Highlights from day 6 of the 2012 WSOP Europe (September 26)
Joe Hachem’s dreams of a second WSOP bracelet have again been placed on hold after Roger Hairabedian (pictured left, with thanks to wsop.com) became the first French born player to capture a WSOP Europe bracelet.
Hairabedian started the final table as the chip leader and seated to the immediate right of Michael Mizrachi. Last year, the pair dueled it out in WSOPE’s first-ever €10,400 No Limit Hold’em Split Format tournament. Mizrachi, who would go on to win, defeated the third-place finisher Hairabedian in the semi-final round.
Fast forward one year and the finishes are completely reversed. Mizrachi exited the WSOPE’s most recent tournament in third place and Hairabedian hung on to cash in on a €142,590 payday. Hachem bowed in sixth.
Event 3, the €5300 Pot Limit Omaha tournament attracted 97 entrants. The total prizepool came to €475,300.
The victory marks the first time a French-born player has won an event in the WSOPE’s six-year history – a statistic that became increasingly notable when the series uprooted from its location in London and moved to the French Riviera. France has experienced much success at the WSOP, laying claim to 10 bracelets prior to the 2012 WSOPE, but that success never carried across the English Channel.
WSOP Europe event 3: €5300 Pot Limit Omaha payouts
1 Roger Hairabedian (France) €142,590
2 Ville Mattila (Finland) €88,130
3 Michael Mizrachi (USA) €62,749
4 Jussi Ryynanen (Finland) €45,581
5 Jussi Nevanlinna (Finland) €33,765
6 Joe Hachem (Australia) €25,490
7 Michel Abecassis (France) €19,606
8 Michael Schwartz (USA) €15,357
9 Jason Mercier (USA) €12,245
10 Bruno Fitoussi (France) €9929
11 Douglas Corning (USA) €9929
12 Vanessa Selbst (USA) €9929
• After a marathon day, play was halted in the €3000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Shootout with the heads-up match well underway. Dan O’Brien, an American professional poker player, is hoping to achieve what has been an elusive prize – winning a WSOP gold bracelet.
He’s come close a few times, finishing as high as third in an event in Las Vegas four years ago. But this tournament has O’Brien as close as he’s ever been to joining the most prestigious fraternity in the game.
His opponent, the more reserved Giovanni Rosadoni is in his 60s and lives in France. He describes himself as an amateur player. Rosadoni even joked that people like him “aren’t supposed to win gold bracelets”.
After about three hours of heads-up play during which Rosadoni survived a coin flip (holding Q-Q versus A-K) and then gradually seized the chip lead, to the point where he now enjoys a 787,000 to 490,000-chip advantage, play was stopped for the night due to the mandatory casino curfew of 5am.
Five former gold bracelet winners have already cashed in this event – John Monnette, Oleksii Kovalchuk, Phillippe Boucher, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu.
• Additional reporting, WSOP.com
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