Thursday, October 20, 2011 1:59 PM Local Time
A few minutes ago, Brian Roberts was involved in a quiet conversation, and it ended with him grinning widely and looking rather relaxed. We figured he'd gotten over the little tizzy with the production crew, but his irritability has returned.
Jack Effel just leaned over to Roberts and cautioned him: "You have to show your hole cards."
"Well," Roberts began. "What's gonna happen if I don't?"
"You'll get a penalty. It's in the rules," Effel answered. After a moment, he added, "All of the other players are showing their cards."
"Because they're not in the eight seat," Roberts snapped back. He explained his problems one more time to Effel, and they're going to try to work on a solution during the break. The rail is rather high, and Roberts is a bit cornered by the edge of the table and the big stacks of both he and his neighbor Moorman.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 1:58 PM Local Time
Hand #17: Brian Roberts had the button, but it was Moritz Kranich who started the ball rolling from the hijack seat with a bet of 65,000 and he took down the blinds and antes.
Hand #18: Elio Fox had the button at the start of the hand. The action folded around to Chris Moorman who raised to 65,000 from the hijack. Dermot Blain's interest was piqued in the small blind and he three-bet to 180,000. Jake Cody folded in the big blind and Moorman considered the 115,000 question posed to him by Blain. In the end Moorman folded and the dealer shovelled the chips into the direction of the man from Dublin.
Hand #19: Dermot Blain had the button, but once again action started in the hijack seat, and this time it was Brian Roberts with the 60,000 bet and he won the blinds and antes.
Hand #20: Jake Cody had the button and he folded leaving Shawn Buchanan and Moritz Kranich to play a pot in the blinds. Buchanan made up the small change but a Kranich raise resulted in a fold from the man once stuck in a lift.
Hand #21: Shawn Buchanan had the button but once again decided to let the action move onto the blinds. Moritz Kranich made it 75,000 from the small blind and Chris Moorman folded in the big.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 1:53 PM Local Time
It's hard to cold five-bet at a seven-handed table. But Elio Fox just managed it.
Hand #16: Chris Moorman had the button, and Jake Cody opened the pot to 60,000. Moorman three-bet to 150,000, and Brian Roberts four-bet to 300,000 from the small blind. But Fox was thinking sinister thoughts in the big blind, and he squeezed all in on a five-bet shove! Cody had already been looking around the room distracted, clearly not interested in defending his raise, and the rest of the raisers folded in turn, as well. Roberts grinned and stuck out his tongue like he'd bitten into something sour as he folded, not wanting to gamble just yet.
The shove gets through, and that's +590,000 chips for Fox.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 1:46 PM Local Time
Hand #11: Elio Fox had the button to start the hand. Shawn Buchanan raised to 65,000 from under the gun. Action folded to Jake Cody in the big blind and he reraised to 165,000. Buchanan folded and Cody won the pot.
Hand #12: Dermot Blain had the button for the beginning of this hand. Moritz Kranich raised to 65,000 from under the gun. Elio Fox called from the cutoff seat and then Jake Cody reraised to 240,000 from the small blind. Shawn Buchanan folded in the big blind and action fell back on Kranich. He folded and Fox also gave it up, giving the pot to Cody.
Hand #13: With Jake Cody on the button, Chris Moorman opened to 65,000 and Brian Roberts three-bet to 150,000. In the big blind was Moritz Kranich and he four-bet to 335,000. Moorman asked for a count on Kranich's stack while he thought. He then folded before Roberts also gave it up.
Hand #14: Unknown action.
Hand #15: Triple Crown chaser Moritz Kranich started this hand with the button. Elio Fox made it 65,000 from under the gun and play folded to Brian Roberts in the big blind. He pulled his blind back and reraised to 170,000. Fox asked for a rough count on Roberts' stack while he thought about the decision. He opted to four-bet and made it 340,000 to go. Roberts took some time and then folded his hand, allowing Fox to chip up.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 1:42 PM Local Time
Brian Roberts is having a little bit of an issue with the placement of his chips and the hole card cam. He's been asked several times to slide around and do a better job of letting the camera peek, but he's finding it difficult with the layout of the table. Roberts is cornered in the eight seat, and with a high rail and low chairs, it's visibly difficult for him to handle chips and cards on the felt in front of him. He's explaining his issues to the crew, but they're still bothering him to adjust.
Roberts appears to be getting a bit frustrated with the lecture he's receiving, and a slight scowl has come across his face.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 1:29 PM Local Time
Hand #6: Shawn Buchanan had the button. Jake Cody raised to 60,000 in the cutoff and Buchanan riffled some chips before making a three-bet to 155,000. Both of the blinds folded and the action fell back to Cody. Cody eyed up the shortest stack at the table, checked his cards and then quickly threw them to the dealer.
Hand #7: Moritz Kranich had the button but it was Shawn Buchanan in the cutoff who raised to 65,000 and picked up the blinds and antes.
Hand #8: Chris Moorman had the button. Dermot Blain raised to 65,000 in early position. The action folded to Moritz Kranich in the cut-off and he cold called and we had a two-way flop. The flop was and the action was on Blain to act first and he reached for chips before betting 95,000 and Kranich quickly folded.
Hand #9: Brian Roberts had the button but it was Jake Cody who raised to 60,000 from early position and nobody fancied tangling with the lad from Rochdale except Elio Fox, and he made the call from the big blind. The flop was and Fox checked to the initial raiser Cody who stared at the board for a while before betting 75,000. Cody then averted his stare back to Fox who made the call. We were going to have a turn card and it was the , Cody was tranxfixed with Fox who just stared at the board before reaching for chips and betting 175,000. Cody, mouth slightly open, switched glances from the board to Fox before deciding to fold and the chip leader won the pot.
Hand #10: Max Silver had the button. Chris Moorman was the first man into the pot from the cutoff. The bet was for 60,000 and when the play landed at the hands of Max Silver he three-bet to 165,000. Moorman asked Silver for a count before four-betting to 365,000 in total. Silver peeked at his cards before moving all-in and Moorman called.
Showdown
Board:
Silver is eliminated in the first level of the final table.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 1:11 PM Local Time
Hand #1: Brian Roberts had the button, but it was Chris Moorman opening to 65,000 from the cutoff. Everyone folded in turn, and Moorman takes the first nibble out of this final table.
Hand #2: Max Silver had the button, and Jake Cody raised to 60,000 under the gun. Folds all around, and the Brits take the first two pots.
Hand #3: Elio Fox had the button, and the action folded through him to the blinds. Dermot Blain raised to 80,000 from the small blind, and Jake Cody spent a long while squeezing his cards in the big. He paused some more, and you could see the gears turning in his head. He eventually reraised to 220,000 total, and Blain checked his cards once more before flicking them into the muck. Three for the Brits.
Hand #4: Dermot Blain had the button. Brian Roberts raised to 65,000 from middle position, and the action came around to the blinds. Once again, Jake Cody wanted to play for more, and he three-bet to 200,000 flat. Roberts furrowed his brow and shot a glance, but he didn't waste much time slapping his cards back toward the dealer face-down. The U.K. is on a roll.
Hand #5: We have our first flop, turn, and river. Chris Moorman was under the gun, and he opened to 65,000. Moritz Kranich was the only one to come along, defending his big blind to go heads up. The dealer spread out , and Kranich check-called 90,000 from Moorman. The and completed the board, and the two men checked it down. Kranich showed first, and his was good. It's now England 4, Germany 1.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 1:01 PM Local Time
Shawn Buchanan has made his way to his seat during the second hand of play. He said he was stuck in the elevator and that it was broken.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:59 PM Local Time
The shortest stack coming into this final table is Shawn Buchanan, but he's nowhere to be found. The cards are in the air for the first hand and Buchanan's seat is empty.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:59 PM Local Time
The cards are in the air for the 2011 World Series of Poker €10,400 Main Event Championship.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:41 PM Local Time
Welcome to the Hotel Majestic Barriere for the final time this year. It is of course the final table of the €10,400 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event. We have finally reduced the field from 593 players to our final table of eight after five days of spectacular poker and you can read about all of them below.
The players have scrubbed up nice, are taking their seats and we have the likes of Johnny "f*****g" Chan sitting on the rail.
Jack Effel has just taken the mic and is about to introduce the players, so lets get it on!
Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:35 PM Local Time
Sitting fifth in chips heading into this final table with an even 2,000,000, Brian Roberts is scoring his second World Series of Poker cash and his first final table. He holds the least amount in live tournament earnings at this final table, but Roberts is no stranger to poker.
Roberts is widely considered as one of the best online poker players in the game and was one of the players featured on the American reality TV show 2 Months $2 Million. The show chronicled Roberts and three other players who shared a house in Las Vegas for two months with the goal of earning two million dollars. Although the group only won $676,700, Roberts has the chance to earn a lot more than that today.
Roberts is 28 years old.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:25 PM Local Time
Chris Moorman is 26 years of age and holds an economics degree from Essex University, although his true life major is poker. Moorman is a bright, young superstar who is regularly considered one of the top No-Limit Hold'em players in the game today.
Moorman holds millions in online poker winnings, but we'll be focusing on the live events here. Coming into this final table, Moorman holds over $1.3 million in live tournament earnings with the bulk of that coming this year. Back in January, Moorman placed seventh in the Aussie Millions Main Event for A$175,000. After that, he cashed five times at the WSOP including two final tables in six-handed events.
Moorman finished third in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed event and then second in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed Championship. Those finishes earned Moorman $271,800 and $716,282, respectively.
Moorman also sits right behind Shawn Buchanan on the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard. He'll need to win the event in order to pass Phil Hellmuth to take over the number one spot.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:14 PM Local Time
Moritz Kranich is 31 years old and a professional poker player. His largest score ever came in 2009 when he won the EPT Deauville Main Event for €851,400. Kranich also cashed in the 2009 EPT Dortmund Main Event and 2010 EPT Grand Final Monte Carlo.
Kranich will come into the final table second to last in chips with 1,660,000, but has the chance to join tablemate Jake Cody as a member of poker's Triple Crown winners if he can win this event. Along with his EPT Main Event win, Kranich won the $10,000 Championship at the WPT Bellagio Cup VI in 2010 for $875,150.
Kranich holds over $2.1 million in live tournament earnings entering this final table.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:07 PM Local Time
Shawn Buchanan may have the least amount of chips coming into this final table at 1,015,000, but he's the player who has the most live tournament earnings at nearly $4.2 million. That number is good enough to put him seventh on Canada's all-time money list and he has an opportunity to add a whole lot more to that today.
When it comes to World Series of Poker events, the 29-year-old Buchanan crushes. His first WSOP cash came back in 2004 and then starting in 2007, the cashes just started piling on. In 2007, Buchanan cashed three times at the WSOP, in 2008 he added four more, in 2009 he cashed twice and then in 2010 he finished in the money eight different times. Out of all of those finishes, the largest score came in 2010 when he placed second in the $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed for $812,941.
If you think that's impressive, Buchanan has added even more in 2011. In Las Vegas during the summer, he cashed five times at the WSOP including one second-place finish in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship. He then cashed three times at this WSOP Europe including coming runner-up to Michael Mizrachi in the €10,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em event for €207,624.
Outside of the WSOP, Buchanan has three top-five finishes in WPT events. He placed second in the 2007 Mandalay Bay Poker Championship for $768,775, fourth at the 2009 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $333,302 and third at the $25,000 WPT Championship in 2010 for $587,906.
Also of note is that Buchanan is still in the running for WSOP Player of the Year due to all his success this year on the WSOP felt. He needs to finish in second place or better to take over the POTY lead.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 11:54 AM Local Time
Jake Cody is easily one of the brightest young superstars in the game today. At 23 years old, he's already earned a World Series of Poker gold bracelet, an EPT Main Event title and a WPT Main Event win. Those three victories have allowed him to earn poker's elusive Triple Crown.
Cody's WSOP bracelet win came earlier this year in Las Vegas. He won the $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Heads-Up Championship for a whopping $851,192 after defeating Yevgeniy Timoshenko in the final match. Even with such a massive first-place prize in that event, it's not anywhere close to the largest score of his career. In January 2010, Cody win the EPT Deauville Main Event here in France for €857,000. His other major win came at the 2010 WPT London for £273,783.
This event is Cody's fourth WSOP cash of the year, with his first three coming in Vegas. Outside of his big win, Cody cashed in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed event and also in the $10,000 Main Event. His total lifetime earnings total well over $2.6 million.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 11:47 AM Local Time
At 27 years old, Dermot Blain holds over $800,000 in live tournament earnings coming into this final table. He'll enter third in chips and knows what it's like to taste victory.
Back in 2009, Blain won the APPT Macau Main Event for $541,100. He also cashed in two World Series of Poker events over his career; once in 2010 and once in 2011. Outside of his win in Macau, Blain's largest cash came in April 2010 when he placed 15th in the EPT San Remo Main Event for €35,000. Blain also has cashes in a couple WPT events.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 11:42 AM Local Time
Elio Fox will be the start-of-the-day chip leader at this final table. He's a 25-year-old professional poker player from New York, USA and previously attended Bard College in his home state.
When it comes to poker, Fox has tasted victory twice before on the live felt. Earlier this year in June, Fox won the $1,590 No-Limit Hold'em event at the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III in Las Vegas for $87,192. His continued his summer run-good when he went on to win the Bellagio Cup VII $10,000 Main Event a month later for a whopping $669,692. France has also been kind to Fox as he placed 31st in the WPT Grand Prix de Paris just last month. In total, Fox's live tournament earnings are nearly $800,000.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 11:36 AM Local Time
A 21-year-old professional poker player, Max Silver will enter the final table sixth in chips. He hails from London, England and holds nearly $370,000 in live tournament earnings coming into this final table, which is his largest cash earning to date. Prior to poker, Silver worked in marketing, but switching to the game has provided him with a lot of early success.
In September 2010, Silver won the UKIPT Dublin Main Event for €72,000. A month later, he won a £1,500 side event at the EPT London for £83,588. Outside of those finishes, Silver placed in the money in the WPT Grand Prix de Pairs and then went on to final table the same UKIPT Dublin Main Event in 2011 that he won the previous year.
This isn't Silver's first World Series of Poker final table. Earlier in this WSOP Europe, Silver final tabled the €3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout and placed fourth.