At 3 pm local time, the nine finalists of the Master Classics of Poker Main Event return to Holland Casino to battle it out for the €240,183 ($271,017) first-place prize. They have all locked up €23,983 ($27,064) at this time.
Leading the final nine is Dutchman Teun Mulder. German regular [Removed:172] is not far behind. With a lot of big blinds still in play, and even Velasevic still in possession of ten big blinds, we might be in for a long day today.
There are 45 minutes remaining in Level 21 (8,000/16,000/16,000). Play is going to be preluded by a welcome ceremony that includes every player making their entrance to their hand-picked song. You can follow along with the final table with the MCOP Live Updates, right here on PokerNews.
In the second hand of the final table, Pascal Baumgartner got all of his chips in the middle from the big blind. The initial raiser, [Removed:172], wasn't going anywhere with his hand.
Pascal Baumgartner:
[Removed:172]:
The flop of paired Baumgartner, but Kramer picked up a flush draw.
The on the turn right away settled it, Baumgartner got started shaking hands. The on the river was there just to make things official.
For one of the first times, Henri Piironen opened under the gun plus one for 45,000. Big blind Algarra had the big blind and big blind ante invested, so had just 110,000 behind. He shoved all-in and was met with a quick call.
Henri Piironen:
David Algarra:
The board ran out and Algarra was drawing dead on the turn.
Danilo Velasevic shoved for 80,000 from the hijack and Joey Vittali called from the small blind. Big blind Kramer checked.
Vittali and Kramer checked down the board of . Kramer mucked as soon as Vittali showed for a pair of fours. Velasevic had and exited the tournament area.
Action folded to Jasper Meijer van Putten on the button. He asked for a count on Alberto Stegeman's stack in the big blind and then shoved. The small blind folded and Stegeman contemplated what to do for a minute or so. He eventually called.
Alberto Stegeman:
Jasper Meijer van Putten:
The flop came which hit Stegeman hard. The on the turn was a blank and left Meijer van Putten few outs. The on the river inconsequential and Meijer van Putten was left with just 55,000 while Stegeman doubled.
The next hand, Meijer van Putten got it in against Joey Vittali. Meijer van Putten had while Vittali showed . The board ran out and that was it, Meijer van Putten eliminated.
After a raise from Kramer and a three-bet from Stegeman to 310,000, Kramer shoved. Stegeman called all in for 920,000 total and the crowd erupted in Holland Casino Amsterdam.
Alberto Stegeman:
[Removed:172]:
The flop of was of no immediate help to Stegeman. The on the turn gave him some additional outs with the nine now helping Stegeman as well. Still, Kramer was on the verge of busting a player and distancing himself even more from the rest.
No nine appeared but the hit and the crowd went even crazier, cheering for the local player over the German. Double up for Stegeman, it's anyone's game now.
[Removed:172] limped in for 60,000 and Alberto Stegeman on the button raised to 250,000. Henri Piironen, Stegeman's neighbor in the small blind, shoved all in for 910,000. The big blind and Kramer folded, Stegeman called right away.
Henri Piironen:
Alberto Stegeman:
The window card was the perfect card for Stegeman while devastating for Piironen:
. The on the turn effectively concluded the hand, the on the river of no importance anymore.
Alberto Stegeman raised to 130,000 and Joey Vittali shoved for 805,000. Stegeman called right away.
Joey Vittali:
Alberto Stegeman:
The flop came but the on the turn made for more of an uproar of the crowd. The on the river did nothing and Vittali exited the tournament in fourth place.
The remaining three players are guaranteed €111,418.
Alberto Stegeman might not be a household name in the international world of poker; he is in his home country of the Netherlands. And that was even so the case before he won the Master Classics of Poker Main Event in Amsterdam for €240,183 tonight.
Stegeman is an award-winning journalist and tv show host from the Netherlands who's anything but new to poker. After playing some major tournament throughout the world in the few moments of spare time he has, he has now taken down the biggest score of his poker tournament career.
Stegeman joins a list of elite poker players who have edged their name into MCOP history by winning the Main Event. Such famous Dutch poker players like Noah Boeken, Ruben Visser, and David Boyaciyan have taken down the event before, as did international stars like Ole Schemion, Robert Mizrachi, and Ram Vaswani. One of the longest-running poker tournament series in the world - this year was the 27th consecutive time the event ran - has crowned a new winner — his name; Alberto Stegeman.
2018 Master Classics of Poker Main Event Final Table Results
Position
Player
Country
Prize in €
Prize in $
1
Alberto Stegeman
Netherlands
€240,183
$271,017
2
[Removed:172]
Austria
€160,432
$181,027
3
Teun Mulder
Netherlands
€111,418
$125,721
4
Joey Vittali
Netherlands
€80,216
$90,519
5
Henri Piironen
Finland
€59,842
$67,529
6
Jasper Meijer van Putten
Netherlands
€45,987
$51,894
7
Danilo Velasevic
Serbia
€36,324
$40,990
8
David Algarra
Spain
€29,222
$32,976
9
Pascal Baumgartner
Switzerland
€23,983
$27,064
2018 Master Classics of Poker Main Event Final Table Recap
The final table was two hands in when the first player hit the rail. Having to start short, Pascal Baumgartner had to make a move soon, and he chose king-queen to do so. Unfortunately for the man from Switzerland, [Removed:172] found ace-king and wasn't folding. Baumgartner flopped a queen but Kramer hit his flush on the turn, and Baumgartner exited in ninth place.
Spanish player David Algarra was next to go. With just a few big blinds left, he shoved with ace-nine. Henri Piironen had raised with aces and made the quick call. The board brought no connection for Algarra, and he went to the payout desk to collect eight-place money.
Danilo Velasevic was short stacked and lost queen-jack to ace-four to make the tournament six-handed.
EPT Prague winner Jasper Meijer van Putten didn't have his day. He first lost nines to aces in an unavoidable spot and went broke with ten-jack to ace-eight.
After Henri Piironen's exit in fifth (ace-queen lost to tens) and Joey Vittali's bust out in fourth (ace-nine against ace-ten), the tournament got an interesting dynamic with varying stack sizes. That was all after Alberto Stegeman had won with jacks to kings preflop all in, the jack on the river saved him.
[Removed:172] had grabbed the lead in the tournament early on. The only player to play back at him in the "Era of Kramer," was the start of day chipleader, Teun Mulder. The young Dutchman, an online cash game specialist, ended up coming short in the final stage of Holland's most prestigious tournament. He got shorter and shorter while Stegeman collected all of the chips. In the end, Mulder shoved with ace-five, and Stegeman called with ace-six. After the flop, turn, and river Mulder had nothing to show for while Stegeman started stacking.
Stegeman started with a 7-2 lead over Kramer and grinded his German opponent down with some extraordinary bluffs and big overbets. At one point, Kramer was down to just six big blinds, but a comeback was in the making. Kramer doubled twice and made himself a real contender, till faith struck. In the last hand, Kramer played aces a bit more passive, probably waiting for one of Stegeman's signature overbets. When it came, though, and the push and call followed, it turned out Stegeman had flopped a set of nines. Kramer turned some additional outs, but the river paired the board and Stegeman was declared the winner.