Written By: RSSPoker.com
In the second ever WSOPE, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda and Scott Fischman were the headliners at the Main Event final table. Down to 3 players as this article is being written, only Juanda still remains. Ivan Demidov is on an historic run. Not only has he made it to the top three of the WSOPE Main Event, but he’s also one of the November Nine for the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas! At the WSOP, Demidov will go into the final table with the second largest chipstack, and a very real shot at winning the whole thing. This is an unbelievable accomplishment that has to be respected. This is a brief summary of the final table as first reported by Pokernews.com.
The final table began as follows:
Seat 1: Robin Keston - 849,000
Seat 2: Daniel Negreanu - 1,002,000
Seat 3: Chris Elliott - 281,000
Seat 4: Bengt Sonnert - 385,000
Seat 5: John Juanda - 1,349,000
Seat 6: Ivan Demidov - 1,006,000
Seat 7: Toni Hiltunen - 386,000
Seat 8: Scott Fischman - 732,000
Seat 9: Stanislav Alekhin - 1,278,000
The first player to exit was short stack Chris Elliot. On hand #7, Elliot flopped 2 pair and a back door flush draw holding 9c, 10c. Alekhin bet the flop, and Elliot naturally flat called with his monster, surely looking to draw out a big pot from Alekhin and attempt to get back into the game. The turn came the 7c, giving Elliot the flush draw as well as top two. Alekhin put Elliot all-in, and of course Elliot called. Alekhin showed Ac, 5c, for the nut flush draw. The river brought the Kc, and Elliot was busted. It’s hard to fault Elliot for slow playing the flop, but at the same time this is another example of the dangers of slow-playing. For 9th place, Elliot earned £81,450.
On hand #50, Toni Hiltunen went bust when he got it all-in preflop against Alekhin’s pocket queens. The flop brought a third queen for Alekhin, which essentially closed the door on Hiltunen. Hiltunen takes home £108,600.
Only two hands later, Robin Keston moved all-in preflop holding Ac, 8h. He was called by Ivan Demidov who held pocket nines. Keston’s hand didn’t improve, while Demidov made a set on the turn. Keston busted in 7th place and made £135,750 for his efforts.
Players were dropping like flies at this point, and only three hands after Keston went out, Scott Fischman was busted on hand #55. On a flop of Jh, Ad, 10d, Fischman led out with a bet of 45,000. His opponent, Stanislav Alekhin raised it to 135,000 and Fischman moved all-in. Alekhin called with Kh, Qh, showing Broadway against Fischman’s Ac, Qc, top pair and a gutshot straight draw. Fischman could only chop the pot if the turn of river would bring one of the 3 remaining kings in the deck. The king didn’t come, and Fischman went out in 6th place. Fischman took home a cool £171,950. Between hands #50-55, three players went bust.
The next player out was fan favorite Daniel Negreanu. On the big blind with a short stack, Negreanu called a raise (for all his chips) from Stanislav Alekhin on the small blind. Negreanu held Ac, 9h. Alekhin held pocket jacks which held up. Daniel finished in 5th place, and walked away with £217,200.
Stanislav Alekhin knocked out his 5th final table player when he took out Bengt Sonnert on hand #160. On the button, Alekhin raised to 70,000 holding Ah, 8s. On the small blind, Sonnert moved in for his last 311,000 holding Ad, 5h. Alekhin called and hit an 8 on the flop, essentially sending Sonnert on his way. The turn and river cards didn’t help Sonnert, and he went home with £271,500 for his fourth place finish.
As of 10:07 pm EST, the chips counts are as follows:
1/ Stanislav Alekhin - 2,735,000
2/ John Juanda - 2,555,000
3/ Ivan Demidov - 1,920,000
Considering that Stanislav Alekhin has knocked out 5 of the 6 players, the chip counts are amazingly close. The reason is that Juanda and Demidov have been winning the vast majority of the pots played since getting down to 3 handed. Most hands are being won by whoever bets or raises first. There have also been a high number of hands giving the big blind a walk. While Alekhin has won many of the big pots, Juanda and Demidov have done an excellent job of keeping the chip counts close by winning so many of the small pots. It should be fun to see how the final three shake out.
*Update: Ivan Demidov has been eliminated in 3rd place. Demidov earns £334,850 for his wonderful finish. He’ll get another chance when he plays at the WSOP Main Event final table in November. Incredible job Ivan, congrats!
*Update: John Juanda wins! After a grueling 22 hours at the final table, John Juanda bested Stanislav Alehkin to take down the £868,800 first prize. Converted to US, that’s roughly $424 billion! Okay, maybe that’s off a little, but regardless, it’s a lot of cash! Alehkin takes home £533,950 for second place.
