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WSOP-E from Cannes - nice, but not as nice as Nice.
The WSOP-E, which used to be based in London, is based in Cannes now, in the South of France, just along the coast from Nice & Monaco.
A shame (for us) really, but we had our chance, & we blew it because of poor venue selection.
I'll try & bring a few overnights, updates & results on this thread. If anyone has news on what is going off down there, please feel free to weigh in.
Comments
Event # 1 was 6-Max NLH, & the buy-in was €2,700, which is quite a lump to cough up, but it did not deter 277 well-heeled souls. Or soles.
The Event was won by Imed Ben Mahmoud (nope, never heard of him), & the only GB face I recognized was he who never stops talking - nice talk mind - Roberto Romanello, who finished 5th for about €32,000.
Well done him.
I'm hoping he may come along to the SPT 6-Max at DTD next month, & I'll ring him when he gets home to see if he fancies it. Our players won't know what hit them!
Roberto pulls this amazing thing where he always asks the villain "will you show if I fold?". And it is astonishing how many people fall for it. It's a twin thing really, he is loking for a "tell" in the reply, & hoping villain might say "yes" & actually show.
Never ceases to amaze me how many folk fall for it. I mean, he's a good lad, but he's not King Romanello, nobody HAS to do as he asks!
Mysteries of Poker, # 937.
Dusk till Dawn is the obvious pick but unfortunately I can't see the WSOP picking a non-London location. There is no casino venue which could solely hold it IMO so you would have to go for a Hotel hall/casino combo, which leads to a variety of problems.
In other words, it's probably better off in Cannes.
Event # 2 was €1,100 NLH, which attracted a qhopping 626 runners.
Winner was "The Magician", Antonio Esfandiari, fresh from winning the million-dollar jobbie in Vegas, although I doubt he owned all of his action in Vegas, very few did.
This time he had to settle for a mere €127,000. Handy enough, like.
One face on the Final Table (6th, €24,000) was McLean Karr. Some of you may remember we had him on the Show last year, & he seems to do pretty well in High-Roller events. He does OK with young ladies too - he is - or was, last I heard - Tatyana, aka "TattyTats" other half.
So, you can have a photo of Antinio, a photo of McLean, or a photo of Tatty.
Thought so.
This was Vegas, earlier this year.
They really want to use C-E owned properties, so that restricts it massively.
I & others tried to get them to come to Nottingham, as I happened to know the suits on both sides, but that kite never flew.
Shame really, as the WSOP-E attracted & helped make the London Autumn Poker Festival, Poker in the Park & other stuff all spring up from it, but that scene has all gone flat now.
Event # 3 was Pot Limit Omaha, with a €5,300 ticket price.
Unsurprisingly, only 97 players felt inclined to pony up that sort of money, Omaha being such a minority interest game.
The winner, a Frenchie, was one Roger Hairbedian, the first French chap ever to win a WSOP-E bangle, & he collected €143,000.
As you’d expect with Omaha, where the skilled players have quite an advantage, & surprisingly perhaps, less luck is involved, it was quite a Final Table, & included Michael Mizrachi, Michael Abecassis, Jason Mercier (an impressive talent at all poker variants & Mixed Games), & one-time WSOP main Event winner Joe Hachem, whose career never quite reached the heights many hoped.
Would have been nice to play that Event, but never mind. Woulda coulda shoulda & all that.
Event # 4 was the €3,250 NLH Shootout, which attracted a field of 141.
They are now heads up, & this should have finished by now – but the Casino insisted on closing at 5.30am, so they had to draw stumps, & will resume this afternoon. You can't make this stuff up.
The 2 remaining protagonists are Giovanni Rosadina (French, not Italian!) & USA’s Dan O’Brien.
The winner gets 107,000 lumps, runner up €67,000.
John Duthie collected €10,000 for finishing 9th. I always think that John is quite a cool guy for his age, dresses well. It’s not easy to be cool in later years. Trust me, I know.
Here he is in what the legendary Brighton-based Paul Parker would describe as a crucial hat.
Thewy is at home, I spoke to him yesterday, & Reds is doing tonight's Show I think.
WSOP-E is very different to the WSOP proper, it is short in duration, requires a huge 'roll, & is incredibly expensive to attend, it costs an arm & a leg to stay, & eat, in the South of France, whereas Vegas is spectacularly cheap.
Field sizes are a lot smaller, average buy-in bigger, so it's a bit top-heavy really.
I have a few pals playing it, & have purchased a little bit of action in one or two to give me some vicarious poker buzz.
Original Format was a 3 Day Event but then organisers changed it to a 2 day event. Its now changed again as they ran out of time on day 2, so they will be back today for what is now Day 3.
The heads up battle between Dan O'Brien & Giovanni Rosadoni, looked like it was going to be a breeze for Dan who at one point got Giovanni down to just 10 bigs, but that soon changed as Giovanni found some momentum and Dan looked to be out of sorts - Tiredness could have played a big factor in his undoing.
Play was called to a halt as the doors needed to be closed (I think to let the cleaners in
Day 3 action will commence Today at 1500 CET and after what looked like a much needed rest Dan will be hoping to put a halt to the chip slide.
Dan O'Brien - Pro-Poker Player, Writer, Jack of all Trades, Master of None, apparently (his own words not mine:)
Giovanni Rosadoni - Finished 3rd in the €1,000 NLH in the Cannes Holdem Series last year for a non too shabby €9,000.
Best of luck to both of them for day 3 of what is/was a 2 day event.
Paul
Apologies for neglecting this thread for a few days, but I was reminded of it by some tremendos news.
The Main Event (€10,000 entry) had 420 runners, & they are now down to just 24.
All 24 are guaranteed a MINIMUM of €26,611, 2nd to 7th places will collect 6 figure sums, & the winner will get a shade over €1,000,000.
And amongst those 24 are.....(Brits enboldened)
Chris Brammer, (aka "nigdawg" Online) 4th.
Jason Mercier 5th
Phil Hellmuth 6th
Max Silver 7th
Toby Lewis 12th
Liv Boeree 14th
David Benyamine 21st
Andy Frankenberger 24th.
Could be a god day for the Brits!
I believe they will play down to a Final Table today.
Who amongst those do you fancy will do best?
They have now reached the Final of this, which will be 8 handed, & play to a finish today.
All the Brits except Chris Brammer have busted, Liv Boeree 18th, Max Silver 16th, & Toby Lewis 13th.
Chris, originally from Southampton, sits 5th of 8, with 851,000, blinds at 12,000-24,000/4000 RA.
Chippie is none other than Phil Hellmuth (3,400,000) with Baranov right on his heels on 3,340,000, 3rd place (the ever impressive Joe Cheong) having under 2 mill.
Jason Mercier is 7th, with 652,000.
They all have a minimum of €84,000 locked up, with the winner looking forward to a €1,022,376 payday.
Some ladder that.
It's getting increasingly difficult to say the game has passed him by.
Let's have a Brammer win though please.
Brammer now 5/6, playing 20BBish.
Next out gets just over 200k Euros. That is pleasant.
am i putting 2 n 2 together n getting 5 or are we getting some live poker action outwith 861