Poker News

Phil Shaw

It was a mixed year for Europeans at the 2005 WSOP, and one which promised much in the early stages, peaked in the middle and almost delivered a dream ending. Devilfish made an excellent showing in the opening $1,500 No Limit Hold’em, finishing third for ?232,205 from 2305 runners, Martin Green of Ireland was only one spot worsein the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em the next day, getting $88,680 for fourth from 1071 runners.

Then Jeff Duvall’s third in the 699 runner $1,500 runner Limit Omaha Hi-Lo earning him $77,170, after which three thrilling second places were achieved by Harry Demetriou, C T Law and Kirill Gerasimov in the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em, the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em (with rebuys), and the $1,500 Limit 7-Card Stud for ?163,850, $311,555 and $109,010 respectively, again over monster fields of 548, 826 and 472.

Things looked even more promising when John Gale finished an unlucky second in the $5,000 Pot Limit Hold’em for $204,440; Lars Bonding came second in the $2,500 No Limit Hold’em; Davood Merhmand came third in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha for $192,710; Bruno Fitoussi came second in the $1,500 Limit Razz for $70,275 and Hamin Kakoun came third in the $5,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo for $105,280; But the real success stories of the latter part of the World Series support events were well known British players Lawrence Gosney and Willle Tann doing the business - Lawrence in the $2,000 No Limit Hold’em for a whopping $483,195 where he faced off against Jarl Lindjolt who collected $258,000, and Willie in the very last event, which he entered visibly both exhausted and depressed due to a bad World Series up to that point.

But by 6am the next morning he was full of smiles, $188,335 richer and showing the much coveted bracelet to anyone who would listen. And that was plenty of people, especially the Europeans who have known about his skills for years and the Betfair team who were no doubt pleased that their sponsorship of him had paid off. Congratulations were also due to Dane Jan Sorenson who won the $5,000 Seven Card Stud for $293,275.

However the biggest European story of the WSOP was Andy Black in the main event, who received short shrift from some of the live radio commentators despite being well known over here as one of the best in Ireland. Andy is also something of a story in himself, having finished 14th in the big one in 1997, featured in a poker documentary about the event in 1998 and then promptly given up poker for a long period to become a Buddhist monk before his recent return. He entered the final table third on chips with $8,140,000 after a brilliant performance in the previous days to build such a stack out of nothing and soon reached $20 million in a display of controlled aggression and fine judgement. But when play became five handed he lost half his stack to the trip kings of rookie Aaron Kanter. Things then went from bad to worse after an excellent call of a check-raise all-in with 9T on a 9s 6c 5c boardagainst eventual winner Joe Hachem’s A6. It looked as if he would regain his position on this pot when the turn fell the 3c, but the river was a heartbreaking Ac, knocking Black down even further to $3.5m.

He doubled up soon after on a coinflip, but when the same situation came around again a few hands later Black’s TT fell to AK, with a K on the turn after a perfect low flop. Black looked distraught and declined to be interviewed by the media in the pressroom, but his performance was nothing short of outstanding and he walked away with $1,750,000 to his name. With four virtual unknowns left to contest the World Championship, for most watching Europeans the 2005 event had really concluded with Black’s exit.

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