Live coverage of the $25,000 WPT World Championship from the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Saturday, 25th of April 2009 10:25 PM
In the first hand returning from break, we had and all in and a call.
After an Azor raise, Timoshenko moves all in and Azor made the insta-call.
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| Ran Azor - 2nd | |
Timoshenko - A-3
Azor - Q-10
After the Q J 7 flop, Azor had made top pair to take the lead. Timoshenko was calling for a K on the turn, but would have to settle for the K . Now Timoshenko was calling for Azor to hit two pair, which would give him Broadway and the win.
River - 10
Timoshenko hits a gutshot Broadway straight on the river for the win. Azor's two-pair was only good for runner-up.
Ran Azor finishes in 2nd-place, good for $1,446,265.
Yevgeniy Timoshenko is the WPT World Champion. The 21-year-old will take with him to the Pacific Northwest $2,149,960 as the second-youngest WPT winner on record.
Saturday, 25th of April 2009 10:20 PM
New level, 150,000-300,000 blinds plus a 25,000 ante.
Players are returning from a tape break with the following chip counts:
Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 29,700,000
Ran Azor - 4,125,000
Saturday, 25th of April 2009 09:40 PM
Azor is on the ropes.
Ran has dropped small pot after small pot, leaving himself with about 3.5 million chips. He had a major slip up when he raised out of turn. Timoshenko folded and Azor showed K-K. A missed opportunity.
A few hands later, Azor would get another shot with K-K. This time he would get action from Timoshenko and his pair of deuces. The tournament was on the line and Timoshenko was a two-outer away from becoming the second-youngest WPT winner in history (21 yrs 2 mths). But the board ran out A-9-6-5-5 and no two-outer emerged.
Azor had doubled to 6 million. Timoshenko still has a dominating lead with almost 28 million chips.
Saturday, 25th of April 2009 08:20 PM
Azor was trying to chip away at Timoshenko's lead.
In the first showdown of heads-up, Azor showed 10-8 against the J-10-9-A-7 for the jack-high straight. Timoshenko mucked and gave Azor the first showdown.
A couple hands later, Azor raised it up to 700K and Timoshenko called. By the turn, the board read A J 7 2 and Timoshenko's bet of 900K was bumped up to 2.5 million by Azor. Timoshenko lays it down and asks Azor to "show the bluff. K ?"
Azor showed the K for Timoshenko and had taken a few million chips out of the lead. Then another big pot.
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| Yevgeniy Timoshenko | |
Timoshenko calls a raise to 650K from Azor to see the 7 10 4 flop. Azor fires a continuation bet, only to have Timoshenko pop it to 1.4 million. Azor called. Both players would check the K turn, Azor counted out a big bet, before deciding to check behind. After the river came the 10, Timoshenko check-raises an Azor bet from 1.6 million to 7 million. Azor folds, leaving himself less than 7 million.
Now in level 29; 120,000-240,000 blinds and 20,000 antes.
Saturday, 25th of April 2009 07:45 PM
Heads-up began in level 28, with 100,000-200,000 blinds and 20,000 antes.
Play has been very quiet over the first half-hour of heads-up. Of the 15+ hands since the money presentation, Timoshenko has taken the small majority and now leads in 24.4 million to 9.4 million chips. Not much to pass on, since only three hands have even went to a flop.
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| Ran Azor | |
Saturday, 25th of April 2009 07:00 PM
Double elimination = heads-up.
After Harder moved his last 1.9 million in from the button, Azor called from the SB and Elky joined the party, moving his last 2.8 million. Azor makes the call.
Azor - A 7
Grospellier - A J
Harder - A 8
Board - K-7-3-Q-2
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| Christian Harder - 4th | |
Azor turns the worst of the three hands into a winner, offing both Harder and Grospellier with a pair of sevens.
Christian Harder is out in 4th-place, earning $571,965.
Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier is done in 3rd, earning $776,245.
They're taking a break as they do the money presentation. Timoshenko has better than a 2:1 chip lead entering heads-up.
Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 23,370,000
Ran Azor - 10,440,000
Saturday, 25th of April 2009 06:25 PM
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| Elky - Season VII Player of the Year | |
With Shannon Shorr's elimination, Bertrand Grospellier has locked up the Season VII Player of the Year title. This is Elky's second final table of the season. His first was at the Festa Al Lago here at the Bellagio, which he dominated on his way to a $1.4 million win.
Saturday, 25th of April 2009 06:15 PM
Shorr tangled with Timoshenko one too many times, now we're four-handed.
In the first of three notable confrontations, Timoshenko called almost 2 million chips on the turn and river, his A-Q having improved from top pair on the flop to top two on the river.
On the very next hand, in a battle of the blinds with A-K-3-3 on the board, a Timoshenko raise from 255K to 675K is all it took to chase off Shorr.
One orbit later, in another blind vs blind hand, Shorr moved in and Timoshenko asked for an exact count. Shorr immediately responded with "2.54 million" and Timoshenko made the quick call with 4 4. Shorr tabled 6 7 and would need some help to survive. A 3 9 J K all the way to the river mean Timoshenko's fours were still good.
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| Shannon Shorr - 5th | |
Shannon Shorr is out in 5th, worth $408,550.
New chip counts:
- - Elky Grospellier - 3,285,000
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- - Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 22,825,000
- - Christian Harder - 3,955,000
- - Ran Azor - 3,745,000
Timoshenko has about 2/3 of the total chips in play.
Saturday, 25th of April 2009 05:35 PM
It's tape change time for the WPT crew. Players and fans have been excused for a 10 minute break.
Before the break, in a battle of the blinds, Yevgeniy Timoshenko raised to 480K from the SB and Christian Harder calls from the BB. A 10 4 on the flop and Harder calls 360K from Timoshenko to see the 7 turn. Both players check to see the J river. Timoshenko puts in a big bet of 1.1 million, or so, and Harder calls to show A-J for two pair. But it wasn't enough as Timoshenko turned over J-J for a set and the 4 million chip pot.
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| Timoshenko and Harder | |
A couple hands later, Timoshenko would dump a million of that off to Grospellier, who defended his blind with 7-7 and was able to showdown for free on the river.
Chips:
- - Elky Grospellier - 3,915,000
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- - Shannon Shorr - 5,505,000
- - Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 15,155,000
- - Christian Harder - 5,145,000
- - Ran Azor - 4,090,000
Play will resume shortly.
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| Shannon Shorr | |
Saturday, 25th of April 2009 05:05 PM
We're now into level 26 and Shannon Shorr has emerged as the table aggressor.
Shorr entered the table as the short stack and needed to make a move. Within the first couple hands, Shorr had already been all in. Soon after, he made his third all in move without a caller. The fourth time, Shorr got looked up.
Ran Azor opened with a raise and Scotty called on the button. Shorr looked down at 10 10 in the SB and moved all in for 1.66 million. Azor looks pained, and gives it up. Scotty tanks, before evetually making the call with 6 6.
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| Scotty Nguyen - 6th | |
The board runs out 3 A K 7 Q and Shorr's tens hold for the double. Shorr is up to 4.8 million and Scotty is down to just 400K.
On the next hand, Scotty moved in. Shorr and Harder both call and check it down to the river. With A-K-2-A-7 on the board, Harder bets Shorr out of the pot to show A-9 for trip aces. Scotty shows A-4, but his kicker problems have done him in.
Scotty Nguyen is out in 6th-place, earning $285,985.
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| Mike Sexton and Scotty Nguyen | |
New chip counts from WPT:
- - Elky Grospellier - 4,120,000
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- - Shannon Shorr - 4,780,000
- - Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 14,615,000
- - Christian Harder - 7,995,000
- - Ran Azor - 2,320,000
Saturday, 25th of April 2009 04:20 PM
The cards are in the air at the WPT World Championship final table. They have about 15 minutes left in level 26, with 60,000-120,000 blind and 15,000 antes. After that, they'll jump to 80,000-160,000 with the same 15,000 ante.
After player introductions, it became obvious who the favorite was, as former Main Event winner Scotty Nguyen got the loudest ovation. Scotty had his work cut out for him today, as he's facing a pretty stacked final six.
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| Yevgeniy Timoshenko | |
The WPT World Championship final table is scheduled to begin Saturday at 4 p.m. PT. Here is the final table setup w/ seat assignments:
- -- Elky Grospellier -- 5,955,000
- -- Scotty Nguyen -- 3,275,000
- -- Shannon Shorr -- 1,130,000
- -- Yevgeniy Timoshenko -- 13,300,000
- -- Christian Harder -- 7,425,000
- -- Ran Azor -- 2,525,000
Click here to find the Day 6 blog.
Player bios:
Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier -- Grospellier is a 28-year-old pro video gamer turned poker superstar from Paris, France. "Elky" is nearing $5 million in career earnings, most of that with wins at the PokerStars Carribbean Adventure and WPT Festa Al Lago in 2008. The Team PokerStars Pro member will earn WPT Player of the year by finishing 4th, or better.
Scotty Nguyen -- Nguyen, the 1998 WSOP Main Event winner, has a chance to be the first player to win the trio of Main Event, $50K HORSE and WPT Championship. With a win, Nguyen, the obvious crowd favorite throughout the week, would put himself just behind Jamie Gold on the all time money list.
Shannon Shorr -- Shorr is a pro poker player from Alabama with nearly $3 million in career earnings just a few years removed from his 21st birthday. Shorr enters the final table short-stacked, but has some WSOP final table experience to help him out.
Yevgeniy Timoshenko -- Timoshenko, the chip leader, is only 21-years-old. Wins at 2008 APT Macau at at the 2007 Irish Open have pushed the kid from Washington State via the Ukraine to $1 million in career earnings.
Christian "Charder" Harder -- Harder, 21, hails from Annapolis, Maryland. The online pro has had success on the live scene over the last year, including back-to-back final tables on the EPT.
Ran Azor -- Azor, a 45-year-old construction worker from Israel, earned his WPT World Championship seat by taking down a $2K Bellagio Cup event here last year. That win is the only cash on Azor's resume and it was good for $192,945.
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