Elio Fox Wins 2011 World Series Of Poker Europe Main EventMain Event Final Brings Drama As Players Race Towards Top |
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With the conclusion of the main event, the World Series of Poker Europe 2011 saw a fourth bracelet, which happens to be the most important one of all, go to America. New Yorker Elio Fox triumphed over a record field of 592 in the €10,000 buy-in main event to take home the title, his first bracelet, and the top prize of €1.4 million ($1,927,310).
The 25-year-old, who earlier this year won the Bellagio Cup VII in Las Vegas, overcame the largest field in WSOP Europe main event history filled with top quality poker professionals from all over the world.
The last stage of the main event was played inside the Hotel Majestic Barriére’s ballroom with hardly any spectators and no loud cheering sections, in stark contrast to that of the main event in Vegas. When play got down to 12-handed Fox accumulated enough chips for the lead and kept it upon entering the final table. After nine hours, he finished what he started to take the lion’s share of the €5,692,800 ($7,836,414) prize pool in his first WSOP Europe main event, but he had to withstand a final table weighed down by big names of the online and live poker world to get there.
Max Silver was unfortunately the first player to go after holding the chip lead at 13-handed. A bad late session on day 4 left him with almost half his stack heading into the final. Silver collected €115,000 for eighth place and left at the hands of Chris Moorman.
Jake Cody was next to go when his pocket jacks lost to the pocket tens of Fox. Fox raised to to 110,000 from the hijack and Cody three-bet to 260,000 from the button. Fox fired out more, making it 600,000 in total, Cody moved all in, and Fox instantly called. The pot was worth about seven million in chips but it wasn’t going to end up in front of Cody as the board fell 8
7
6
9 6
. The triple crown winner took home €150,000 for seventh place.
The next elimination came when Fox made it 120,000 on the button and Dermot Blain moved all in from the small blind. Shawn Buchanan, on the big blind, moved all in also, and Fox folded leaving it to the Irishman and the Canadian. Blain revealed A 4 while Buchanan flipped over 10 10. The flop was dealt Q 3 2 for a nice sweat. The turn was the 7 keeping Buchanan ahead but the river was the A sending Buchanan out in sixth place for €200,000. This is the third time this year that Buchanan has finished in the top six in a WSOP event.
Blain was however next to go, following Buchanan to the rail. He raised to 175,000 from under the gun and Brian Roberts raised it to 350,000 from the small blind after asking for a count of Blain’s chips. Fox folded his big blind and Blain moved all in. The amount was 1.76 million and Roberts thought about this for some time. He eventually called and flipped over A J while Blain revealed K Q. The board fell A Q 2 9 2 and Blain received €275,000 for fifth place.
The pattern continued with Blain’s slayer hitting the rail next. Roberts was already leaking some chips when Moorman took a heap of them off him with the nut flush versus the second-nut flush. Moorman soon finished the American off moving all in with Q 4 and getting called by Roberts after a little consideration. Roberts showed J 8 and was ahead on the 8 7 6 flop. The 2 turn kept him there, but a dramatic 5 on the river gave Moorman a straight and ended Roberts’ tournament life, three places short from the finishing line. He received €400,000 for his efforts.
Fox then put Moritz Kranich out in third place for €550,000 with pocket nines versus 5 4 respectively, which left a Brit and an American to slog it out for the bracelet.
Fox started heads-up play with a 2-1 chip lead over Moorman but went on to win many key hands during the 40-minute battle. Fox damaged Moorman’s stack terribly in a hand where he raised to 200,000 from the button and Moorman made the call. The flop was J 6 5 and Moorman checked. Fox bet 250,000 and Moorman pumped it up to 625,000. Fox called and the turn was the A. Moorman bet 950,000, Fox made the call, and the two saw the 10 river. Moorman then checked, as did Fox and the American flipped over J 2 for the flush. Moorman mucked his cards as he saw the title slip a little further away.
The champion was found 15 minutes later. Fox held a 6-1 chip lead and was raising preflop non-stop. Moorman eventually re-raised him all in with A 7 but it wasn’t to be for the online phenomenon as Fox called flipping over A 10 and the board was dealt 6 4 3 6 8, the ace-high enough to make Fox the champion and send Moorman back to England €800,000 richer.
If Moorman won this event, he would have a shot at taking the lead in the 2011 WSOP Player of the Year race depending on where Ben Lamb finishes in the main event final in November. His second-place finish left him short unfortunately and Lamb will now take the title. Moorman does however have the lead in the Card Player Player Of The Year race. He added 2,000 points to his collection to solidify a first place in the current standings. Amazingly, Moorman is also in sixth place on Card Player’s Online Player Of The Year leader board.
Here are the official results and payouts:
1. Elio Fox – €1,400,000 (2,400 Card Player POY Points)
2. Chris Moorman – €800,000 (2,000 POY Points)
3. Moritz Kranich – €550,000 (1,600 POY Points)
4. Brian Roberts – €400,000 (1,200 POY Points)
5. Dermot Blain – €275,000 (1,000 POY Points)
6. Shawn Buchanan – €200,000 (800 POY Points)
7. Jake Cody – €150,000 (600 POY Points)
8. Max Silver – €115,000 (400 POY Points)
Fox entered 17 bracelet events at this year’s WSOP in Vegas and did not cash in any of them. It wasn’t until he visited his first WSOP Europe that he had his moment in the poker spotlight. Speaking about the win, Fox said, “I ran really well. I think I am pretty good at poker. But people put too much stock into somebody winning a tournament and I think that all the time when the media talks about a new player winning some tournaments… there’s a lot of luck in tournaments. Short-term results in tournaments really does not matter that much.
“There are a lot of great players with no wins to their name and some mediocre players with a lot of wins to their name. But, I was really fortunate to run this well. I certainly hope it continues.”
Some notables who went deep in this year’s main event include Patrik Antonius and Arnaud Mattern who finished in ninth and tenth place respectively for €90,000; Amir Lehavot in 15th place for €43,000; John Duthie, Erik Seidel, and Tony G in 18th, 21st, and 24th place respectively for €37,000; Maria Ho and Matthew Waxman in 27th and 30th place for €32,000; and Melanie Weisner and Liv Boeree finished in 33rd and 36th place respectively for €27,500.
The WSOPE was held in Cannes, France for the first time and it turned out to be the most successful tournament series since its beginning with attendance and prize money all exceeding previous years. Fox is the fifth WSOPE champion in its history and he follows in the path of James Bord (2010), Card Player publisher Barry Shulman (2009), John Juanda (2008), and Annette Obrestad (2007).
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