WSOP Event #33, $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo: Ruthenberg Holds Off Jesus
Just when it looked like Ferguson was about to be resurrected, German Sebastian Ruthenberg finally finishes him to become the Stud Hi-Lo Champion.
Friday 20th June 2008
Coming to a final table with the chip lead is always a comforting feeling, but you’d rather you didn’t have three of the best poker players in the world waiting for you, either. That was exactly the situation Sebastian Ruthenberg found himself in, but with a Germanic efficiency similar to his country’s football team, he ended up securing his first gold bracelet and $328,756.
The chip counts and stacks at the start of play looked like this:
Seat 1: Bob Lauria - 44,000
Seat 2: Marcel Luske - 308,000
Seat 3: Steve Sung - 207,000
Seat 4: Annie Duke - 277,000
Seat 5: Alessio Isaia - 398,000
Seat 6: Sebastian Ruthenberg - 663,000
Seat 7: Chris Ferguson - 434,000
Seat 8: Bob Beveridge - 280,000
The early running saw Marcel Luske as the most active player at the table, picking up pots from Ferguson and Ruthenberg in the early stages. The Dutchman then turned to executioner, knocking Bob Beveridge out in eighth.
Steve Sung followed Beveridge out in seventh, while Alessio Isaia was unfortunate to go out in sixth after Ruthenberg spiked an ace on sixth street to scoop the pot against him.
Ferguson’s quest to win his sixth bracelet seemed much easier with the elimination of his two fellow pros in fourth and fifth, as Duke then Luske fell to the wayside. Meanwhile, initial microstack Bob Lauria had been hanging on with a grim determination. The tournament came to an end for him though after his set of eights was bettered by the full house of Chris Ferguson, which left ‘Jesus’ to battle it out with Ruthenberg for the title.
First blood went to the German after Ferguson hit the case five to make a set, which was no good after Ruthenberg showed him he’d been drawing slim against his own trip aces. From the loss of that 1.4 million chip pot, Ferguson fought back, slowly chipping away at the lead. One massive pot of his own then sent Ferguson to the brink of the win.
Ruthenberg was left looking at 400,000, but immediately set off on a heater. Doubling up in the next few hands, Sebastian then won a huge pot when he made nines-up on the river, swinging the battle firmly in the European’s favour. He clinched the bracelet the very next hand, and completed a good week for the European players out in Las Vegas.
