2009 WSOP Europe: £10,000 No-Limit Hold'em

The £10,000 buy-in WSOP Europe Main Event just concluded after a grueling heads-up match between Barry Shulman and Daniel Negreanu, who finished 5th in this tournament last year. Heads-up play between them took nearly as long as it did for the final table of nine to reach two.

After an up and down battle, Shulman emerged victorious over Negreanu. For a moment, the bracelet was all but on Negreanu's wrist. In a pot where Negreanu barely covered Shulman, the two got all-in on a Jack-Eight-Five flop. Negreanu showed Queen-Jack and Shulman turned over pocket Aces. A Jack on the turn was a dagger in Shulman's heart and essentially cemented Negreanu as the WSOP Europe champion. However, the final card was an Ace to send Shulman to a towering chip lead!

Shulman, who will take home £801,000 from this victory, is the father of Jeff Shulman who is 4th in chips in the WSOP Main Event heading into November's final table.

With his 2nd place finish (£495,000), Negreanu passed Jamie Gold to become the all-time leading money winner in live poker tournaments. However, Phil Ivey will pass Negreanu on this list with a finish of 6th place or better at the November Main Event final table.

Two other players that will be at November's final table also made the final table in this event. Incidentally, they are the only two non-Americans at November's final table; Antoine Saout finished 6th for £114,000 and James Akenhead finished 9th for £66,000.

One of the game's hottest young players, Jason Mercier, came into the final table with a commanding chip lead but had to settle for 4th place (£267,000).

Return to Poker News