28 September 2010
WSOPE update
There are still three players left in the game at the final table of the World Series of Poker Europe but the dynamics have changed considerably since we returned from dinner.
Lee and Baldassari continue their war; Baldassari takes chip lead
On the river of a Q-9-5-K-A rainbow board, Fabrizio Baldassari silently slid out a stack of 25 chips totalling 675,000 into a pot that was already monstrous. Ronald Lee, impassive as ever, stared him down.
Fabrizio Baldarassi doubles up through Ron Lee
Fabrizio Baldarassi and Ron Lee got into a raising war pre-flop during which the Italian got his chips in the middle. Lee instantly called and, for three-handed play, this was a cooler as Baldassari's A-4 was up against A-K.
Ron Lee takes a big non-showdown pot
Post-flop bets have been rare this final table; raises rarer still. Most of the pots so far have been contested before the flop and those that have seen three board cards have usually ended there.
Chip counts at 30k/60k/5k
We're torn - on one hand we're rooting for Ronald Lee to end this quickly so we can go home, as fun as it is watching a WSOPE table play out live. On the other, we'd like Bord to "take it home" as his railbirds keep singing because the atmosphere will be mental. After his double, it's more than possible.
James Bord doubles through Ronald Lee
Well, we knew it would go a bit crazy on the rail when Bord was all in but we didn't anticipate what would happen when he won. In the last hand of the 25k/50k level, Bord moved in and got a count request from Ronald Lee.
WSOPE resumes.
We’re back in The Empire to resume three-handed final table play at The Empire and the dinner break doesn’t seem to have calmed down the UK crowd cheering on James Bord – a few beers over dinner, lads? Currently they’re singing “Na na nana nana nana na na na, Bordy take it ‘ome, TAKE IT ‘OME! BOR-DY TAKE IT ‘OH-OME!”
Dinnertime for our three remaining players
Well, so far it's looking like a quick final table as after a little over five and a half hours of actual play we're down to just three players remaining in the WSOPE.
Roland de Wolfe finishes in 4th place (£278,549)
Roland de Wolfe moved all in from the small blind for his last 485,000 - since losing with A-T to A-8 against Nicolas Levi, de Wolfe had been nursing his short stack.
Ronald Lee is unstoppable; Nicolas Levi exits in 5th place
Ronald Lee has eliminated each and every one of the players who have left The Empire at the World Series of Poker Europe final table. He continued this habit when Nicolas Levi called Lee's raise with 9c-9d for his entire stack.