2009 Five-Star World Poker Classic World Poker Tour Championship Final Table Recap
by Chad Holloway of Predictem.com
On April 25, 2009 the final table of the 2009 Five-Star World Poker Classic World Poker Tour Championship began with the final six players of a 338-player field. Those players and their chip counts included:
Seat 1: Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier — 5,955,000
Seat 2: Scotty Nguyen — 3,275,000
Seat 3: Shannon Shorr — 1,130,000
Seat 4: Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko — 13,300,000
Seat 5: Christian “charder30” Harder — 7,425,000
Seat 6: Ran Azor — 2,525,000
Shorr, who entered the final table as the short stack, immediately began to chip-up as he pushed all-in four out of the first eight hands; luckily, he was never called and took down over a million in chips just by swiping the blinds and antes.
Not long after, Azor raised to 420,000, Nguyen called, and Shorr moved all-in from the small blind for 2,080,000. After Azor folded, Nguyen made the call with 6c 6s but was far behind Shorr’s 10h 10s. The board ran out Ah Ks 3h 7c Qs and Shorr doubled-up to 4,870,000. Nguyen, who was left with 400,000, was now on the extreme short stack and soon found himself mixing it up again.
Nguyen shoved all-in and was called by both Shorr and Harder. Both checked down the Ac Kh 2d Ah 7d to the river and then Harder bet 600,000. Shorr folded and Nguyen showed A-4 for trips; however, it wasn’t enough to beat Harder’s A-9. Harder boosted his stack to 7,995,000 while Nguyen was sent home in sixth place ($285,985).
A huge hand developed when Timoshenko raised to 480,000 from the small blind and was called by Harder in the big blind. Timoshenko continuation bet 360,000 on the As 10s 4h flop and Harder made another call. Both players checked the 7d on the turn and the Jc fell on the river. Timoshenko bet out 1,120,000 and Harder called with Ah Jd for top two pair. Unfortunately for him, Timoshenko revealed pocket jacks to take down the huge pot with a one-out rivered set. With that hand, Timoshenko held nearly 16 million chips, more than half of the chips in play.
Timoshenko was at it again when he raised to 375,000 and Shorr called from the big blind. Shorr bet out 490,000 on the Qc 10h 4c flop and Timoshenko called. Both players checked the 10c on the turn and Shorr bet 1.3 million when the Ah fell on the river. Timoshenko called with Ac Qh for top two pair and easily defeated Shorr’s pocket eights. Timoshenko’s stack ballooned to a massive 18,385,000 while Shorr was left with only 2,970,000.
Not long after, Shorr moved all-in for 2,620,000 from the small blind with 7c 6c and Timoshenko called from the big blind with 4d 4s. The board ran out Ac 9s 3h Js Ks and Shorr was eliminated in fifth place ($408,550). Timoshenko’s stack grew even higher to 22,245,000.
The eliminations continued when Harder moved all-in for 1.9 million with As 8s and was called by Azor from the small blind. Grospellier then moved all-in over the top for 2,790,000 and Azor committed the remaining chips. Grospellier showed Ah Jh and Azor turned over Ad 7s. The Kd 7h 3d Qs 2c board gave Azor a pair of sevens and he eliminated both Harder and Grospellier in the same hand. Harder finished in fourth place ($571,965) while Grospellier, who started the hand with more chips, finished in third ($776,245).
Heads-up play began with Timoshenko holding 23,375,000 to Azor’s 10,435,000. The two battled back and forth for quite a while before the following hand developed. Azor raised to 800,000 only to have Timoshenko move all-in. Azor snap called with Qc 10d but was behind Timoshenko’s As 3c. The Qs Js 7d made Azor a favorite to double up. The Kc on the turn gave Timoshenko three outs to a straight and wouldn’t you know it, the 10s popped on the river! The river card eliminated Azor in second place ($1,446,265) while Timoshenko, who had only been 21 for two months, became the 2009 WPT World Champion and took down the $2,149,960 first-place prize!
