blonde poker

 

At around midnight last night, German player Alex Jalali Abadi (left) became the 2006 Master Classics Champion taking home €690,000 and a place in next year's World Series of Poker Main Event.

In fact, every player that made the final table received the WSOP package, and three of those were British, including Jerome Bradpiece, JJ Hazan and Keith 'The Camel' Hawkins who received €25,875, €112,125 and €345,000 respectively for finishing 9th, 4th and 2nd.

With the exception of blondeite Keith Hawkins, other familiar faces who finaled were former EPT winner Jan Boubli, who although only had 80,000 heading into the final day, managed to take 8th, and Jan Sjavik, who finished a very respectable 3rd to match his performance in the London EPT at Grosvenor Victoria.

Also making an appearance was the inaugural Dutch Champion and CardPlayer Europe editor, Rolf Slotboom (right), who after taking the chip lead into Day 4, could only muster a 5th place finish for €86,250 when his Ace King was cruelly outdrawn by the Big Slick of Alex Jalali Abadi when four spades gave the eventual winner a flush with his Ace. However, Rolf, a pot limit Omaha specialist who has recently released his own book on the game, will surely not be too dismayed as he himself confessed to receiving his own spot of good fortune, infamously outdrawing bigger overpairs prior to the final for huge pots, once with Queens versus the Pocket Cowboys of Mike Tse and then with Kings versus Aces when a third King hit the Turn.

But although these recognisable faces made it to the very latter stages, not to mention the likes of Ross Boatman and Dave Devilfish who also made the last few tables, the day belonged to an unknown player from Germany, whose only other cashes have come in the form of a 2nd place finish in the €300 Limit Event at the Barcelona Heads Up festival, and 5th in the Bergenz Open for $13,185. Quite a jump in monetary reward, I'm sure you'd agree!

The final hand was a simple one. Alex raised to 70,000 from the big blind, JJ Hazan re-raised to 150,000 from the small and Alex called. JJ then bet out on the 6h-Tc-4c Flop, Alex moved all-in and JJ made a brave call. On their backs and Alex was ahead with Q-T, easily fending off his opponent's 5-4 which failed to improve come the 7 of diamonds Turn and the Jack of Hearts River.

Although clearly delighted with his runner-up spot, Gutshotter JJ Hazan (left) shook the hand of his opponent and proceeded to crack open the champagne in understandable celebration of his biggest win to date.

Meanwhile, a shocked Alex went through the standard routine of chatting with the TV totty, accepting the oversized comedy cheque and posing for photos. Whilst my hat goes off to Alex Jalali Abadi for his win in Holland, we must also show our admiration for the Holland Casino, whose efforts were noticed and commended by a whole host of players, one of whom was Matt Tyler who commented that this was undoubtedly one of, if not the best tournaments Europe has to offer. A 90 minute clock, free buffet, added prize money and a WSOP package for each finalist is sure to attract high numbers, and that's exactly what happened as around 350 made the trip to Holland, a feat that will surely be matched, if not surpassed, next year.