WSOP Europe: The £10,000 No-Limit Holdem Main Event Final Table
The next couple of hours saw a rally between the two Poker players. They were going back and fourth against each other, neither of them giving much ground to the other. They had almost the same amount of chips left as the last chip count update when a hand occurred between them. Juanda raised from the button to 100,000. Alekhin made the call. The flop fell Qd-9h-6h and Alekhin checked to Juanda. The latter bet out 105,000. Alekhin raised to 285,000. Juanda made the call. The turn fell 6h and Alekhin bet out 375,000 after which Juanda made the call. It was intense. The river fell 7d and Alekhin bet out 725,000. Juanda released his hand. Alekhin revealed a hand of 5h-8h for the straight. He took the pot which was worth nearly 750,000 chips.
At hand 355, this event made a record of being officially the longest event in WSOP history as far as the number of hands played. The last event to last almost as long at 354 hands was the 2006 H.O.R.S.E. event. The final table had run 17 hours and 30 minutes but there was still a lot of poker to be played.
Alekhin raised from the button to 100,000. Juanda made a reraise to 325,000. The flop fell 2c-Ks-4h and Juanda bet out 365,000. He was called. The turn fell the 10d with Juanda betting out 480,000 chips. His Poker opponent was starting to stack chips. Before Alekhin could put them in the middle, Juanda folded his hand. Alekhin showed his holding of pocket queens and at that point had a chip stack of 4.66 million. Juanda’s chip stack was at 2.61 million.
With a huge chip lead to back him up, Alekhin started turning on the pressure to Juanda, chipping away at the latter’s stack over the course of the next hour or so. At one point, Juanda had just 940,000 chips left. He had at hand 399 and decided to raise to 150,000. Alekhin put him all in, showing Kd-Jd. Juanda had As-Kc. The flop fell Jc-4c-4s, leaving Juanda far behind in the game. Help came when the turn fell the Qh. Juanda just needed an ace, a king, a queen, or a 10 on the river to hit his hand. The river Poker card fell the 10c. Juanda doubled up his stack to 1.78 million in chips.
A few more hands later, Alekhin raised to 150,00 pre-flop. Juanda called. The flop was Ad-4h-6d. The 2 fell on the turn and Juanda bet out 275,000 and Alekhin called. The river card fell the 10s and Juanda bet out 475,000. Alekhin moved all in. Juanda stood up and said that he’d call. Alekhin showed Qd-2h for a pair of ducks while Juanda showed Ah-6c for two pair. He doubled up to take the chip lead, moving up to 3,850,000 in chips. Alekhin had 3,370,000 in chips.
After hand 420, Alekhin had 3,600,000 in chips while Juanda had 3,620,000. It was a rollercoaster ride all the way through, with chip lead swinging back and forth between the two. Alekhin was able to take back the lead and had about 4.2 million in chips when a huge confrontation occurred between him and Juanda.
Juanda had raised 165,000 pre-flop. Alekhin made the call. The flop fell Kc-Qh-7c and Alekhin bet out 325,000. Juanda moved all in and was called. He held Kh-6h for top pair and Alekhin had 4c-3c for the flush draw. The turn fell the 9s, which meant that Alekhin was needing one of 9 clubs. The river fell the 4h. Juanda doubled up and at this point held 6.6 million in chips. Alekhin was far behind with just 600,000.
At hand 484, Alekhin moved all in from the button and was called. He held Ac-9s while Juanda had Ks-6c. The board fell 6d-6s-2d and Juanda flops a near miracle. The turn fell the Qc and the river 6h, giving Juanda quads and the title. Stanislav Alekhin finished runner up and took home £533,950.
The entire event lasted 22 hours and crowned John Juanda as Champion of the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event. It was his fourth bracelet. He also took home £868,800.
Tags:
Poker, World Series of Poker, WSOP
