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Event #1 | Event #2 | Event #3 | Caesar's Cup
Main Event Day 1A/1B | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Final Table Player Bios | Day 5


All linked player names have free bios, courtesy of FullTiltPoker

World Series of Poker Europe Event #3
Pot Limit Omaha

Day 1
Buy-in: £5;,000 + £250; ($8,629.41 USD)
Start Date: September 23
Length: 3-day event
Players: 154
Prize pool: £770;,000 ($1,265,647.09 USD)
(2009 WSOP Gold Bracelet Event: 60)

Entrants will start with 10,000 poker chips and will try to last a full 10 levels. This will be an add on event, meaning that everyone may receive another 10,000 chips anytime they wish during the first 3 levels of play. At the end of the 3rd level, anyone who has not taken the 10,000 will automatically receive those chips. Breaks will take place every 2 levels and last for 20 minutes in length. On the first day, dinner break will be 90 minutes long and happen at the end of level 6.

The goal of Day 2 is to play down to the final table and Day 3 to battle it out until a champion is born. Some of the players in the field on Day 1 are Shaun Deeb, Jeff Kimber. John Kabbaj, Noah Boeken, Theo Jorgensen, Howard Lederer, David Williams, Nenad Medic, Mike Matusow, Michael Greco, Markus Golser, Chris Bjorin, Fabrice Soulier, Barney Boatman, Joe Beevers, Robert Mizrachi, Michael Binger, Martin Wendt, Josh Arieh, Chad Brown, Juha Helppi, Sorel Mizzi, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Hoyt Corkins, Robert Williamson III, Nikolay Evdakov, Robin Keston, Harry Suni and William Thorson.


Event #3 Day 1 Video of Player Field

About 6 1/2 hours into the action here are the top 9 players with chip counts:
  1. Jani Vilmunen -- 300,000
  2. Sorel Mizzi -- 155,000
  3. Howard Lederer -- 135,000
  4. Aston Griffin -- 120,000
  5. Dave Callaghan -- 110,000
  6. Noah Boeken -- 95,000
  7. Jeff Kimber -- 82,000
  8. Karl Mahrenholz -- 78,000
  9. Theo Jorgensen -- 75,000
Also still at the tables are David Williams with 50,000, John Kabbaj 60,000, Sandra Naujoks 40,000, David "Devilfish" Ulliott with 10,000 and Barry Greenstein with 30,000. Gone are Peter Jepsen, Daniel Alaei, Mike Matusow, Jason Mercier, Erik Seidel , Chad Brown, Max Pescatori, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Hoyt Corkins, John Juanda, Allen Cunningham, Ben Grundy, Robin Keston, Bruno Fituossi, Julian Gardener and Layne Flack.

In the next hour eliminations continued with the list of the fallen including Phil Ivey, Tony G, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Per Hildebrand, Markus Golser, Gus Hanson, Jeffrey Lisandro, Vitaly Lunkin, Nenad Medic, Annette Obrestad and Fabrice Soulier. The good news is the prize pool reached £770;,000 ($1,265,647.09 USD) and will be divided between the top 18 finishers. Here are the payouts for the final table:
  1. £204;,048 ($335,393.19 USD)
  2. £126;,134 ($207,326.14 USD)
  3. £93;,293 ($153,345.47 USD)
  4. £69;,030 ($113,464.44 USD)
  5. £51;,890 ($85,291.46 USD)
  6. £39;,193 ($64,421.44 USD)
  7. £29;,830 ($49,031.50 USD)
  8. £22;,869 ($37,589.72 USD)
  9. £17;,772 ($29,211.79 USD)
When the 10 levels of play were completed, there were 35 players remaining. And these are the top 9 players at the end of Day 1:
  1. Jani Vilmunen -- 304,000
  2. Ashton Griffin -- 184,100
  3. Sorel Mizzi -- 153,700
  4. Howard Lederer -- 151,800
  5. Andrey Zaichenko -- 151,300
  6. Jeffrey Kimber -- 134,900
  7. Niall Chalton -- 122,200
  8. Anthony Bloom -- 114,500
  9. Aarno Kiveilo -- 114,500

Day 2
The 35 remaining players will continue at level 11 with blinds at 800/1,600 with 200 ante until 9 are left for the final table. Average chip stack is 85,800. Other players taking up chairs today are Sherkahn Farnood, David Williams, Anthony Bloom, Noah Boeken, John Kabbaj, Daniel Shak, John O'Shea, Barney Boatman, Robert Williamson III, Sandra Naujoks, Barry Greenstein, Thomas Dwan, Adam Bilzerian and Theo Jorgensen. We just found out that James Akenhead, Andy Black, Andy Bloch and Chris Ferguson will not play today as they busted during yesterday's play.

As the day progressed, there were more to add to the body count. No longer at the tables are David Williams, Sorel Mizzi, Niall Chalton, John Kabbaj, Barry Greenstein and Sherkahn Farnood. There are 15 left in the field, meaning only 6 more to go until the final table is established.

One by one they fell, capping excellent efforts by players 15 through 10. Tony Bloom finished in 15th, Tom Dwan in 14th, Karl Mahrenholtz in 13th, Ashton Griffin in 12th, Chris Bjorin in 11th and barely missing a seat at the final table is Sandra Naujoks in 10th who's set of 4's lost to the 3 to 7 straight that was made by Jani Vilmunen on the river. When the last 9 players reconvene tomorrow at 2:00 PM, they will have 9:40 minutes left in level 17 that has blinds at 4,000/8,000, call of 8,000 or make it of 16,000 to 28,000. Average chip stack is now 342,222 in size. Here are the final table players:

Jani Vilmunen, chip leader going into the Event #3 final table
Jani Vilmunen, chip leader going into the final table

  1. Jani Vilmunen -- 899,000
  2. Aarno Kiveilo -- 608,000
  3. Howard Lederer -- 320,000
  4. Dan Hindin -- 320,000
  5. Roberto Romanello -- 306,000
  6. Ville Haavisto -- 249,000
  7. Ross Boatman -- 186,000
  8. Jeff Kimber -- 133,000
  9. Robert Williamson III -- 64,000

Day 3 Final Table
Things got underway at 2:00 PM for the final table. First to go was short stacked Robert Williamson III in 9th place when he lost the balance of his chips to Jani Vilmunen after Vilmunen made a King high straight on the river. In 8th place was Jeff Kimber. After seeing the dealer put K Q 8 6 Q on the table, Kimber went to the middle with A Q 9 8 and was called by Howard Lederer with K 2 4 Q. Kimber made a full house with (Q's/8's) but was defeated with a bigger full house from Lederer (Q's/K's). Then in 7th place was Roberto Romanello when his all in was stopped cold by the paired 7's of Jani Vilmunen. Dan Hinden also fell in 6th, courtesy of Jani Vilmunen who's A A 4 10 held to the river. Ville Haavisto finished in 5th position after Howard Lederer made a Broadway straight (Ace thru 10) on the river. In 4th was Ross "Barney" Boatman who lost when his all-in move with K K 7 9 met the A A 5 10 of Ville Haavisto which turned into a full house by the river (5's/A's). In less than 1 hour, Aarno Kiveilo went from chip leader to the 3rd place finisher, courtesy of the full house (3's/10's) of Jani Vilmunen.

The heads up then started with Howard Lederer having 1,800,000 chips verses Jani Vilmunen with 1,250,000 chips. They battled back and forth for a number of hands. Then according to the WSOP, "The final hand came when Lederer flopped the low end of a straight, with a backdoor flush draw. He raises all-in after the flop. Vilmunen flopped top straight and watched calmly as two blanks hit on the turn and river, locking up the win." And the new champion is Jani Vilmunen who dominated this event from the start, being chip leader all 3 days of this tournament. This is his first WSOP gold bracelet.

Event #3 Champion Jani Vilmunen
Event #3 Champion Jani Vilmunen

  1. Jani Vilmunen -- £204;,048 ($335,393.19 USD)
  2. Howard Lederer -- £126;,134 ($207,326.14 USD)
  3. Aarno Kiveilo -- £93;,293 ($153,345.47 USD)
  4. Ross "Barney" Boatman -- £69;,030 ($113,464.44 USD)
  5. Ville Haavisto -- £51;,890 ($85,291.46 USD)
  6. Dan Hindin -- £39;,193 ($64,421.44 USD)
  7. Roberto Romanello -- £29;,830 ($49,031.50 USD)
  8. Jeff Kimber -- £22;,869 ($37,589.72 USD)
  9. Robert Williamson III -- £17;,772 ($29,211.79 USD)


Photo credit: IMPDI 2009