Julian Thomas Wins 2013 bwin World Poker Tour Prague
On Saturday, the 2013 bwin World Poker Tour Prague Main Event drew to its exciting conclusion as a champion was crowned. In the end, Julian Thomas was able to rise above a field of 306 total entries to earn $283,827 in first-place prize money as well as his membership to the WPT Champions Club.
WPT Prague Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Julian Thomas | $283,827 |
| 2 | Vasili Firsau | $185,796 |
| 3 | Andrey Shatilov | $116,982 |
| 4 | Gintaras Simaitis | $86,703 |
| 5 | Ognjen Sekularac | $64,683 |
| 6 | Valeri Savov | $52,297 |
Fairly early on in the day, Valeri Savov became the first player eliminated from the final table when he found himself in a supreme cooler situation. At 12,000/24,000 with a 4,000 ante, Gintaras Simaitis raised to 50,000. Savov three-bet to 115,000 and action folded back to Simaitis who four-bet to 270,000. Savov tank-shipped all in and Simaitis snapped him off.
Savov rolled over the K?K?, but was ultimately behind Simaitis' A?A?. The board fell 3?Q?10?10?4? and the Bulgarian Savov was forced to settle for a $52,297 payday.
Start-of-Day 4 chip leader Ognjen Sekularac was the next player to hit the rail. Two levels later, at 20,000/40,000/5,000, Sekularac limped from the button. Vasili Firsau completed from the small blind and Thomas checked from the big blind. The flop came 8?6?Q? and there were two checks to Sekularac. He fired 60,000, which was a bet that only Firsau called. The 8? paired the board on fourth street and Virsau led into the pot for 105,000. Sekularac called to see the A? finish the board. Firsau fired 255,000 and the Serbian went into the tank for quite some time. Eventually, Andrey Shatilov called the clock, which led to Sekularac announcing that he was all in. Firsau snapped him off and showed the 8?7? for trip eights. Sekularac tabled 7?4? for absolute air and was sent packing in fifth place.
Simaitis found a fourth-place finish after he four-bet shipped all in over a three-bet from Thomas. Thomas snapped him off and the hands were revealed to find Simaitis looking for help .
Simaitis: A?8?
Thomas: Q?Q?
The flop fell 9?10?7? which seemed like a dream for Simaitis as he picked up outs to fill an open-ended straight draw. The 4? on fourth street was of no help to him and he ultimately failed to find an ace, jack, or six on the river. The 3? completed the board and Simaitis had fallen.
A massive three-handed confrontation led to the elimination of Shatilov in third place and allowed Thomas to acquire most of the chips in play. At 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante, Thomas opened his button to 125,000. Shatilov three-bet shipped all in for about 1.3 million from the small blind and Firsau cold four-bet shipped all in over the top from the big blind. Thomas snapped off both players and the hands were tabled.
Thomas: A?A?
Firsau: J?J?
Shatilov: Q?10?
Thomas was way out in front with his pocket aces and the board ran out clean with 9?3?2?4?9?. Shatilov was eliminated in third place for $116,982 while Thomas seized a death grip on the tournament.
After that hand, Thomas held a huge chip lead with 8.65 million to Firsau's 530,000. Despite Firsau finding a double on the first hand of heads-up play, he was eliminated on the next hand. Thomas raised to 125,000 from the button and called Firsau's all-in shove. Firsau showed the Q?10? and was up against Thomas' A?K?.
The flop came 8?3?2? and Thomas retained his lead with ace high. The 3? on the turn changed nothing and the J? on the river ensured that Thomas would be crowned the champion.
Firsau, who recently finished runner-up to Mohsin Charania in the WPT Grand Prix de Paris, was forced to settle for another second place and a $185,796 payday.
Data and photo courtesy of the WPT Blog.
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