the final table they had already won two. He made it three after beating Paul Tedeschi in heads-up action.
A three-way all-in situation saw Sotiropoulos eliminate Andre Lommel in fourth and Benjamin Zamani in third to set up that final skirmish. It was pocket fives for Lommel, [Ac] [Th] for Zamani and [Qh] [Jh] for Sotiropoulos. A queen on the river doing the damage.
The WSOP Live Updates team only recorded one heads-up hand in the blog. Tedeschi calling for his tournament life holding [Ah] [8c], after Sotiropoulos has jammed with [Kc] [Qs]. A queen on the flop and king on the turn settling things.
Sotiropoulos is now second in the Greek All Time Money list with $1.6m; Sotirios Koutoupas leads with $2m. It was his eighth WSOP cash, and his second final table. He finished eighth in a $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em event for a $18,529 cash. He also finished 12th in the Millionaire Maker for $90,650. His largest haul remains his runner-up finish to Julian Track at the EPT10 Main Event in Prague where he netted a $959,245 first prize.
Runner-up Tedeschi was making his second WSOP final table appearance. He finished sixth in the 2012 WSOPE Main Event the year a certain Phil Hellmuth Jr took home the bracelet.
546 players entered the event to create a total prize pool of €546,000. Only the €10,450 Main Event and €25,600 High Roller remain.
Final Table Results
1st. Georgios Sotiropoulos – €112,133
2nd. Paul Tedeschi – €69,361
3rd. Benjamin Zamani – €50,719
4th. Andre Lommel – €37,636
5th. Rafal Tomczak – €28,319
6th. John Racener – €21,600
7th. Brian Hastings – €16,703
8th. Byron Kaverman – €13,094
9th. Asher Conniff – €10,402
