Guillaume Humbert, Andrew Hinrichsen Grab First Two Bracelets at 2011 WSOPE

Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 12 October 2011 / Leave a Comment

Guillaume Humbert (left) and Andrew Hinrichsen (right) show off their shiny new bracelets at Cannes (Photo credit: PokerNews)

Tomorrow will see a third WSOPE bracelet awarded in the €5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha event, then Thursday Event #4, the €3,200 NLHE Shootout, will be decided.

After five days of poker in Cannes, France, the first two bracelets have been claimed at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe. In Event #1, a €2,680 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em event, Guillaume Humbert of Switzerland claimed the win by topping a field of 360. And in Event #2, a €1,090 NLHE tourney, the Aussie Andrew Hinrichsen came out on top of the largest field in WSOPE history of 771.

Event #1: €2,680 Six-Handed NLHE

As Event #1 wound down over the weekend, Freddy Deeb went out in 15th (€9,936) and David Benyamine in 12th (€13,228). And as Matthew Pitt reported earlier, Phil Hellmuth fell just shy of Sunday's six-handed final table when Marton Czuczor knocked him out in seventh (€24,183).

Despite scoring that knockout, Czuczor was the short stack to start the final table while Matan Krakow and Roy Finlay were nearly tied for the chip lead. Czuczor would soon get it all in with Qc-10d against Azusa Maeda's As-Kc and fail to catch up to go out in sixth.

Adrien Allain would soon follow Czuczor to the rail in fifth after running Ks-10d into Maeda's Qc-Qs. Then it was Humbert wiping out Krakow's stack when his Ah-Qh held versus the latter's Jd-10c to knock out Krakow in fourth.

Maeda enjoyed a big chip lead for most of three-handed play, though Humbert was gradually edging closer. Maeda would then eliminate Finlay in third, using Ac-7c to best Finlay's Kc-10s, which left Maeda with about a 3-to-2 chip lead to start heads-up with Humbert.

But Humbert immediately began to apply pressure versus Maeda, soon surpassing him then swiftly pushing him down to short-stacked status.

Then came a hand in which the pair saw a flop come 9c-6d-7c at which point the rest of Maeda's chips went in the middle. Maeda held 4d-3d, but Humbert already had the straight with 8h-5c. A four on the turn meant Meada was drawing dead, giving Humbert the bracelet.

Event #1 final table payouts:
1st: Guillaume Humbert (Switzerland) -- €215,999

2nd: Azusa Maeda (Japan) -- €133,471

3rd: Roy Finlay (England) -- €92,629

4th: Matan Krakow (Israel) -- €65,068

5th: Adrian Allain (France) -- €46,250

6th: Marton Czuczor (Hungary) -- €33,255

Event #2: €1,090 NLHE

Over in Event #2 there were a few big names still with chips as that whopping field of 771 had shrunk to less than 50, though most would be gone before Tuesday's final table, including Joseph Cheong (48th, €2,398), Nicolas Chouity (43rd, €2,665), Dan Kelly (39th, €2,665), Kevin MacPhee (33rd, €3,390), Vanessa Selbst (32nd, €3,390), James Mitchell (27th, €4,508), and Erik Cajelais (20th, €6,269).

When the final table began, Gianluca Speranza enjoyed the chip lead by a wide margin with 757,000 while his nearest challengers all hovered around a third of that total. Speranza would continue to add to his stack during the early going, knocking out short stack Gregory Lejolivet in ninth along the way.

Others would handle the next couple of eliminations, with Eric Baudry sending Nabil Nedjai out in eighth and Tarcisio Bruno eliminating John Eames in seventh. Then Speranza jumped back in to take out Eric Baudry in sixth. All in with pocket fives against Speranza's Ac-Kd, Baudry saw a king flop and soon was done.

At that point Speranza was up over 1.2 million, meaning he had more than half the chips in play with five remaining. Meanwhile Roberto Romanello saw his stack start to shrink, then got the last of it in with As-2d against Bernard Guigon's Ah-Kc. No deuce came to save Romanello, who came up just short of claiming the first-ever Europe-only Triple Crown.

Speranza soon took out Guigon in fourth, his As-2s remaining best versus Guigon's Qd-10s. Then after the dinner break Speranza likewise took care of Bruno in third. In his elimination hand, Bruno looked in okay shape with 10s-10d versus Speranza's Ah-10h through the turn as the board had come Kh-5s-2c-Qc. But the Ad spiked on the river, sending Bruno railward.

Heads-up began with Speranza way out in front with 1.794 million to Hinrichsen's 541,000. But Hinrichsen doubled up with 10h-8h versus the leader's pocket fives, flopping a ten to close the gap between the two. He then quickly grabbed the chip lead, setting up the tourney's final hand.

In that one Speranza opened with a raise from the button, Hinrichsen three-bet, and Speranza called. The flop came Kh-7c-3d. Hinrichsen continued with a bet and Speranza called. The turn brought the 6c and a similar bet-and-call sequence.

The river was the 3s. This time Hinrichsen pushed all in and Speranza called immediately, showing Kc-9s for kings and treys. But Hinrichsen had As-Ks for the same hand with a better kicker, and the Aussie had claimed the bracelet.

Event #2 final table payouts:
1st: Andrew Hinrichsen (Australia) -- €148,030

2nd: Gianluca Speranza (Italy) -- €91,262

3rd: Tracisio Bruno (Italy) -- €67,281

4th: Bernard Guigon (France) -- €50,146

5th: Roberto Romanello (United Kingdom) -- €37,874

6th: Eric Baudry (United States) -- €28,977
7th: John Eames (United Kingdom) -- €22,449
8th: Nabil Nedjai (France) -- €17,608
9th: Gregory Lejolivet (France) -- €13,982

Tomorrow will see a third WSOPE bracelet awarded in the €5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha event, then Thursday Event #4, the €3,200 NLHE Shootout, will be decided.

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