Saturday, October 15, 2011 4:23 PM Local Time
What a day this has been! It's the general concession that short-handed play goes at a faster rate, but to finish any bracelet event in less that four hours takes some doing. Philippe Boucher, from Quebec City tore through his opponents in enough time to allow himself 18 hours rest time before he sits down for the Main Event tomorrow. It actually took more than an hour and-half to lose one player and then it became a one-man show.
Every time time a player was all-in against Boucher they were shown the door. One-by-one he busted all of his opponents to storm to the title. Once he took over the chip lead he pounded his opponents, and when he needed luck, that lady was on his side.
Jack Ellwood was the first to go when he was unlucky to find inferior aces that stayed behind. Moments later he was followed by Jarred Solomon who got himself in a tricky spot and had to call all-in with a marginal hand because the math was right.
The next two to go were Alexander Dovzhenko and Nicolas Fierro. Dovzhenko will probably the least disappointed 4th place finisher in poker history as he came back for Day 2 with just 2,800 chips. He somehow managed to turn that into a €37,529 payday. Fierro will be more disappointed as he came into today as chip leader but nothing seemed to go right for him. We didn't see too many of his hands as he folded a lot post flop. When we did see a hand, his last, he had the goods but was counterfeited by the unstoppable Canadian force.
That left it heads-up and it wasn't long before Boucher had Michel Dattani on the ropes and all-in, and we know how that situation turned out.
Saturday, October 15, 2011 4:20 PM Local Time
Michel Dattani was down to just a few chips when he decided to pot it for 30,000. Boucher put him all-in and he called giving us the final showdown of the day.
| Michel Dattani | |
| Philippe Boucher | |
The board came down and that's it! We have champion, Philippe Boucher. Michel Dattani finishes in second place taking home €76,982. Boucher gets the grand price of €124,584 and the coveted WSOP Gold Bracelet.
| Philippe Boucher | 1,525,000 | 165,000  |
| Michel Dattani | 0 | -110,000  |
Saturday, October 15, 2011 4:14 PM Local Time
Michel Dattani raised to 30,000 from the button and Philippe Boucher called to see a flop. He check-folded to Dattani's shove.
The Portuguese player won the next three pre-flop and is back up to 110,000.
Saturday, October 15, 2011 4:06 PM Local Time
Level: 19
Blinds: 5000/10000
Ante: 0
Saturday, October 15, 2011 3:56 PM Local Time
There is a 20 minute break for the remaining two players.
Saturday, October 15, 2011 3:54 PM Local Time
From the small blind Boucher limped and Dattani checked. The flop came down and Dattani check-called a 16,000 chip bet. The turn was the and Dattani check-called 36,000.
On the river the appeared and Dattani checked for the third straight time. Boucher asked for a count of Dattani chips and made sure he got the pot size right. There was 120,000 in the pot and Boucher bet 80,000. Dattani snap-called and got the bad news when Boucher announced he had a pair of queens.
Boucher turned over for the winning full house and Dattani sighed and said he had sevens. Dattani is down to just 78,000 chips.
| Philippe Boucher | 1,447,000 | 147,000 |
| Michel Dattani | 78,000 | -147,000 |
Saturday, October 15, 2011 3:53 PM Local Time
Michel Dattani is down to 225,000 chips after Philippe Boucher keeps chipping away at his stack.
They made it to a flop after Dattani had defended a 16,000 raise. The action was checked there and on the turn before Boucher had a 20,000 bet called on the river.
The Canadian tabled [x][x] for a river set and took the pot as Dattani had a losing [x][x].
Saturday, October 15, 2011 3:44 PM Local Time
Michel Dattani started as the underdog, and after a couple of hand playing heads-up his deficit has grown to a point where he could start worrying. The Portugese player raised from the button to 16,000 and Boucher called. The flop came down and Boucher check-called a 16,000 bet.
On the turn the appeared and Boucher checked once more. Dattani counted out some chips and threw in 48,000. Boucher gently counted out the bet and slowly pushed his chips across the line making the call.
The river brought out the and for the third straight time Boucher checked. Dattani pondered for a bit before taking a big stack of 5,000 chips and betting 100,000. Boucher called quickly and we got to see the following cards.
| Michel Dattani | |
| Philippe Boucher | |
Boucher took down the pot and increased his chip lead to 4:1.
| Philippe Boucher | 1,205,000 | 195,000 |
| Michel Dattani | 320,000 | -210,000 |
Saturday, October 15, 2011 3:37 PM Local Time
Event #6 is down to heads-up already after the elimination of Nicolas Fierro in third place.
He was down to a little more than 200,000 when three-bet Philippe Boucher's 16,000 raise up to 52,000. Call.
The flop came down and the rest of the chips went in.
Boucher: for top pair.
Fierro: for two-pair.
The board ran out to make the Canadian a higher two-pair.
Boucher:
Fierro:
| Philippe Boucher | 1,010,000 | 270,000 |
| Nicolas Fierro | 0 | -255,000 |
Saturday, October 15, 2011 3:14 PM Local Time
Three-handed play has been very interesting with all players being very active. After a bunch of 16,000 raises we've seen almost just as many 56,000 re-pot raises. Michel Dattani was the only player that had his re-raise called but after a 120,000 bet on a flop he took down the pot from Phillipe Boucher.
| Philippe Boucher | 740,000 | -90,000 |
| Michel Dattani | 530,000 | 120,000 |
| Nicolas Fierro | 255,000 | -15,000 |
Saturday, October 15, 2011 3:08 PM Local Time
The amazing comeback of Alexander Dovzhenko didn't have the pure fairytale ending he was hoping for. He recovered from the second shortest stack yesterday to make today's final table. It was the unstoppable Philippe Boucher who played the baddie in this tale.
The Canadian called a 17,000 raise from Nicolas Fierro and then set Dovzhenko all-in after he potted it. Fierro folded in between and Dovzhenko called all-in very quickly.
Boucher:
Dovzhenko:
The board ran to make Boucher a flush.
| Philippe Boucher | 830,000 | 220,000 |
| Alexander Dovzhenko | 0 | -243,000 |
Saturday, October 15, 2011 2:56 PM Local Time
Level: 18
Blinds: 4000/8000
Ante: 0
Saturday, October 15, 2011 2:52 PM Local Time
From the under the gun position Michel Dattani raised to 12,000 and the agressive Fierro three-bet pot to 45,000 once more. Philippe Boucher was in the small blind and made the call. Dattani was getting a nice price but opted to fold giving us heads-up flop action.
The flop came down and both players checked. The turn was the and Boucher decided to lead out for 42,000. Fierro double checked his cards and threw them into the muck giving Boucher another pot.
| Philippe Boucher | 610,000 | 60,000 |
| Nicolas Fierro | 270,000 | -32,000 |
Saturday, October 15, 2011 2:48 PM Local Time
Saturday, October 15, 2011 2:44 PM Local Time
Philippe Boucher, fresh with Jack Ellwood chips, raised to 12,000 from the cut-off. Jarred Solomon was in the small blind and three-bet to 42,000 out of a 147,000 stack. When the action was back on the Canadian he potted it up to 132,000.
Solomon didn't look too happy at the spot he had put himself in and mumbled, "Got a really bad hand. It was such a good spot though." After a few minutes he said, "I'm getting two-to-one; let's gamble" and committed the rest of his chips. Call.
Solomon:
Boucher:
The board ran to make Boucher's pair of tens the winning hand. He claimed the South African's scalp and moved into the chip lead.
| Philippe Boucher | 550,000 | 160,000 |
| Jarred Solomon | 0 | -148,000 |
Saturday, October 15, 2011 2:24 PM Local Time
From the under the gun position Nicolas Fierro raised to 13,000 to start off the action. Philippe Boucher threw in a three-bet to 32,000 and after Dovzhenko and Solomon folded it was Jack Ellwood who pushed all-in for around 85,000 chips. Boucher snap-called after Fierro folded.
| Jack Ellwood | |
| Philippe Boucher | |
The flop brought out leaving Ellwood with very little chances. The turn was the and sealed the deal for the young Brit who took home €19,181. Not bad for his first even live PLO tournament and as Ellwood left the stage the river brought out the .
| Philippe Boucher | 400,000 | 80,000 |
| Jack Ellwood | 0 | -106,000 |
Saturday, October 15, 2011 2:19 PM Local Time
Jack Ellwood is down to a little more than 100,000 after getting pushed off another pot by Michel Dattani.
The Brit raised to 13,000 from the hijack and called when Dattani three-bet to 33,000 from the cut-off. The flop came down and Ellwood checked to face a 50,000 bet. He gave a "That flop couldn't have been worse for me" look and folded.
Saturday, October 15, 2011 2:12 PM Local Time
From the button Philippe Boucher raised to 12,000 and within seconds Alexander Dovzhenko decided to pot it from the small blind. The total bet was 40,000 and after thinking for a bit Boucher decided to four-bet pot to 126,000. Dovzhenko folded his cards and Boucher showed .
After Dovzhenko showed agression earlier it was Boucher who just took advantage of the Ukrainian's style. This final table is a really close battle and it's still anyones game.
| Philippe Boucher | 320,000 | 40,000 |
| Alexander Dovzhenko | 243,000 | -40,000 |
Saturday, October 15, 2011 2:08 PM Local Time
Jarred Solomon raised to 13,000 getting called only by Nicolas Fierro who was in the big blind. The flop came down and Fierro check called the 21,000 bet. On the turn, the , and the river, the , both players checked and Fierro took down the pot with .
| Nicolas Fierro | 302,000 | 33,000 |
| Jarred Solomon | 148,000 | -32,000 |
Saturday, October 15, 2011 1:56 PM Local Time
Level: 17
Blinds: 3000/6000
Ante: 0
