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After the longest final table in World Series of Poker history, American pro John Juanda became only the second WSOPE main event champion, netting £868,800. It was Juanda’s fourth bracelet and his first since 2003. He certainly earned this one, though, as the final table lasted an incredible twenty-one hours, with the heads-up match alone clocking in at over five hours!

Scot Chris Elliott was the first to leave, his two-pair falling to Stanislav Alekhin’s flush draw on the river. From that point, the final table was dominated by both Russians, Alekhin and Ivan Demidov. Demidov had made history simply by getting to this final table as he is also a member of the infamous ‘November Nine’ that reconvene in a few weeks to play out the WSOP Main event (Las Vegas style) final table, with a $9m first prize. As he and Alekhin combined to eliminate Hiltunen, Keston and Scott Fischman, a Russian one-two was very much on the cards.

Crowd favourite Daniel Negreanu was next to feel their wrath. After being card-dead all day and falling into a short stack, Negreanu called the all-in of Alekhin with A-9 blind on blind. Unfortunately for the Canadian, Alekhin once again had a big hand, pocket jacks. They held up and Negreanu left in fifth place.

Bengt Sonnert was gone soon after as John Juanda found himself sandwiched in between the two Russians. Coming in as the chip leader, Juanda had quietly crept into the final three, still armed with a very capable chipstack. Though Demidov doubled through him early on, Juanda’s pocket aces managed to hold up against a myriad of straight and flush draws that Demidov held as all the money went in on the turn. Demidov’s dreams of a double WSOP main event victory would have to be put on hold.

While Juanda and Alekhin entered heads-up pretty even on chips, nobody expected the match-up to go on for an astounding five hours. In that time, the chip lead swung constantly, with both holding 6:1 chip leads but not being able to finish the job. Ultimately, after being crippled a few hands earlier, Alekhin pushed with A-9 and got called by Juanda’s K-6. A flop of 6-6-2 sealed it for Juanda while a quads-making six on the river was just the exclamation point on a historic victory.

1st  John Juanda (USA) -- £868,800
2nd  Stanislav Alekhin (Russia) -- £533,950
3rd  Ivan Demidov (Russia) -- £334,850
4th  Bengt Sonnert (Sweden) -- £271,500
5th  Daniel Negreanu (Canada) -- £217,200
6th  Scott Fischman (USA) -- £171,950
7th  Robin Keston (UK) -- £135,750
8th  Toni Hiltunen (Finland) -- £108,600
9th  Chris Elliott (UK) -- £81,450

 

courtesy of Poker Player Magazine