Saturday, October 10, 2015 1:22 PM Local Time
Congratulations to Makarios Avramidis, Winner of 2015 WSOPE Berlin Event #1 (€105,000)
Makarios Avramidis wins the opening event of the 2015 WSOPE Berlin
The third and final day of the €2,200 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em started with six hopefuls out of a 197-entry field.
Paul Michaelis, who won a bracelet earlier this year, held one third of the chips in play at one point. However, Michaelis eventually had to settle for third place, ensuring that new first-time champion would be crowned.
Makarios Avramidis began the heads-up duel with a 2:1 chip advantage against Frederic Schwarzer, and he quickly parlayed that into a massive lead. On the final hand, Schwarzer three-bet shoved with and Avramidis called with . It was all over after the turn on the board, and the meaningless river was just a formality.
In the interview after the victory, Avramidis revealed that poker was his big passion and that he prefers to listen to his gut feeling. Many previous attempts ended with "bad luck," but that all changed this evening in his first-ever WSOP event. Avramidis began playing cards for sweets as a young kid and a couple decades later, he's now the latest entry in the winners list of the most prestigious poker tournament circuit.
Marvin Rettenmaier started the final table as shortest stack, and he doubled up once before picking the wrong spot to four-bet shove, running his into the of Michaelis. The latter immediately found another ace on the flop and left "Mad Marvin" drawing dead on the turn of a board.
Stephen Chidwick fell to the bottom of the counts with five players left, but he doubled up through Michaelis twice and then sent Ricardo Alvarado to the rail in fifth place. Both he and Alvarado turned two pair, but Chidwick's got the better of Alvarado's on a board that ran out .
At that point, Chidwick was dominating the action on the table, and he seemed poised to seal the deal in short order. But the run-good suddenly went away, and Chidwick lost four all-in situations against short-stacked opponents, including two versus Michaelis. The remainder of the Brit's stack went in via three-bet shove out of the big blind with , only to see Michaelis snap him off with . The board ran out and Chidwick had to settle for fourth place.
Michaelis took over the role of dominating leader, only to experience the very same "hero to zero" storyline. Avramidis doubled up with pocket jacks versus pocket tens, and a few minutes later, Michaelis got his remainder in with . Schwarzer, however, snap-called with the and the board ran out to send Michaelis off in third place.
Avramidis needed just over an hour to grind his final opponent to the felt, claiming the title around 8:00 p.m.
The first of ten golden bracelets is awarded while Event #2, the €550 Oktoberfest, currently plays its second starting day.
Final Table Results:
1st Place: Makarios Avramidis (Greece/Germany) - €105,000
2nd Place: Frederic Schwarzer (Germany) - €64,930
3rd Place: Paul Michaelis (Germany) - €45,860
4th Place: Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom) - €32,600
5th Place: Ricardo Alvarado (USA) - €23,310
6th Place: Marvin Rettenmaier (Germany) - €16,740