Andre Boyer Wins Event #34: $1,500 Split-Format No-Limit Hold'em
A four-day tournament with one day devoted to six-max play and another devoted to a two-round heads-up bracket. If that sounds like a format that suits online-bred players used to short-handed play and able to grind out long, draining hours, that's probably because it is.
However, it was a player from the old school emerging to top the field in Event #34: $1,500 Split-Format No-Limit Hold'em at the 2015 World Series of Poker. Quebec's Andre Boyer, 72, defeated a field of 873 to take down his second gold bracelet and $250,483 in prize money.
The split-format mechanic meant Day 1 was comprised of full-table play, Day 2 was six-max, and Day 3 was heads up, with each player who emerged from two matches making up a final table of eight.
Back in 2005, Boyer beat noted pro Matt Glantz heads up in a $3,000 no-limit hold'em event, winning $682,810 in prize money. His first taste of big time tournament success predates even 2005, though. Back in 1996, he advanced to the final table of the Main Event. There, he finished sixth for $97,500 in the tournament eventually won by Huck Seed.
Boyer still ranks his first bracelet win as the most special moment of his poker career, but this one was special for a different reason, as both Boyer and his heads-up opponent, Frenchman Erwann Pecheux, enjoyed the support of a raucous francophone crowd.
The moment very nearly never came for Boyer, though, as he was down to his last card and in need of major help against Pecheux. At a severe chip deficit, Boyer shoved his last few big blinds in with 
on a 
flop and got called by Pecheux and his 
. The 
gave Boyer hope of a chop, but he got one better in the 
river. Just six hands later, it was all over and the septuagenarian had his second bracelet.
“Poker is no different than any other trade,” he observed. “A plumber doesn't do plumbing today like he did 15 years ago. The players who can adapt to the changes in poker can make it.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andre Boyer | Quebec, Canada | $250,483 |
| 2 | Erwann Pecheux | France | $156,098 |
| 3 | Andrew Gaw | Philippines | $109,015 |
| 4 | Chris Bolek | Boca Raton, FL | $76,605 |
| 5 | Gavin O'Rourke | Portloaise, Ireland | $55,981 |
| 6 | Jonas Christensen | Holback, Denmark | $41,249 |
| 7 | Idan Raviv | Holon, Israel | $30,053 |
| 8 | Isaac Kawa | Brussels, Belgium | $21,096 |