The Week in Poker: Visser Victorious in EPT London Main, Shakerchi Ships High Roller
Both Ruben Visser and Talal Shakerchi enjoyed career-best cashes with their wins at EPT London. For Shakerchi, his £436,330 cash was worth about twice his previous high of €223,000 for winning the 6-max. Turbo High Roller event at EPT Monte Carlo in 2012. Meanwhile, Visser's £595,000 score was more than three times as big as his previous career high when he won €171,450 for finishing runner-up at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo in 2010.
This week in tournament poker was highlighted by the conclusion of the European Poker Tour's London stop at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino where among the highlights were a Main Event victory by the Dutchman Ruben Visser and London's own Talal Shakerchi claiming the High Roller title.
Visser Gains Victory, £595K in Main Event
The Main Event at the Vic saw a total of 647 entries built a total prize pool of £3,137,950 for the £5,000 buy-in tournament. Ultimately it was Ruben Visser triumphing over all, ultimately earning a £595,000 payday after a three-way deal at the final table.
The top 96 got paid, and among those making relatively deep runs but failing to make the final table were Adam Levy (33rd, £12,500), Russell Carson (26th, £15,000), Jason Mercier (25th, £15,000), Annette Obrestad (23rd, £17,500), Mike McDonald (20th, £17,500), Yury Gulyy (19th, £17,500), and Nicolas Chouity (11th, £33,000).
The American Steve O'Dwyer began the final eight-handed table with the chip lead, with Visser in second position.
Meanwhile Chris Moorman began the day with a short stack, and was soon all in and at risk with 7d-7s versus the Ah-Ks of Theo Jørgensen. The board brought both an ace and a jack, and they were down to seven.
Another U.K. player, Tamer Kamel, went out next in seventh after falling in a hand versus Sweden's Olof Haglund. Kamel was at risk with Ac-10h versus Haglund's Ks-Qc, but a queen flopped and Kamel couldn't catch up.
Visser then used 9h-9c to top Christopher Frank's Ah-Ks, and when O'Dwyer next ran Ac-2s into the Ad-As of Jørgensen, they were quickly down to four.
Jørgensen's good fortune was short-lived, however, soon after getting all in with 4h-4c against Visser's As-8h. The Qh-3c-2h flop and Qs turn were okay for the player from Denmark, but the Ac fell on the river to knock out Jørgensen.
The final trio then paused proceedings in order to arrange a chop of the remaining prize money (leaving £140,000 for which to play). Then Haglund was knocked out by Visser after calling all in with Kh-Jd against Visser's As-8d, then watching the board come Ad-6h-4s-5d-Qc.
With that pot Visser began heads-up play with a huge chip advantage, starting with 15,595,000 versus Mantas Visockis's 3,735,000.
Visockis did manage to double up once with pocket kings, then edged up further to close the gap with Visser. But ultimately the Lithuanian's luck ran out when he went all in with 10c-10d versus Visser's Ad-Qs. The board came 7s-4d-Jc, then 2s, then Qh, the queen on the river giving Visser the hand and the tourney.
Season 9 EPT London Main Event final table payouts (*reflects three-way deal):
1st: Ruben Visser (Netherlands) -- £595,000*
2nd: Mantas Visockis (Lithuania) -- £377,436*
3rd: Olof Haglund (Sweden) -- £427,564*
4th: Theo Jørgensen (Denmark) -- £183,000
5th: Steve O'Dwyer (United States) -- £146,000
6th: Christopher Frank (Germany) -- £112,000
7th: Tamer Kamel (England) -- £79,950
8th: Chris Moorman (England) -- £57,000
In a five-year career that has seen Visser now amass nearly $2 million in tourney earnings, this marked the Dutchman's biggest cash so far.
Shakerchi Ships High Roller
Meanwhile it was London's own Talal Shakerchi coming away with the EPT London High Roller title, earning a first-place prize of £436,330 after outlasting a tough field including Faraz Jaka heads-up to win.
There were a total of 112 entries including 25 re-buys for the £10,000 High Roller event, thus building a total prize pool of £1,342,600, the equivalent of more than $2 million. That money was ultimately divided among the top 14 finishers, with Scott Seiver (14th, £24,170) and Barry Greenstein (11th, £26,850) among those coming up just shy of the final table.
Shakerchi began the final day with the chip lead by a wide margin, starting with more than 1.7 million chips with India's Guatam Sabharwal the closest challenger with a little over 1.1 million.
Shakerchi maintained the lead for the first couple hours, then Sabharwal took it over after knocking out Eric Sfez in eighth. The eliminations of J.C. Alvarado and Vicky Coren soon followed, then Sabharwal was knocked out by Jaka in fifth, catapulting the latter into the top spot.
Shakerchi would push back out in front, however, and after knocking out the red-hot Paul Volpe in fourth found himself comfortably in front again with more than 4.1 million while Fabian Quoss and Jaka were both south of 1.5 million.
The end came quickly thereafter. First Quoss was all in with Ad-9h against Shakerchi's Ks-Qd, and when the community cards came As-Js-9s-10d-7h Shakerchi's straight was enough to oust Quoss in third.
Just a few hands later Jaka was all in with Ad-Qs against Shakerchi's Qd-Qc, and when the board came jack-high, Shakerchi was champ.
Season 9 EPT London High Roller final table payouts:
1st: Talal Shakerchi (England) -- £436,330
2nd: Faraz Jaka (United States) -- £241,670
3rd: Fabian Quoss (Germany) -- £147,690
4th: Paul Volpe (United States) -- £107,410
5th: Gautam Sabaharwal (India) -- £87,270
6th: Victoria Coren (England) -- £67,130
7th: Juan Carlos Alvarado (Mexico) -- £53,700
8th: Eric Sfez (France) -- £40,280
The win marked the largest tourney cash in Shakerchi's career, worth about twice his previous high of €223,000 for winning the 6-max. Turbo High Roller event at EPT Monte Carlo in 2012.