With 15 WPT cashes to his name, Erik Seidel finally his first WPT title after winning the WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic. Seidel outlasted a field of 345 players and entered the 6 handed final table with a commanding chip.
The action on the final table last nearly 12 hours, one of the longest in WPT history with 229 hands being played out. First to go on the final table was Ted Forrest, where found himself all-in with pocket Jacks, only to find himself up against Richardson’s pocket Aces. Richardson’s Aces held up and sent Forrest out for 6th place and $103,360 for his troubles.
Next to go was Katz, who raised from the cut-off for 110,000 whilst holding Q (Clubs) and Jack (Spades). Richardson called the raise from the big blind, where the flop came Q (Hearts) – 6 (Spades) – 5 (Hearts). Richardson immediately bet out 140,000 and after some deep thought, Katz moved all in with top pair (Queens) with a Jack kicker, only to be snap called by Richardson who showed K, 5 both of Hearts, giving him a pair and a flush draw with plenty of outs. The turn came a 6 (Diamonds), pairing the board, and the river card came a King (Clubs) which hit one of Richardson’s outs and gave Richardson a higher 2 pair, eliminating Katz into 5th place. Katz took home $151,811, the biggest cash of his young career.
Cieri was next to go, finding himself short-stacked and having to push all-in with Q-7, only to be called by Richardson’s K-6. Cieri failed to improve after the board, and went out in 4th place, earning himself $200,261.
At this stage, it took another grueling 6 hours of play before another player was eliminated, Seidel raised from the button to 280,000, only to be re-raised all-in by Barta who was on the big blind. Seidel called immediately, showing pocket Jacks, and found himself in a race situation, with Barta showing A (Hearts) – Q (Spades). The board was kind to Seidel, where the flop came J (Clubs) – 6 (Spades) – 3 (Clubs), giving Seidel a set of jacks, and Barta desperately needing a runner, runner straight to win. However the turn brought a 5 (Spades), leaving Barta drawing dead, and the river came a 6 (Hearts). This left Barta extremely crippled with merely half a small blind left.
Unsurprisingly on the next hand, Richardson and Seidel checked it down all the way, and Seidel’s Ace high was enough to win the hand and take out Barta for 3rd who took home $280,011.
Ironically, after almost 12 hours already, the heads-up battle between Seidel and Richardson was the quickest heads-up battle in WPT history lasting just one hand. Seidel raised preflop to 260,000 which was called by Richardson. The flop came Ace (Clubs) – King (Hearts) – 9 (Spades), and Seidel continued the action after the flop, raising to 300,000. Richardson called the raise and the turn dealt was 8 (Hearts), Richardson then moved all-in himself for his last 1,275,000. Seidel called immediately, with Richardson showing 9 (Hearts – 7 (Spades) against Seidel’s Ace (Hearts) – J (Diamonds), giving Seidel top pair against Richardson’s lower pair of nines. The river came a king (diamonds), which failed to improve Richardson’s hand and gave Seidel his first ever WPT title. For second place, Richardson took $558,792, and for first place, Seidel won $992,890.
2008 has started with a bang for Seidel; it was only recently that Seidel came in second place at this years Aussie Millions main event, winning just under $900,000. With this WPT win on top, this is considered a remarkable achievement by anyone’s standards.
Final results:
1. Erik Seidel – $992,890
2. Robert Richardson – $558,792
3. Andrew Barta – $281,011
4. Frank Cieri – $200,261
5. Adam Katz- $151,811
6. Ted Forrest – $103,360