Another round-up from the World Series of Poker Europe including a second bracelet win for Israeli poker, and another opportunity for Shaun Deeb to inch closer to World Series of Poker Player of the Year glory.
With poker players suing online poker rooms for failing to control the rampant use of robots, it’s a good time to get out of the house and fly like an albatross to Rozvadov, the unlikeliest of epicenters of European poker.
The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) used to be the Beverley Hills of poker tournaments with stops in swanky London, Cannes and Paris before the Napoléonic forces of theWSOP shook hands on a long-term deal to take their European flagship brand to the King’s Casino.
Moan.
Groan.
Lie on your pullout bed and scream into a pillow.
It won’t change a thing.
The second of ten events is in the bag, and for the second time the person wearing the gold bracelet hails from Israel. After Tamir Segal took down the COLOSSUS, Asi Moshe has won Event #2: €1,650 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed.
The 221-entrant event condensed into a fairly unremarkable final table for the second successive event. Moshe was the only player to have won a WSOP bracelet having done so in 2014 when he outlasted 2,396 entrants to take down the $582,321 first prize in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event, and he has made five WSOP final tables, running deep in all of them.
The only other two players with form was Guiliano Bendinelli (who formed part of the Italian team that won the Global Poker Masters World Cup in 2015), and Van Tiep Nguyen who finished ruuner-up in the €5,300 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) High Roller in this venue last year.
But it was Moshe all the way.
Remarkably, the Israeli has only ever won two titles in his lifetime, and both of them have been bracelet events.
He has more than $2.1m in live tournament earnings.
Final Table Results
1. Asi Moshe – €82,280
2. Robert Schulz – €50,842
3. James Bullimore – €33,149
4. Giuliano Bendinelli – €22,210
5. Van Tiep Nguyen – €15,303
6. Viktor Katzenberger – €10,852
The reigning PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event winner, Maria Lampropulos finished 8th, the former Triton Poker Series Main Event winner, Manig Loeser finished 15th, the Global Poker Index August Player of the Year, Michael Soyza finished 14th, and the current WSOP Player of the Year, Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson finished 17th.
The Best of the Rest
If you’re laying Shaun Deeb in the WSOP Player of the Year (POY) betting order then you’re burning your money like the eyes of people stumbling out of Plato’s cave for the first time.
Deeb extended his lead at the top of the POY leaderboard with an 11th place finish in Event #2, and he sits second in chips as Event #3: €550 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed, reaches the second day of action.
The two starting flight event attracted 572-entrants, and there are 46 left at the time of my fingers pecking at this keyboard like chickens on seed.
WSOP bracelet winners, Dutch Boyd and Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson emerged from the Day 1A bracket, and fellow bracelet winners, Deeb, Hanh Tran, Max Pescatori and Dario Alioto found light at the end of Day 1B’s tunnel.
Two folks to keep an eye on as the tournament bends towards the end is the serial WSOP ITM finisher Roland Israelashvili (196,000), and the former Master Classics of Poker Champion, David Boyaciyan (108,000).
Top Ten Chipcounts
1. Christopher Back – 885,000
2. Shaun Deeb – 667,000
3. Hanh Tran – 626,000
4. Max Pescatori – 565,000
5. Oleg Pavlyuchuk – 478,000
6. Christian Teubner – 432,000
7. Ondrej Franta – 221,000
8. Viliyan Petleshkov – 219,000
9. Vasile Strugari – 214,000
10. Luchezar Pumpalov – 208,000
