Although the inaugural year of the WSOPE in 2007 was met with high praise and a unanimous thumbs up, the general consensus was that there had been one glaring emission – a hold’em side event. Now back to delight us poker aficionados for a second time, Harrah’s/Betfair have met public cries by kicking off proceedings with a £1,500 no limit hold’em freezeout.To combat demand, 410 players were split into two starting days with participants allocated 6,000 in chips and a 60 minute clock. As expected, the Empire Casino in Leicester Square played host to a who’s who of poker, with both sides of the Atlantic represented in equal measure. With the likes of Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Barry Greenstein, Layne Flack and John Phan taking their seats, we were graced with more stars than the night sky. Meanwhile, Roland de Wolfe, Nik Persaud, Devilfish, Marc Goodwin, John Tabatabai and Mickey Wernick were proudly flying the British flag and eager to prevent America from taking home its first WSOPE bracelet to date.
Whilst John Kabbaj, Andy Bloch and Willie Tann all came close, it was Adam Junglen (pictured) who took a commanding lead into a final table line-up that was tougher than a two-dollar steak:
Seat 1: Fuad Serhan -- 61,000
Seat 2: Daniel Nutt -- 207,000
Seat 3: Yevgeniy Timoshenko -- 345,000
Seat 4: John Dwyer -- 511,000
Seat 5: Ian Woodley -- 153,000
Seat 6: Jesper Hougaard -- 89,000
Seat 7: Linda Lee -- 121,000
Seat 8: Neil Channing -- 199,000
Seat 9: Adam Junglen -- 795,000
With Daniel Nutt, Ian Woodley and Linda Lee taking ninth to seventh respectively, it was 20-year old Junglen who exited next. After doubling up Jesper Hougaard with A-9 versus A-4 when a cruel four spiked the river, Fuad Serhan with fives versus aces, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko with jacks versus A-K, the online pro’s day of turmoil would finally come to an end when his push with A-5 suited was looked up by John Dwyer’s pocket fives. A five on the turn sealed his fate, and Junglen was our surprise sixth place finisher.
With John Dwyer (5-5 versus Timoshenko’s K-K) and Neil Channing (8-8 versus Hougaard’s A-8 on an unforgiving J-T-J-T-5 board) taking the next two spots, we were left with our final three Trojans, all of whom had their sights firmly set on gold.
Yevgeniy Timoshenko -- 1,300,000
Jesper Hougaard -- 875,000
Fuad Serhan -- 275,000
Although the Ukranian come American held the chip lead, it was Jesper Hougaard (left) who would enjoy a tango with Lady Luck as he triumphed in a harsh straight versus bigger straight encounter with Timoshenko. And after the scheduled dinner break, the APT Macau champion’s demise was complete as he ran fours into A-J on an ensuing ace high board.This left us with a Hougaard/Serhan heads up scenario, the two remaining players having performed miracles after commencing the day in eighth and ninth positions. With just 440,000 to Hougaard’s 2,020,000, Serhan was not just an underdog, but an underpuppy, and soon found himself all in with A-K versus Hougaard’s inferior A-J. But this was clearly the Dane’s day as three diamonds gave him a flopped nut flush to leave the Londoner drawing dead before the turn.
As he was presented his bracelet, Hougaard appeared overawed by the occasion, and was understandably at a loss for words. As the first player to win bracelets both sides of the Atlantic, Hougaard was “ecstatic” and added “words cannot explain how I feel.” Serhan, meanwhile, was similarly overjoyed, and gleefully basked in the glory of what was by far his biggest win to date.
Four days in, and the WSOPE is already threatening to prove a triumph.
1st Jesper Hougaard (Denmark) -- £144,218
2nd Fuad Serhan (UK) -- £89,175
3rd Yevgeniy Timoshenko (USA) -- £55,350
4th Neil Channing (UK) -- £44,588
5th John Dwyer (Ireland) -- £36,285
6th Adam Junglen (USA) -- £28,598
7th Linda Lee (USA) -- £22,448
8th Ian Woodley (UK) -- £17,835
9th Daniel Nutt (UK) -- £13,222