Fins Finally Break Through in WSOP as Ville Wahlbeck Takes Down the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event

Posted by pokerguru on June 8, 2009

In a show of genuine emotion, Ville Wahlbeck celebrated his countries first win of a WSOP event. He could not have picked a better year with the new bracelet ceremony reminding everyone of the Olympic presentation of a medal. There won’t be a dry Finnish eye in the house as their national anthem is played. Wahlbeck defeated David Chiu who will walk away with $304,176 and second place played a great tournament, but destiny was with Ville.

The final hand of the tournament was during at Omaha-8 game. Chui was holding A5910 to Wahlbeck’s AQ88. He made a pre-flop all in move and Wahlbeck made the call. Both players missed the flop of JJ5, but the turn but Chui ahead with a 10d. However, Walhbeck picked up additional outs as he could now hit a straight in addition to his Q. Of course, the river hits continued to pop and a K showed up to give Wahlbeck both the straight and a World Championship.

Event 11 finally came to a close with Anthony Harb becoming yet another first time bracelet winner. In a tournament that seemed destined for a big name player to take down, Harb put away the likes of TJ Cloutier, Tom McEvoy and Phil Hellmuth. For his efforts, he not only gets the bracelet, but an influx of $569,199 to his bank account.

The final hand of the tournament ended when Rho flopped tow pair, but waited for the turn to make his move. If he would have gone all in off the flop of 98K, we will never know, but the J that hit on the turn sealed his fate. He pushed and Harb made the instacall with a Q10 sitting in his hand. The river was a blank (for once) and Harb won the bracelet. As the tournament director tried to affix the jewelry, Harb gave the classic quote, “Look how fat my wrist it.” Well it just gained a little more in circumference with a great new bracelet.

In other tournaments…

Phil Ivey was making a legitimate attempt at his second bracelet in Event 13, but just as the break was coming he managed to get the worst of it in a huge hand and will be the short stack as play resumes. They are down to 20 players from the original 1088 person field and will play to a bracelet on Sunday. Greg Merkow now leads the field with 932,000 in chips.
Daniel Negreanu has once again made it to one of the top spots of the leader board in Event 14. With only 11 players left, he is by far the best at the tables. Daniel took this event down last season and it would be absolutely incredible to see him manage to do the same again here. After a miserable 2007 WSOP, Daniel bounced back with some decent success in 2008 with 5 cashes, 2 final tables and one bracelet. He has already had two cashes (including this one) in this year’s event and if he can manage to win the bracelet here, he is poised at a run of his best WSOP ever.

Events 15 and 16 both wrapped up their first days in fine fashion. Only 165 players remain from the original field of 655 in Event 15. Calixto Clemenceau leads the way with 186,300 in chips. Event 16 has also had a very good amount of eliminations as the late starting tournament of the day. Only 97 players remain from a starting field of 359. That is rather unbelievable considering the fact that this is a Seven Card Stud Event. David Levi is at the top of the leader board with 49.600 in chips, but there are still a ton of big name players left in this one including Jason Mercier (already has a bracelet this year), Dutch Boyd, Jeff Lisaandro, Thor Hansen and Eli Elezra. The pros still have a legitimate shot at taking this one down.

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Filed Under: WSOP 2009

Tags: Anthony Harb, Calixto Clemenceau, Daniel Negreanu, David Chiu, Dutch Boyd, Eli Elezra, Greg Merkow, Jason Mercier, Jeff Lisaandro, Phil Hellmuth, Seven Card Stud Event, Thor Hansen, TJ Cloutier, Tom McEvoy, Ville Wahlbeck, WSOP

The Top 10 WSOP Bracelet Winners – Part I

Posted by James on September 9, 2008

Over the next couple of entries, I will review with you the top 10 bracelet winners of all time. Many names you will recognize, while a couple you likely will not. I’m starting my list in reverse order.

Four of the top 10 in bracelets are actually tied with six bracelets each. I will rank them based on the last time they won a bracelet

Layne “Back to Back” Flack earned his nickname in 2003 when he won bracelets in consecutive tournaments he entered. He holds two bracelets in No Limit Holdem, one in Pot Limit Holdem, one in Pot Limit Omaha, one in Omaha Hi-Lo, and one in the Limit Holdem Shootout. His most recent bracelet was his Pot Limit Omaha bracelet that he won at the 2008 World Series of Poker.

T.J. Cloutier is recognized by many as an expert on the game of Omaha. Half of his six bracelets are in Omaha. He holds a Limit Omaha, Pot Limit Omaha, and an Omaha Hi-Lo bracelet. His others are in Pot Limit Holdem, No Limit Holdem, and Razz. His most recent was the No Limit Holdem bracelet in 2005.

Men “The Master” Nguyen is known as much for his demeanor at the table and on camera as for his success at the table. His bracelets are as varied as his personality. For years he has been a top ranked Seven Card Stud player. He holds two bracelets in Seven Card Stud and one in Stud 8 or Better. He also holds bracelets in Omaha Hi-Lo, Limit Holdem, and Triple Draw A-5 Lowball. His last bracelet win was in 2003 when he won both a Stud and Lowball bracelet.

Jay Heimowitz is only one of two bracelet winners to win a bracelet in each of the last four decades. In 1975 he won the first World Series of Poker tournament he entered when he won the $1,000 No Limit Holdem event. After that win, he didn’t win another bracelet until 1986 when he won the $1,500 Limit Holdem event. Five years later in 1991, he took the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha bracelet. 1994 saw him win his fourth bracelet in Pot Limit Holdem. In 2000, Heimowitz won the $5,000 Limit Holdem event to give him at least one bracelet in the last four decades. His last bracelet was in the 2001 Seniors No Limit Holdem event. At 71, Heimowitz is still going strong. He has cashed several times since his last bracelet win, including the $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Event at this years WSOP.

Coming in at #6 on our all time bracelet list is Billy Baxter. Billy Baxter holds 7 bracelets, and they are all in a form of lowball poker. It was written once about Baxter that, “You never tug on Superman’s cape, and you never play Billy Baxter in a lowball game.” Baxter holds a record 5 bracelets in Deuce to Seven Lowball. His other two are in Ace to Five Lowball and Razz. Baxter is the only other player besides Jay Heimowitz to win bracelets in each of the last four decades. Two of his bracelets came in the 70s, three came in the 80s, one in the 90s, and his last bracelet came in 2003. Baxter also shows no signs of slowing down either. He missed the final table of this year’s 2-7 Lowball event by one spot and won two WPT preliminary events earlier in the year.

Tomorrow, we will look at the top five bracelet winners of all time.

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Filed Under: WSOP

Tags: Billy Baxter, Jay Heimowitz, Layne Flack, Men Nguyen, TJ Cloutier, World Series of Poker, WSOP