Event #48: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

After four long days of play Athanasios Polychronopoulos claimed his first gold bracelet in his first WSOP final table appearance. Polychronopoulos had to return for a fourth day of action and out last Simon Charette, Peter Ippolito and Yevgeniy Timoshenko in order to take home the $650,223 prize.

WSOP heavyweight Matt Stout made the final table but bowed out in 8th place late in Day 3. When the final table reached five-handed play, the chip lead exchanged numerous times with each player becoming the chipleader at one point or another. Sebastian Winkler was the last player eliminated in Day 3 after being near the top of the leaderboard on Day 1 and Day 2.

Runner up Simon Charette had an up and down day. He went from chipleader to under a million to chipleader within the span of 40 minutes. A few key double ups from Ippolito allowed him to take some momentum into heads up play.

But when it got down to Polychronopoulos and Charette, it was all Polychronopoulos. He nearly claimed the bracelet during in a hand where he flopped a set of fours against Charette's    . Charette was left with barely two big blinds and the writing was on the wall that this was Polychronopoulos' tournament to win.

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Simon Charette had half his stack in the big blind and when Athanasios Polychronopoulos raised on the button Charette called. Polychronopoulos held     and Charette's tournament life was clinging on    .

The board ran           and Charette doubled to just over 700,000.

Athanasios Polychronopoulos limped from the button and Simon Charette checked his option in the big blind. They went to the first flop of the level after 20 minutes of play. The flop came       and they both checked. The turn came   and Charette bet 285,000 and Polychronopoulos called. The river came   and Charette bet 725,000 and Polychronopoulos folded after a few moments.

Since returning from the break the two players have yet to see flop. It seems as if they don't want to play post-flop and would rather play two card poker at this point.

The two players are going on a 20 minute break following two levels of play.

From the button Simon Charette raised to 350,000 and Athanasios Polychronopoulos moved all in. Charette insta-called and tabled     and Polychronopoulos held    .

The board ran           and Charette earned a huge double up. He's sitting at nine million and Polychronopoulos has 3.25 million.

Athanasios Polychronopoulos and Simon Charette have been trading blinds and antes the last eight hands. Usually the player on the button is opening for 350,000 and will take the pot right there. It seems that each player is looking for the right spot.

Simon Charette made it 350,000 to go from the button. Athanasios Polychronopoulos asked for a count of Charette's stack. After a moment he very carefully measured out a call and slid the chips in.

The flop came       and both players checked slowly. The turn came  , Polychronopoulos checked and Charette bet out 450,000. Polychronopoulos thought for a moment and then slowly slid his cards back to the dealer.