Event #38: $2,000 Limit Hold’em

It's been a crazy day in the Amazon Room, with Marc Naalden thoroughly dominating this tournament. He had almost half the chips in play when they were seven-handed, and picked off his opponents one by one. A rollercoaster of a heads-up match saw him lose the chip lead at one point for the first time since there were 25 runners left yesterday evening, but he never lost focus and made back every single chip to take first place -- not forgetting the bracelet. Indeed, this is only the second bracelet ever to go to the Netherlands, and the excitement of the Dutch crowd was incredibly, audibly obvious. Many of Holland's big stars turned out to rail, including Noah Boeken, Lex Veldhuis, Michiel Brummelhuis and the Netherlands' only other bracelet winner Rob Hollink. Their chorus of "NEEDLEKING!" is still echoing around the final table. And come to think of it, this has been a great year for Naalden. He started it off with winning the main event at the inaugural PokerNews Cup Alpine, continued with a tenth-place finish at the EPT Grand Final, and now he's gone and topped it all with a bracelet win in his specialty, Limit Hold'em. Many congratulations to Mr. Naalden, and remember his face -- we're going to be seeing an awful lot more of him in tournaments to come.

...And back down to just 170,000 now for Cowley. He called Naalden's button raise and they checked it down all the way to the end of the           board, at which point Naalden showed     and Cowley mucked.

Wow, Cowley's in some serious trouble now. He reraised from the big blind to a button raise from Naalden, and then bet out on the       flop; Naalden called. He bet again on the   turn and this time Naalden raised. Cowley called, and both players checked the   river -- at which point it transpired that Naalden's     was good to win the pot. Cowley flashed what looked like two paint cards. He's down to 200,000. Yikes.

Cowley raised the button and Naalden called. They both checked the       flop and Naalden then bet out on both the   turn and   river. Cowley called on both streets, but mucked when Naalden showed him pocket    .

Marc Naalden took down the first hand of level 25 when he raised from the button and Steven Cowley called. Cowley check-called the       flop, and Naalden checked behind on the   turn. Cowley check-called again on the   river, but mucked to Naalden's pocket    .

Naalden: 1,510,000 Cowley: 1,170,000

Cowley raised the button and then called the reraise from Naalden. Naalden bet out on the       flop and check-called on the   turn. He check-called again on the   river -- and mucked when Cowley tabled     for two pair. Cowley's won another hand since then, and it looks as though he has, for the first time, got himself the chip lead.

Cowley is refusing to lie down and take it -- he pushed Naalden off a pot with a bet on the river of a           board. Cowley showed him    .

Steven Cowley has got very close on a number of occasions now, but he's been unable to sneak into the lead at any point and he's now back down to 700,000. Naalden raised his button and Cowley called. A raising war exploded on the       flop but cooled come the   turn, on which Cowley bet out and Naalden just flatted. Cowley bet out again on the   river and called a riase from Naalden, but mucked when Naalden oturned over     for trips. Naalden takes the pot and is back up to 1.9 million. The railers have started cheering again.

...And a few more chips for Cowley, as he rivered a ten to go with his     and found himself newly ahead of Naalden to take the pot. Board:           Naalden flashed him the  .