"Mad" Marvin Rettenmaier Wins WPT World Championship

From start to finish the six-handed final table took 194 hands to complete and, if the live reporting pages were anything to go by, it should make compelling viewing once it is broadcast to the masses. On hand 29 of the final table Trevor Pope's tournament came to an end in sixth place. With blinds at 40,000/80,000/10,000a Pope moved all in for 1,460,000 with Ac-3d when the action folded to him on the button. Unfortunately for him Philippe Ktorza was in the small blind armed with a pair of jacks, which held, and Pope was eliminated. those jacks would become crucial later on too.

Another hour passed and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi flew to the top of the chip counts after doubling through Rettenmaier and sending Steve O'Dwyer to the rail in the same hand. The blinds hand increased to 50,000/100,000/10,000 and Mizrachi min-raised to 200,000 from the cutoff. Rettenmaier was next to act and he three-bet to 485,000 only to see O'Dwyer move all-in from the small blind for 1,000,000. Mizrachi then moved in himself for 2,140,000 in total and amazingly Rettenmaier made the call! Mizrachi turned over pocket tens and found himself in pretty good shape as both opponents held ace-king. The board ran out Jd-9c-3h-4s-2d and as O'Dwyer left the tournament area Mizrachi got busy stacking 5,200,000 worth of chips.

It took another 52 hands before the table lost another player, that dubious honour going to Nick Schulman. Rettenmaier opened the betting with a raise to 280,000 (blinds 60,000/120,000/20,000a) from the small blind then snap-called when Shulman three-bet all-in for 2,700,000. Schulman showed Ac-5s to Rettenmaier's black eights and when the final board read Kc-Jd-2d-5h-3d it was game over for Schulman and it looked like Rettenmaier was going to run away with proceedings as he held 11,575,000 chips to Mizrachi's 1,625,000 and Ktorza's 2,025,000.

That all changed though because Ktorza doubled up through Rettenmaier twice in three hands to take the lead but Rettenmaier snuck back in front when he took out Mizrachi; his Ad-10h beating "The Grinder's" 3h-3s when the board fell As-Qs-10s-10d-Ah. This left Rettenmaier holding an 8,550,000 to 6,675,000 chip lead over his French opponent but that lead would exchange hands several times over the next 80 hands in what was an absolutely thrilling battle between the pair.

Thirteen hands into the one-on-one battle Ktorza scored a huge double up to move 11,500,000 to 3,275,000 in front but Rettenmaier did not give up and 21 hands later he managed to level matters when his Ad-4d prevailed against the Qc-Jc of his opponent. Nine hands later, the 160th of the final table, Rettenmaier reclaimed the lead when he got his chips in the middle of a board reading 8h-7s-3c with 8d-3d against the Qh-7d of Ktorza to find himself on the right side of a 14,400,000 to 825,000 chip advantage.

Amazingly that was not the end of matters because Ktorza managed to double up on the next three hands to draw level then took the initiative himself when his 8h-8s stayed in front of Rettenmaier's Ac-Jc to propel himself back into the lead on hand 180. Hand 190 saw Rettenmaier snatch that lead back with 10c-100h against the Ac-4h of Ktorza and four hands later it was all over.

The blinds were now 200,000/400,000 with a running ante of 50,000a and Rettenmaier min-raised on the button. Ktorza checked his hole cards and three-bet all-in for 6,675,000. Rettenmaier beat him into th epot and revealed Kc-Ks, which were in superb shape against the Jh-Jd of his French opponent. The As-9d-3c flop kept the kings in front and when the turn and river were the 10c and Ah respectively Rettenmaier had become the WPT World Championship champion!

WPT World Championship Final Table Results

1st: Marvin Rettenmaier - $1,196,858
2nd: Philippe Ktorza - $805,310
3rd: Michael Mizrachi - $424,618
4th: Nick Schulman - $256,235
5th: Steve O'Dwyer - $192,176
6th: Trevor Pope - $155,571

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