The World Series of Poker (WSOP)’s foray into Europe was firmly established as a premier event by 2011. Four festivals occurred between 2007 and 2010, all of which had taken place in London, England. However, the WSOP was on the move and traveled south to France, where the Majestic Barrière Cannes and the Le Croisette Casino Barrière in Cannes would both play host to the action in the 2011 WSOP Europe festival.
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British Hopes Dashed as Events Multiply
It was to be quite a series, with British players standing outside of the winner’s circle. Scottish player Fraser McIntyre won a side event, while no other WSOP bracelet would be claimed by a player from the British Isles. The number of events also increased, with seven tournaments being run, up from five the previous year.
The opening event cost around €2,680 to play and was, like the previous year’s opening event, a 6-Max No Limit Hold’em tournament. Populated by 360 entries, it was won by the Swiss player Guillaume Humbert, who scooped the top prize at the expense of runner-up Azusa Maeda. In Event #2, the play was nine-handed, as 771 entries each put up a €1,000 entry fee. Australian Andrew Hinrichsen was the first-time bracelet winner, taking home €148,030 as he defeated a final table that included an eventual Triple Crown winner, Welsh poker player Roberto Romanello.
Two Americans won bracelets in Events #3 and #4, as Steve Billirakis won the €5,300 entry Pot Limit Omaha Event, topping 180 players and a final table that included British poker legend Sam Trickett to win the top prize of €238,140. In Event #4, there were 258 entries in the €3,200 No Limit Hold’em Shootout Event, as Tristan Wade took gold, beating Mike ‘SirWatts’ Watson in a heads-up battle of North America. Poker icons including Max Silver, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier and Steve O’Dwyer all made the final table but ultimately fell just short, as did ninth-placed British hope James ‘Flushy’ Dempsey.
‘Grinder’ Takes Mixed Game Honors
In the fifth event of seven to finish, Philippe Boucher claimed victory for Canada and won €124,584 at a truly continental final table. The €1,620 entry Event #6 6-Handed PLO Event saw nine players at the final table, each representing a different country. Portuguese player Michel Dattani came second for €76,982, and Chilean Nicolas Fierro won €53,426 in third place. All finished ahead of players from Ukraine, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States, and France.
The last event to be completed before the Main Event was a massive €10,400 buy-in as 125 entries took part in Event #5 Split Format No Limit Hold’em tournament. Something of a Poker Players Championship for Europe, it was no surprise when Michael ‘Grinder’ Mizrachi took the title, after all, this was a man who to date has won not one or two but three PPC crowns, claiming the Chip Reese trophy so often that its practically his home tournament.
With the charismatic Frenchman Roger Hairabedian being the only home country hero to cheer on, France fell short in third place as their man won €112,092 but no gold. Mizrachi’s victory was worth a staggering €336,008, as he beat Shawn ‘Bucky’ Buchanan heads-up, leaving the Canadian to claim a bumper runner-up prize of €207,604 instead. Others to cash in the event included Brian Hastings (8th for €54,810) along with both Erik Seidel (12th) and Jason Mercier (9th), both of whom earned €26,618.
WSOP Europe Main Event Breaks Record
With an incredible 593 entries, the €10,400 WSOP Europe Main Event of 2011 broke new ground in terms of attendance. To put the attendance in context, it had taken 30 years for the Las Vegas WSOP Main Event to bring in a field of over 500 players, whereas the European version achieved the same in its fifth season. This can be attributed to ‘The Moneymaker Effect’, which has virtually ensured bumper attendances ever since Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas after qualifying for the Las Vegas showpiece via online satellite costing just $86.
Of the total field of 593, just 64 players would make the money places, with some of the biggest names in poker taking part. Belgian poker crusher Pierre Neuville min-cashed for €20,000 in 64th place, with others such as Barny Boatman (51st for €21,475), Liv Boeree (36th for €27,500), Maria Ho (27th for €32,000), Erik Seidel (21st for €37,000) and Patrik Antonius (9th for €90,000) all missing out on the seven-figure prizes at the top of the payout tree.
In the 10th hand of the official final table, Irish player Max Silver busted in eighth place with ace-king to Chris Moorman’s pocket jacks. Silver’s exit was followed by that of an even bigger British and Irish hero, as Jake Cody crashed out. The faster player ever to win a poker Triple Crown (an EPT, WPT and WSOP title) – Cody was just 22 – lost out when his pocket jacks were unluckily overtaken by Elio Fox’s pocket tens. A board of 8-7-6-9-6 cruelly robbed Cody of the chance of going much further than seventh place but did earn him a result of €150,000.
Moorman Outfoxed at the Last
The final six began their assault on the crown with Shawn Buchanan on the shortest stack. ‘Bucky’ was all-in with the better hand in an attempt to double up, shoving with pocket tens. Dermot Blain was his caller with ace-four, and while Bucky was ahead all of the way to the river, a cruel board of Q-3-2-7-A paired the Irishman’s ace on fifth street. Blain was on the up, but no sooner had he enjoyed raking in that pot than he was on the rail. Blain shoved with king-queen but was tank-called by Brian Roberts with ace-jack. An ace on the flop made eliminating Blain easy work and the field was down to four.
The elimination of one player was once again followed by their conqueror seeing the door next. Roberts lost out when short-stacked with jack-eight, losing to Moorman’s queen-four in cruel fashion. A flop of 8-7-6 put Roberts into the lead but after a deuce fell on the turn, a five appeared on the river to complete the gutshot for the British player’s straight, sending the American home with €400,000.
The Final Two For the Bracelet
Moritz Kranich busted in third place for €550,000 before Moorman and Elio Fox began the final battle. Fox held the chip lead with 11.09 million chips to Moorman’s 6.72 million. That lead grew to the point where Fox had around 15.7 million to Moorman’s 2.1 million, as the British player called off his stack with ace-seven. Fox turned over ace-ten and was still ahead after the 6-4-3 flop, albeit with four more outs being added to Moorman’s wishlist.
Another six on the turn meant any three or four would split the pot, and any five or seven would see Moorman double-up to survive. An eight came instead to give Elio Fox the WSOP Europe Main Event title and €1.4 million in winnings, with Moorman, who has since become the most successful online tournament poker player of all time, forced to settle for a runner-up score of €800,000.
After four successful years in London, England, France had performed admirably in hosting seven stellar events and crowning a new champion. It wasn’t goodbye but au revoir, as the WSOP Europe would return to France in 2012.
| Player | Country | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Elio Fox | United States | €1,400,000 |
| 2nd | Chris Moorman | United Kingdom | €800,000 |
| 3rd | Moritz Kranich | Germany | €550,000 |
| 4th | Brian Roberts | United States | €400,000 |
| 5th | Dermot Blain | Ireland | €275,000 |
| 6th | Shawn Buchanan | Canada | €200,000 |
| 7th | Jake Cody | United Kingdom | €150,000 |
| 8th | Max Silver | United Kingdom | €115,000 |
| 9th | Patrik Antonius | Finland | €90,000 |
2010 WSOP Europe 2012 WSOP Europe
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.