After Eddie Hearne and Jesse May announced the line up and first round matches last month for the inaugural PKR Heads Up Grand Slam it was clear that this tournament was set to wet the lips of poker fans around the globe ahead of the WSOP Main Event final table in November.
With top players such as Peter Eastgate, Annette Obrestad, David ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, Ivan Demidov, David Williams, Phil Laak, Tom ‘Durrr’ Dwan, Tony G and Juha Helppi only a handful of the superstars that footed the $10,000 entry fee to play in this tournament the six players that would earn their place through online play would have their work cut out if they stood any chance of progressing past the first round.
Vladmir ‘Benye’ Geshkenbein was the player who came out on top to win the $120,000 top prize after beating American online high stakes player Alex Keating in the first round. He went on to beat online qualifier Brahim Hajji in the 2nd round and took down David Steicke in the Quarter finals. In the Semi finals he took down PKR pro James Sudworth to set himself up for a final showdown with Juha Helppi.
Helppi’s route to the final saw him beat online qualifiers Jonas Westerlund and Alec Tovelli as well as Vicky Coren and Ian Frazer. The 3rd place play off saw Tovelli win $45,000 after beating James Sudworth. For his efforts Sudworth took home $35,000.
Benye used the same style of aggressive play that had got him to the final table immediately after sitting down next to his Finnish opponent. With his chips rapidly going across the table to Vladmir, Helppi chose to make a stand with A6 as he announced all in. Benye called with Q9 of diamonds and with a little luck he hit his flush as runner runner diamonds hit the board on the turn and river.
Vladmir Geshkenbein remained confident throughout the tournament and believed that going into every match thinking he would win is what ultimately handed him the top prize. Juha Helppi was happy with the way he played and thought that on the day he just didn’t get any cards. For his second place finish he collected prize money on $70,000.
PKR is now available to Mac owners after the released compatible software late last month.
