2012 World Series of Poker Europe Day 9: Santos Wins Gold; Mizrachi Leads Main Event
On Saturday, the ninth day of the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe continued and it was the busiest yet. Another gold bracelet was awarded, and the prestigious Event #7: €10,450 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event kicked off with Day 1a action. Regarding the former, the newest bracelet was for Event #6: €1,650 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha, which you can read about below thanks to PokerNews' coverage sponsored by PartyPoker.
Francisco Da Costa Santos Wins Event #6: €1,650 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha for €83,275
The final table of the Event #6 €1,650 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha event started with just five players, and after a long battle, it was Francisco Da Costa Santos who emerged victorious to claim the €82,275 grand prize and the first-ever bracelet for Portugal.
The short-stacked Petteri Kalenius doubled in one of the first hands, dealing a big blow to Andrew Lichtenberger, who began the final table as chip leader. In fact, he eventually became the fifth-place finisher. On his final hand, he got all his chips into the pot with Q♠J♦9♦6♣ against Aku Joentausta's A♣K♠7♣6♦. The board ran out A♦5♠3♣K♣6♥, and the most accomplished player at the final table was gone with €18,463 as a consolation prize.
Thirty minutes after Lichtenberger was eliminated, it was time for Santos to turn the tables on Joentausta. The young Finnish player had been in control for quite some time, but that rapidly changed when he played the biggest pot of the tournament against Santos. In a pot worth 525,000, Santos showed A♦A♠9♠4♦ against Joentausta's A♣K♦J♦10♥. The dealer ran out 2♦9♥3♥3♠8♠, and Joentausta was left behind with little chips. Santos showed real emotions and almost danced around the table in excitement.
Ana Marquez, who had been quietly grinding her below-average stack, was the one who took out fourth-place finisher Kalenius. The Spanish pro raised to 20,000 under the gun and Kalenius defended his big blind. On a 10♥7♦3♥ flop, Kalenius check-raised all in and Marquez called with A♠A♣9♥6♣. She was up against Q♣7♣5♥3♣, and after the turn, the J♠, and river, the A♦, it was all over for the Finn who took home €25,831.
The other Finn, and youngest player at the final table, was next to go. Joentausta was short and moved all in with A♣10♣9♥8♣. Santos showed K♥Q♣9♣4♥, and he flopped a winning straight when the board brought 10♠J♦Q♥4♦4♠. The heads-up battle began with a massive 742,000-chip stack for Santos to Marquez's 187,000.
It lasted just 13 minutes and ended when Marquez got her money in with A♠K♠10♦5♦. Santos went for it with 10♠9♣7♦6♥ and made history when the board ran out 8♦5♥7♣2♦4♥. Santos fell to the floor, shed tears and hugged his girlfriend Mariana before making his way to the payout desk to collect €83,275.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francisco Da Costa Santos | €83,275 |
| 2 | Ana Marquez | €51,443 |
| 3 | Aku Joentausta | €36,351 |
| 4 | Petteri Kalenius | €25,831 |
| 5 | Andrew Lichtenberger | €18,463 |
| 6 | Nikolay Volper | €13,273 |
Play Postponed in Event #5: €10,450 Mixed Max — No-Limit Hold'em
Despite over six hours of heads-up play, the final match up between Brandon Cantu and Jonathan Aguiar has not yet reached its conclusion. The casino closed its doors at 0500 AM CET (1100 ET), and, much like Event #4: €3,250 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout, the players were forced to stop for the night.
Players and tournament staff are currently unsure as to when this heads-up match will resume. Day 1b of the WSOP Europe Main Event begins on Sunday, and both Aguiar and Cantu plan on playing. Cantu insisted that the two must finish this match on Sunday while Aguiar stated that he is not interested in missing levels of the Main Event.
When the match was halted for the night, Cantu had the lead with 1.52 million in chips to Aguiar's 1.361 million.
Staff told the players that a solution will be figured out on Sunday. As soon as there is concrete information as to when play will resume, PokerNews will let you know.
Mizrachi Emerges as WSOP Europe Main Event Day 1a Chip Leader; Ivey, O'Dwyer & Alvarado Punch Ticket to Day 2
The 2012 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event kicked off on Saturday as 215 players took to the felt in the first of two starting flights. After six 90-minute levels of play, the field had been reduced to 115 with Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and his stack of 234,850 leading the way.
It didn’t take long for things to heat up at the Majestic Barrière in Cannes, France. In fact, in Level 1 there was a hand that had the whole tournament floor talking.
"It's nuts, nuts and a flush draw," Jean-Robert Bellande said from a nearby table. "Two guys have the nuts and one has top pair and a flush draw... with one to come."
The board read 8♥4♥3♣7♣ and three hands were face up on the felt. Henry Tran held the A♣8♣ for top pair with a flush draw; Erik Cajelais held the 6♦5♦ for a turned nut straight; and Brandon Barnes held the 6♠5♥ for the same turned straight.
"Club!" yelled Tran before the dealer put out the5♣. Cajelais was not happy at all, and he got up from his chair and quickly stormed out of the room while Barnes left more quietly. Tran had them both covered and has catapulted to over 90,000, which carried him to the end of the night where he bagged up 118,750.
Another big hand happened early on and set the stage for Mizrachi. Shortly after taking his seat, we came upon a Mizrachi hand with 23,000 already pulled into the middle with a board reading 7♥3♠8♥6♦. Mizrachi had his remaining chips in front of him, and Konstantinos Mamaliadis made the call.
Mamaliadis: Q♦Q♥
Mizrachi: 8♠6♣
Mizrachi was in the lead with a turned two pair, which held when the 5♦ landed on the river. With that, Mizrachi doubled to 56,000 and never looked back. He played what seemed like every hand for the remainder of the day an even flirted with the 300,000-chip mark before ending as the only player with over 200,000.
Not everyone was as fortunate as Mizrachi, though. Among those to hit the rail on Day 1a were Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Nam Le, Tobias Reinkemeier, Fabrice Soulier, Victor Ramdin, Jennifer Tilly, Will Failla, Chris Moorman, Jeff Lisandro, Frank Kassela and Vanessa Selbst.
With that said, quite a few notables managed to punch their ticket to Day 2 including JC Alvarado (180,675), Sergil Baranov (152,000), Martial Blangenwitsch (129,800), Dan Shak (100,875), Philipp Gruissem (90,500), Steve O’Dwyer (89,000), Prosper Masquelier (70,450), Matt Stout (61,650) and Phil Ivey (59,000), just to name a few.
Day 1b action is set to kick off at 1200 CET (0600 ET) on Saturday, and you can follow all the action simply by visiting our Live Reporting blog.
Be sure to check out our Live Reporting Section to follow our updates sponsored by PartyPoker. Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook today!
PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
