Event #18: $2,000 Limit Hold'em

Event No. 18 has come to a close and Eric Buchman from Valley Stream, New York is your champion!

Buchman entered the day as the chip leader. Combining that with his experience at the poker table made him the favorite to win it all going into things. It doesn't always happen that the chip leader entering the final day of play rides it all the way to the win, but it happened in this instance and it happened without any doubt. Well, maybe there was a little doubt.

Buchman never slipped below the amount he entered the day with, but he did have a few slip ups here and there. Buchman seemed to win all of the hands he played using aggression and skill to make his opponents hand over the chips. A little run good helped as well as Buchman seemed to always have it when he was called down. Once the four remaining players returned from dinner break, Buchman steamrolled the competition to a victory.

Last year, Buchman final tabled the most famous poker event in the world, the WSOP Main Event, and became a fixture of the famed November Nine. He wound up placing fourth for over $2.5 million to boost his career earnings to nearly $3.5 million in all. You can now add $203,607 to that and wrap a gold bracelet around Buchman's wrist.

When asked how this win compares to his finish in the Main Event last year, Buchman paused before saying that it's a really hard comparison to make. The win is total satisfaction for him, but the fourth-place finish in the Main Event gave him more experience and the money was much greater. Congratulations for Buchman for adding the ultimate piece of hardware to his trophy case and taking home the title!

That wraps up our coverage of Event No. 18, but there's plenty of other events going on right now if you're still looking to get your poker fix. Check out all the [URL="http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2010-wsop/"]live coverage[/URL] PokerNews has to offer and thanks for following!

Eric Buchman had the button again and raised before Brent Courson reraised all in. Buchman made the call with the   . Courson had the   .

The board ran out       and Courson was able to flop a straight and hold up from there to double up.

On the very next hand, Courson had the button and raised. Buchman reraised and then Courson re-reraised all in for 160,000 total and was all in. Buchman called with the   . Courson had two black queens.

The board ran out       nd Courson doubled again. He now has 320,000 chips to Buchman's 2.54 million.

With the flop reading     Brent Courson ended up all in holding   . Eric Buchman called with   .

The turn brought a   and the river a  , double up for Courson. Buchman slipped to 2,200.000 chips and Courson is now up to 400,000 chips.

After a pre-flop raising war, Steven Hustoft and Eric Buchman went to see the     flop. With only 50,000 chips, Hustoft was all in on the flop.

Showdown

Hustoft:   

Buchman:   

The turn card was a safe  , but the   fell on the river giving Buchman the straight.

Steven Hustoft is the third-place finisher and took home over $90,000.

On the flop of    , Eric Buchman continued to apply pressure to his opponents by firing a bet, this time into Brent Courson. Courson raised and Buchman called. The turn brought the   and Buchman checked. Courson fired a bet and Buchman then raised. Courson folded and the Buchman train picked up some more steam.

On the next hand following Flavio Ferrari's bust out, there was a dead small blind and Steven HUstoft raised from under the gun. Eric Buchman reraised from the button and Hustoft called.

The flop came down     and Hustoft bet out. Buchman called. The turn added the   to the board and both players checked. The river completed the board with the   and both players checked again.

Buchman tabled pocket tens after Hustoft showed queen high and won the pot. He's really cruising now.

In the third hand after the dinner break, Flavio Ferrari took a big hit.

Ferrari and Eric Buchman went heads up to the     flop and Ferrari called a three-bet.

The turn brought the   and Buchman check-raised Ferrari, who called. The river card was the   and Ferrari called a bet from Buchman.

Buchman tabled    for a full house, tens full of sevens, and took the pot. Ferrari slipped to 80,000. Buchman now has over one million chips.

From under the gun, Brent Courson raised and Flavio Ferrari called out of the big blind. After the flop came    , Ferrari check-called a bet from the preflop raiser Courson.

The turn brought the   and both players checked. The river completed the board and out four hearts out there with the  . Ferrari checked, Courson bet and Ferrari called. Couson tabled the    for a king-high flush and Ferrari mucked his hand.

Eric Buchman raised and then Brent Courson reraised from the small blind. Buchman raised again and Courson called.

The flop came down     and more bets went into the pot. Courson checked, Buchman bet, Courson raised and then BUchman called. The turn brought the   and both players checked. The river completed the board with the   and both players checked again.

Courson tabled the    and Buchman mucked his hand.

Plenty of hands have been dealt, but only a few have been blog worthy. There's been dozens of hands since coming back from the last break where a simple preflop raise takes down the blinds. Without any action, as the levels pass by the average stack goes down and each player has fewer big bets in their stack with which to work with. This should make for some very fast poker come the later levels as we move into the night.