Matt Salsberg Wins World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris!

Matt Salsberg and the Royal Flush Girls

On Day 4 of the World Poker Tour Season XI Grand Prix de Paris, Matt Salsberg, the executive producer of Showtime's Weeds, announced to the table that, "Queens have been good to me."

Little did he know that one day later he would reach the apex of his poker career and win a World Poker Tour title holding, you guessed it, two queens.

Day 5 of the WPT Grand Prix de Paris began with six very capable players, but only one could be crowned champion. Salsberg was the overnight chip leader with 1,757,000 chips, and the rest of the table looked like this:

SeatNameChips
1Matt Salsberg1,757,000
2Philipp Gruissem776,000
3Theo Jorgensen1,169,000
4Fabian Quoss570,000
5Timothy Adams1,198,000
6Mohsin Charania1,435,000

During the first level of play, Theo Jorgensen won a massive hand against Timothy Adams to take the chip lead. After a series of preflop raises, Jorgensen was all in and at risk holding AA, and Adams was crushed with AK. The board ran out 44226, and Jorgensen doubled to over 2.6 million chips.

A few hands later, Fabian Quoss was the first player eliminated. Quoss open-shoved with KJ and was snapped off by Philipp Gruissem with QQ. The flop, turn, and river were dealt 39J72, and Quoss hit the rail in sixth place, earning €75,765.

In the next couple of orbits, Mohsin Charania began chipping up. Charania first picked off a bluff from Jorgensen with ace-high. Charania took down that 300,000-chip pot and then he took down a three-bet pot against Gruissem without a showdown. Meanwhile, Jorgensen was bleeding chips and had slipped from chip leader to second-to-last in the counts, but then he doubled-up again — this time through Charania.

Charania opened the pot from under the gun with AQ, Jorgensen three-bet to 150,000 with 1010, and Charania put in a fourth bet. Jorgensen moved all in, Charania snapped it off, and we were off to the races. It was practically over when the flop fell J10J, giving Jorgensen a full house, and the turn and river bricked 4, 4 respectively.

Charania got the rest of his stack in the middle a few hands later when he open-shoved with KQ. Unfortunately for him, Salsberg made the call with AJ, and held as the board ran out 2104105. Charania was out in fifth place, earning €95,615 for his efforts.

Adams was the next player to bow out of the competition. After taking down a few small pots, he three-bet jammed for 751,000 with A8 over an open from Gruissem. The board came 761075 and Gruissem's AJ held, eliminating Adams in fourth place for €125,775.

Three-handed play began in the middle of Level 26, and lasted for a little over three hours. Thanks to a good run of cards, and a bit of well-timed aggression, Jorgensen opened up a big lead for himself. The Dane made queens full of nines and then fours full of queens during the beginning of three-handed play, and crossed the three million-chip mark.

He didn’t keep the lead for long though because Salsberg won a monster pot from Jorgensen with just a pair of nines. Salsberg opened to 140,000 on the button with A9, Jorgensen three-bet with Q3, and Salsberg made the call. The flop fell 4K9, Jorgensen led out for 300,000, and Salsberg quickly called. The turn was the 5, Jorgensen led again — this time for 750,000 — and Salsberg tank-called. Both players checked after the 10 completed the board, and Salsberg took down the pot, retaking the chip lead.

Gruissem was slipping, but he doubled twice through Jorgensen. In the first hand, Gruissem open-jammed with AK and Jorgensen called with A8. The board came 1075Q5, and Gruissem held. A few hands later, Gruissem open-jammed with Q6 from the small blind and Jorgensen made a nice call with A2 from the big blind. Gruissem won when the board ran out 748Q5, and it looked like the German was back in contention.

Jorgensen cut Gruissem’s comeback short in Level 28 however. Gruissem three-bet shoved over a button open from Jorgensen, and Jorgensen called with K9. Gruissem was ahead with JJ, but the KA6 flop gave Jorgensen a leading pair of kings. The turn and river came 4, 10 respectively, and Gruissem was eliminated in third place (€170,065).

Jorgensen began heads-up play with a slight lead, and he began to pull away quickly. On the first hand, Jorgensen out-kicked Salsberg in a three-bet pot, and a few hands later he extracted three streets of value from Salsberg, extending his lead to a near 2:1 chip advantage. After a little bit of back-and-forth, Jorgensen extended his lead even more, check-jamming with a lone pair of sevens on a Q3748 board. Salsberg had air, and was forced to fold.

At this point, Jorgensen had a near 4:1 chip advantage, but it would not stay that way for long. At the very end of Level 30, Jorgensen open-jammed holding A5 and Salsberg called with A4. It looked like the pot would be chopped, but the 984 flop gave Salsberg a pair of fours, and the board completed 7, 3, and Salsberg doubled.

The Hollywood producer then took the chip lead during Level 31. He three-bet shoved with A10 and Jorgensen quickly called with dominating AQ. The K64 flop gave Salsberg a flush draw, the 9 on the turn was no help, but the J spiked on the river, giving the chip lead.

Jorgensen was visibly frustrated and on the last hand he limp-jammed holding Q10. Salsberg called immediately with QQ, and it was all over as the board ran out 35247.

PlaceNamePrize
1Matt Salsberg€400,000
2Theo Jorgensen€264,600
3Philipp Gruissem€170,065
4Timothy Adams€125,775
5Mohsin Charania€95,615
6Fabian Quoss€75,765

Jorgensen, who was trying to become the first player to win the same WPT event twice, fell just short, but still earned an impressive €264,600 for his efforts.

For Salsberg, this is the greatest moment of his poker career. Coming into the WPT Season XI Grand Prix de Paris, his largest score was for just over $100,000. Now, he has a massive €400,000 score, a WPT title to his name, and a ticket into the $25,000 WPT World Championship in May of 2013.

Thank you for joining us during this journey in Paris, France. That last five days have been filled with breath-taking poker here at the Aviation Club de France, and we hope to see you again on Sunday for WPT Malta!

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