News / Matthew Pitt / 29 June 2009 / Leave a comment

Greg 'FBT' Mueller outlasted 571 players in Event#50 of the 2009 World Series of Poker, the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout to become the fourth player of the series to win multiple bracelets.

After a long ten hour Day 1, the 572 entrants had been whittled down to just 64, all of whom would return for Day 2 knowing they had made the money and would all take home at least $4,350 for their efforts although all would have their eye on the $194,854 first prize and the coveted World Series of Poker bracelet.

Day 2 saw the 64 remaining players battle it out for a place at the eight-handed final table. Humberto Brenes, Jean-Robert Bellande and back-to-back bracelet winner Brock Parker were amongst the high profile players who failed to make it to the third and final day but David Williams, Marc Naalden and Greg Mueller were three of those still in with a chance to win their second bracelets.

And then there were seven

The first casualty of the final table was Jose 'Nacho' Barbero who called a raise in the BB from Greg Mueller. They both saw a flop of Ah7hTc, Mueller checked, Babero bet, Mueller then check-raised only to see his opponent put in another bet! Mueller made the final raise, enough to put Barbero all-in and he called. Mueller was ahead with his AsTs but needed to avoid a heart as Barbero held Kh2h. The turn was a harmless 6s whilst the river of a Jc confirmed the first bustout of the day, after almost three hours of play.

Another 90 minutes of action followed before Joep Van den Bijgaart was eliminated by his fellow countryman Marc Naalden, prompting the players to take a break from proceedings.

Just 15 minutes after the restart the table lost another player when Flaminio Malaguti's money was all-in against David Williams on a board reading 2c6dTh5h with Malaguti holding AcKd but behind to Williams' pair of fives holding As5c. The 4s on the river failed to change matters and Malaguti headed for the rail.

Mueller cracks Aces

Greg Mueller then crippled Matt Sterling when he rivered a straight to crack Aces and then took the remainder of his chips when his 9s7d triumphed over Qh8h by making two-pair by the river.

Mueller would again be the assassin of the final table when he eliminated a short-stacked David Williams. Williams saw a raise and a re-raise in front of him before making the call with 5d4d. A huge pot was contested by Mueller and Millie Shiu on a board reading Kd8h4sJd7s with Mueller again cracking Aces, this time with a set of Jacks.

Not happy with simply winning a huge pot from Shiu, Mueller then had to take the remainder of her stack a couple of hands later by flopping a pair when she was all-in preflop with a raggedy hand. This took the match to heads-up against Marc Naalden, meaning the winner of Event#50 would win their second bracelet of the summer.

Mueller started with a 2,895,000 to 705,000 chip lead but within 15 minutes Naalden had clawed back the deficit and lead 1,900,000 to 1,700,000. he would go on to extend this lead further and take a commanding chip lead but Mueller fought back valiantly to give himself the chance of glory.

The epic heads-up battle came to an end when Mueller called a button raise from Naalden with Kd5h and check called a bet on a flop reading Td4d3s. The king of clubs of the turn sparked a flurry of activity, resulting in all of Naalden's stack being on the line and when he revealed his hand, Kh2s he knew he was drawing thinly. The Jh on the river improved neither hand and Greg 'FBT' Mueller claimed his second bracelet of the series, both incidentally from Limit Hold'em.

Dutch star Marc Naalden will obviously be disappointed about not adding to his jewellery collection but $120.614 should help to ease the pain.