British duo miss out on WSOP bracelet in Event#41

News / Matthew Pitt / 23 June 2009 / Leave a comment

British professional poker players Barny Boatman and Neil Channing both made courageous deep runs in Event 41, the $5,000 No-limit Hold'em Shootout but fell short of claiming their first bracelet.

The shootout is a unique tournament in that in order to progress to the next day you have to win your table, much like a winner-takes-all sit and go online. The format and entry fee attracted some of the most well-known and respected players on the circuit including Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and last year's November Nine.

Co-founder of Blackbelt Poker, Neil Channing battled back from a five-to-one chip disadvantage against Mike Hauptman to defeat him and claim his seat in Day 2. Channing was the 30th and final player through to the next round after his pair of fives held against Hauptman's Big Slick when all-in preflop.

Last in, first out

Unfortunately for Channing, he would be the first to bust out on Day 2 when he got his chips in good with Kings versus the Ace-king of his opponent but an ace on the flop sent him to the rail earlier than he would have liked with $16,740 for his efforts. This min-cash was Channing's fifth of the 2009 World Series of poker and his 19th overall at the WSOP.

Hendon Mobster, Barny Boatman came even closer to that coveted bracelet, despite being seated on a table with Jennifer Harman and Phil Ivey. Amazingly, the Brit would knock both of these "Big Game" regulars out, first Harman when his AsKs beat Harman's AcQc all-in preflop and then Ivey when his eights improved to an unnecessary set by the river to prevail against the seven-time bracelet winner's Ah4d.

Two-hour long heads-up battle

A two-hour long heads-up battle against German, Nasr El Nasr ended when All the money went in on a board reading KdKs8h3s with Boatman drawing very thinly with his 7d7c against his opponent's As8d. The 10s on the river helped neither player and Boatman was eliminated in sixth place from 280 entrants.

The final five return to the felt at 1400 Las Vegas time (2200 UK Time) to battle it out for the bracelet and the $348,728 prize money for first place. My money would be on Peter Traply, the Hungarian who finished 8th in the recent EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo but as you know, anything can and will happen in poker.