Seidel Nets First WPT Title
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Erik Seidel came to the Foxwoods final table as the chip leader and
left the Connecticut card room as a WPT champion. Having come
second in the 2008 Aussie Millions, Seidel continues his hot
streak, as well as augmenting his bankroll by $998,000.
Erik Seidel came to the Foxwoods final table as the chip leader and
left the Connecticut card room as a WPT champion. Having come
second in the 2008 Aussie Millions, Seidel continues his hot
streak, as well as augmenting his bankroll by $998,000.
The win didn’t come easily for the 48 year-old though, with the
final table taking 12 hours and 229 hands to crown its champion.
The chip counts going into the televised finale were as
follows:
Seat 1 - Erik Seidel - 3,280,000
Seat 2 - Frank Cieri - 403,000
Seat 3 - Robert Richardson - 526,000
Seat 4 - Ted Forrest - 2,347,000
Seat 5 - Andrew Barta - 1,522,000
Seat 6 - Adam Katz - 2,301,000
As if having Seidel and Ted Forrest on the table wasn’t tough
enough, the two amateurs (Richardson and Cieri) were also nursing
short-stacks. Both players got off to good starts, with
Richardson’s king high flush draw actually doubling him up when
Adam Katz’s double gutter missed and the high card king played.
Frank Cieri doubled up in a different fashion though, moving all
in to pick up enough blinds and antes to kick him over the million
chip mark.
Things weren’t going so well for Ted Forrest though, who first
of all doubled Andrew Barta up by calling with nines against the
all in of Barta and pocket kings. Now on the short stack, the pair
vs. pair accidents didn’t stop there as Forrester was eliminated in
sixth, pocket jacks this time committing hara-kiri against
Richardson’s aces.
Adam Katz ended up cashing in fifth place for $151,811 – his
biggest cash to date – after his top pair was chased down by
Richardson’s king high flush draw. He was followed out of the
tournament by crowd favourite Cieri, who was crippled by Richardson
when holding a pair of jacks and a flush draw. Cieri’s hand
couldn’t improve against the pocket kings of Richardson, and he
eventually ended up shoving the rest of the chips into the middle
with Q-7, which was behind – and stayed behind – the K-6 of
Richardson
The final three players then bedded down into a war of
attrition. Six hours later (yes, six), there was finally an
elimination. Seidel open raised on the button, making it 280,000 to
go with Jh-Js. Barta moved all in from the big blind, and Seidel
called, racing against Ah-Qs. A jack on the flop followed by a
board-pairing turn left Barta drawing dead. Barta’s final chips,
which were only half of the small blind, went in on the next pot,
which was checked down by the other two and Seidel’s ace high was
good enough to send Barta home $281,011 richer.
While the three handed play was the longest on record on the
World Poker Tour, the heads up was the shortest. On the first hand,
Seidel raised it to 260,000, and Richardson called. The flop
brought Ac-Kh-9s which Seidel bet for 300,000. When Richardson
called and then quickly moved in when the 8h arrived on the turn,
Seidel instantly called with Ah-Jd. Richardson meekly turned over
9c-7s, and Seidel faded the nines to win his first WPT title and
$992,890.