Although the Americans continue to dominate this year’s World Series, Europe has finally made more than a gentle murmur by snapping up 3 of the last 10 bracelets, Ireland’s Alan Smurfit (left) being the latest victor in the Pot Limit Omaha rebuy.A 64-year old retiree now residing in Miami Florida, Alan remains a familiar face in the UK with sporadic appearances in venues such as the Vic and the big events in Ireland. Although a veteran of sorts, this is only Alan’s second assault on the World Series, but what a way to mark your first cash in the game’s biggest festival!
Described by Nolan Dalla as “the most hard-fought out battle of this year’s World Series, to date”, Alan started the final table dead last in chips but performed a miraculous comeback to outlast 8 other competitors in what was a mammoth nine hour shift.
Climaxing in one of the longest Pot Limit Omaha heads up matches in history, it took Alan 167 hands to overcome his Afghan opponent, Qushqar Morad, and after 6 hours his endurance was rewarded with a $464,867 payday, by far the Irishman’s biggest win to date.
Also notable in their presence were Birinder Nijran in 8th and Erick Lindgren who bubbled in 10th, that illustrious first bracelet yet again eluding the High Stakes Poker star.
With that victory, Smurfit now joins what is a mere handful of European bracelet winners from this year’s WSOP, including Katja Thater and Jeff Lisandro, who also enjoyed triumphs in recent events. Katja will probably be the happier of the two, taking home the slightly bigger sum of $132,653, but also silencing some of the critics who’d been questioning her recent deal with PokerStars.
Inexplicably nicknamed Lady Horror, Katja's (right) love of poker can be blamed on her poker playing husband, Jan Von Halle, who foolishly nipped to the toilet during a comp, only to return to find his wife similarly hooked on the game. Since then, Katja has quickly risen to fame, her strongest performance prior to her bracelet win being a final table appearance in the recent EPT in Poland. Hailing from Hamburg, Germany, Katja is only the second woman to win the Razz Event, but, slightly more surprising, the first ever female played to be crowned at the Rio Casino, previous winners such as Duke and Harman all receiving gold at the Binions Horseshoe in Downtown Vegas.
Also flying the European flag, Jeff ‘The Iceman' Lisandro shocked no one by snapping up the first bracelet of his career, the $2,000 7-Card Stud being his playing field. With just 213 entries, Jeff picked up the smallest 1st prize of the Series of $118,426, but a win and gold bracelet nonetheless.
Originally from Perth, Australia, 41-year old Jeff (left) is a pro poker player/investor now wiling away the hours in his current home of Salerno, Italy. A fearsome sight at the table, he became somewhat of a familiar face from his TV time in last year’s Main Event, a display which resulted in a 17th place finish, his brief feud with Prahlad Friedman regarding the payment of antes garnering much attention.Of course, whilst the Europeans poked their nose gently through the door, the Americans quickly slammed it shirt, taking more than their fair share of wrist trophies in several other events, the winners of which are listed below.
(25) $2,000 NLH F/O -- Ben Ponzio (Elmwood Park, IL) -- $599,109
(26) $5,000 L H.O.R.S.E. F/O -- Ralph Schwartz (Manhattan, NY) -- $275,683
(27) $1,500 NLH F/O -- David Stucke (Henderson, NV) -- $603,069
(28) $3,000 NLH F/O -- Shankar Pillai (Commack, NY) -- $527,829
(30) $2,500 NLH 6-H F/O -- Hoyt Corkins (Las Vegas, NV) -- $515,065
(34) $3,000 LH F/O -- Alexander Borteh (Columbus, OH) -- $225,483
There are plenty of other touneys still being played out, but keep an eye out for Sunday’s $50k H.O.R.S.E. The comp that is regarded by many as the 'real Main Event', Event #39 will hold a host of stars, all of whom will be under the scrutiny of the blonde live update team. Please join us, but until then, keep following our WSOP Results page as we upload all the latest results from Vegas.
courtesy of Imagemasters Photography