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Seidel Nets First WPT Title

Erik Seidel wins the WPT Foxwoods Classic, cashing for just under $1m

Thursday 10th 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.

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.

 


Source: OnlineCasinoNews