World Series Of Poker Europe Update: Day 12

Twenty-four players strolled into the casino at the Empire today, all safely aware that their bank accounts would be enhanced by at least £28,960 thanks to their performance in the World Series of Poker Europe's main event, presented by Betfair. Day 4 would see that motley crew of poker players ground down to a final table of nine by the end of play.

Tim “Tmay420” West helped with the elimination process when his short-stack shove with pocket threes clashed with Peter Neff's dominating pair of pocket tens. As West hit the exit, he was quickly joined by Andy Bloch, Mel Judah, and Erik Seidel in a fast-paced first level. It appeared as though we might be in for a short day's play, with one of the main reasons for this being the intimidating figure of chip leader John Juanda.

Juanda dispensed of Seidel, Bloch, and Judah through various means of outlandish aggression, and a dose of luck, before he sent a shockwave through Brian Townsend's dangerous stack. It was folded to Townsend in the small blind, and he raised with A-K, Juanda calling with 5-3. The 5-8-K flop favoured the aggressive Townsend, who bet out and got called. The turn 5 shot Juanda into the lead, though, as he smooth-called a larger bet from Townsend here. With a meaningless queen on the river, Townsend aimed for three streets of value by making a large bet. Juanda chose not to raise with his trips, but made the call and took down a large pot that took him over the one-million mark for the first time in the tournament.

Townsend's rare tournament appearance came to an end soon after as he never really recovered from this setback. He picked up £45,250 for falling by the wayside in 15th place. Juanda, meanwhile, used his newfound millionaire status to great effect and dominated the day's proceedings. He will enter the final table as the chip leader with 1,349,000 chips.

Fans on the rail were left disappointed by the exit of the always popular Mike “The Mouth” Matusow in 18th position. After running kings into aces the previous night, Matusow never had the chips to leverage his table around at all. His exit came about when he check-raised all in on a 9 7 4 flop against the unpredictable Johnny Lodden. Lodden made the call, and, somewhat amazingly, Matusow's bluff with J-10 was ahead. However, Lodden had the draw to end all draws — 6 5. Having to dodge approximately the whole deck to double up, a 5 on the turn was the beginning of the end before the 2 on the river sealed Matusow's fate.

The day's most unbelievable hand involved big stacks Justin Smith and that other popular fellow Daniel Negreanu. All of their considerable chips went in on the 7-6-3 flop, and it was easy to see why when the cards were turned over. Smith must have loved his 7-7 for top set until he saw Negreanu's stereotypically offbeat hand: 5 4 for the flopped straight. After failing to boat up on the turn or river, Smith's tournament came to a bittersweet end in 16th for £36,200.

As is common in tournaments with as much prestige as this, the play ground to a tight, sensible halt as that final table loomed closer. For hours, the chips were shuffled back and forth between the chip leaders while the shorter stacks were forced to sit and wait for an actual hand. Ultimately, the blinds forced the issue as short-stack Soren Kongsgaard pushed with A-7 just as Stanislav Alekhin woke up with A-K in the blinds. A king-high flop signalled the end for Kongsgaard, who collected £54,300 for his 12th-place finish.

Lodden was the next to go as his A-K failed to outrun Neff's 9-9 on a J-10-6-3-8 board. With the remaining 10 players shuffled around a pseudo-final table, it was that very same Peter Neff who made the final exit of the day. The real damage was done just before by Scotsman Chris Elliott in a classic duel with A-K against Neff's 10-10. An ace on the river left Neff with mere shrapnel on the table before Ivan Demidov finished the job with a nut flush.

Simply put, the achievement of Demidov in reaching the final table of this event and, of course, the Las Vegas equivalent is as remarkable a feat as anybody has seen in tournament poker since Johnny Chan won back-to-back WSOP bracelets in 1987 and 1988. He may have had to get through a lot more players in Vegas this summer, but the field here in London was packed to the rafters with the absolute elite of world poker. That Demidov can come through both unscathed and with over 1,000,000 in chips going into the final table, is confirmation that a new poker giant is now on the scene.

There are nine left, and what a mix they are. Everybody knows about John Juanda and Daniel Negreanu, but they are complimented by European flair with Bengt Sonnert, British grit Robin Keston and Chris Elliot, and the unpredictability of young Russian Stanislav Alekhin, among others.

Here are the official finalized chip counts and seating assignments for the finale:

Seat 1: Robin Keston 849,000
Seat 2: Daniel Negreanu 1,002,000
Seat 3: Chris Elliott 281,000
Seat 4: Bengt Sonnert 385,000
Seat 5: John Juanda 1,349,000
Seat 6: Ivan Demidov 1,006,000
Seat 7: Toni Hiltunen 386,000
Seat 8: Scott Fischman 732,000
Seat 9: Stanislav Alekhin 1,278,000

Stick with CardPlayer.com for extensive coverage of the EPT main event and watch as a champion emerges from the Empire Casino in London.

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