Disappointing World Series for the Dutch
For months in advance, people were speculating who was going to be the first Dutch bracelet winner at the
World Series of Poker. This year's tournaments provided good opportunities for our no-limit hold'em specialists, with a lot of $1,500 events, which are famous for their relatively weak fields, and a total of three shorthanded events in the tournament schedule.
Discussion heated up when out of the blue, a player named Christian van Hees stepped into the public eye, reminding everybody that he already had won a bracelet back in 1995, when he bested a field of 560 players in a $1,500 limit hold'em event.
Although nobody had ever heard of him - he is listed as American everywhere, and has lived in the U.S. for almost all of his life - he still was born in Holland, has Dutch parents, and is therefore officially Dutch.
During a dinner break at the Rio, the Dutch players gathered for a meeting to discuss this problem, and quickly agreed that this one doesn't count, simply because there's no fun in being the second Dutch bracelet winner.
So, with this small glitch out of the way, it was back to business.
The high expectations in the shorthanded events proved correct, but two times, the Dutch fell just short of a final table, with Steve Wong and Thierry van den Berg both finishing in seventh place. Wong got seventh in the $2,500 sixhanded event, which paid $47,339, and van den Berg got his seventh-place finish in the $5,000 buy-in event. He received $83,145 to ease his pain somewhat.
Marcel Lüske also came close a couple of times, as expected, but again just couldn't close the deal. With a 22nd-place finish in the $2,000 seven-card stud event, a 13th place in the $3,000 stud eight-or-better event, and a fourth-place finish in the $2,000 Omaha eight-or-better event, he showed once again that he is indeed an excellent all-around tournament player. Unfortunately, he couldn't improve on his second-place finish from three years ago, when he lost heads up to Joe Awada in the $5,000 seven-card stud event.
With these results, the Flying Dutchman is now just $40,000 short of becoming our first
World Series millionaire, which he almost certainly will become next year. We congratulate him in advance.
As predicted, the Dutch cashed numerous times in the $1,500 and $2,000 no-limit hold'em events, but again, nobody could snatch that coveted bracelet. Ron Hofman came closest with a ninth-place finish, but next to Marcel's performance, that was the only final table for the Dutch this year.
So, in 54 events, the Dutch crew made only two final tables. This was disappointing, to say the least. All eyes were now on the main event, in which approximately 50 Dutch players tried to end up as millionaires.
The first couple of days were extremely chaotic. It was impossible to track down every Dutch player, but we did notice that most of our big names fell on the first day. This was not good news.
When the smoke cleared and the first days had passed, we saw seven Dutch players make the money, which was an improvement over last year, when there were only four players to make it that far.
Yuri ten Bokkel is the only player who cashed both years, but again, he couldn't go as deep as he'd liked. He had to settle for 519th place ($25,101), after coming in 752nd last year.
On the third day, we also saw three others' bracelet dreams shatter. Rolf Slotboom finished 559th, netting him $20,320, Brian de Bruijn got $29,883 for his 470th-place finish, and Marc Naalden unexpectedly got knocked out near the end of the day in 406th place, earning him $34,664. The Belgian champion was sitting behind a big stack for three days straight, but took a couple of big risks to try to accumulate even more chips, which turned out wrong. Playing to win does have its downside.
So, on day four, only three Dutch players remained. Wolbert Bartlema was the only one to fall that day when he couldn't improve his A-K against the pocket jacks of Humberto Brenes. Of course he was happy with his 138th-place finish and the $58,570 that came along with it, but we will never know what could have happened back home at Schiphol Airport if he'd won that fatal coin flip.
Just before the dinner break on the fifth day, fate stepped in and organized a clash between the two remaining Dutch players. Facing a raise and a couple of callers, Thierry van den Berg moved in with A-K. Ed de Haas, who had flat-called the original raise, probably read him for a squeeze and called with pocket tens.
Thierry's hand was way better than expected, but still needed improvement, which didn't come, and "Bokpower" was eliminated in 81st place. The $106,382 made Thierry's World Series a huge success, with two big cashes in only three tournaments, but coming close two times and not being able to finish the job always leaves a sting. Let's hope he can make things right next year. Most of us expect he will.
So, Ed de Haas now had enough chips to do some serious damage to the big stacks and become one himself. In one crucial hand, he could have crossed the $4 million mark, but like so many times before, the river didn't cooperate.
When the 7-foot giant raised with A-Q suited, he didn't get much respect from Philip Hilm, who called from the big blind and subsequently check-raised him all in on a queen-high flop with three clubs. Everything about this huge overbet smelled like a flush draw at best, and, indeed, Ed made the correct call for all of his chips, as Hilm turned over pocket fours with the 4
, which gave him a 43 percent chance for the win. He probably didn't expect to be this live.
After the turn card, things were looking good for Ed, but a fourth club fell on the river, eliminating the final Dutch player from this year's
World Series.
His 71st-place finish paid him $130,288, which is by no means a bad payday, but it did mean that that coveted Dutch bracelet had to be waited on for at least another year.
So, after these excellent but disappointing performances in the main event, the score for the Dutch remained at four top-10 finishes, of which two were final tables, four cashes for Rob Hollink, Marcel Lüske, and Rolf Slotboom, and three cashes for Marc Naalden, Ron Hofman, Noah Boeken, and myself.
This year there was no result that warranted a parade through the canals of Amsterdam, so that'll have to wait until next year, when even more Dutch players will try to be "The One."
Who will it be? Betting is now open.
Peter Dalhuijsen is a professional poker player who writes for PokerCollege.nl.
