Fox may not be a household name around the world just yet but this latest victory will go some distance to ensuring that everyone knows his name from now on. The American had already started to make a name for himself in the States after winning the $1,590 event at the Deep Stack Extravaganza in Las Vegas back in June ($87,192) and following that up by winning the $10,000 Bellagio Cup VII the following month ($669,692). Now he has the most sought after jewellery in the poker world, a WSOP bracelet and of course the massive €1,400,000 ($1,870,208) first place prize.

Although Fox started as the chip leader going into the final table, the eyes of the media were fixated on the three British players still in with a chance of bringing home the gold for the UK. But those three quickly became two as Max Silver was sent home for an early bath after just ten hands when his ace-king could not improve against fellow Brit Chris Moorman’s pocket jacks. Pocket jacks would also prove to be the downfall of another British player 74 hands later.

With blinds now 25,000/50,000/5,000a Fox raised to 110,000 first in from the hijack seat. Jake Cody was on thebutton and he three-bet to 260,000 only to see Fox come over the top of him and bet 600,000. Cody ceased the moment and went all in holding JhJd and was snap-called by Fox and his 10h10c. The flop came down 8d7c6h, which kept Cody in from but gave Fox outs to a straight and the straight came in as the 9h landed on the turn. The 6s on the river was not what Cody wanted to see and he was sent to the rail in seventh place, whilst Fox stacked up more than 7,500,000 chips, around 40% of the total chips in play.

From then on Fox’s win never looked in doubt and by the time he found himself heads up against Moorman, he had worked himself into a substantial 11,095,000 to 6,720,000 lead. Heads up lasted exactly 34 hands and the final one saw Fox min-raise to 200,000, Moorman three-bet to 430,000 then call off his last 2,100,000 when Fox moved all in. Fox had Moorman dominated with his Ad10s being superior to the Ah7s of the Brit and when the final board ran out 4s-3h-6s-6d-8h it was all over, Fox had won the Main Event and Moorman was resigned to his second runner-up finish in WSOP events this year.

Final table results

1st: Elio Fox – €1,400,000
2nd: Chris Moorman – €800,000
3rd: Moritz Kranich – €550,000
4th: Brian Roberts – €400,000
5th: Dermot Blain – €275,000
6th: Shawn Buchanan – €200,000
7th: Jake Cody – €150,000
8th: Max Silver – €115,000

Over the four official days of play Fox has turned his 30,000 starting stack into 3,990,000 chips, which is more than 1,300,000 more than his nearest rival Jake Cody. Although Fox has everyone out-chipped he has drawn a very difficult seat as he has the highly aggressive Max Silver to his right and then Dermot Blain and the aforementioned Cody to his left meaning he is unlikely to have an easy ride when the final table kicks off at 1345 CET.

Cody starts the day with 2,685,000 chips and is on course to become the first player to win WSOPE, WSOP, EPT and WPT titles. He is one of three Brits on the final table, the others being Silver and the online poker legend that is Chris “Moorman1” Moorman. The latter starts the day in fourth place with 2,230,000 chips at his disposal and will be looking to go one better than his runner-up finish in the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event at the WSOP in Las Vegas.

Helping make up the final eight is American Brian Roberts who is better-known in online poker circles as “Flawless Victory.” Roberts was part of the high stakes cash game players who featured in the documentary “Two Months. Two Million,” which saw four cash game players attempt to win $2,000,000 in two months playing online. None of the players will be thinking of the money when play resumes and Roberts certainly will not as he showed in the television show that he has a complete disregard for the money involved and can still think straight when faced with a decision that could cost him hundreds of thousands of Euros.

Also on the final table is Moritz Kranich of Germany. Kranich won the 2009 EPT Deauville and he took down the $10,000 Bellagio Cup VI in 2010 for a career best score of $875,150. Last but certainly not least is Canadian Shawn Buchanan who has had a fantastic WSOPE in Cannes. Not including this tournament, Buchanan has cashed three times, including coming second in the $10,400 Mixed Game event and if he picks up some chips early on he will be one of the biggest threats at the final table.

Play resumes at 1345 CET with each player guaranteed at least €115,000 in prize money but anyone picking up that amount will be disappointed as it will mean they have blown their chances of the massive €1,400,000 first place prize. Tune in tomorrow to discover who became the 2011 WSOPE Main Event Champion.

Seat Draw for WSOPE Final Table

Seat 1: Max Silver – 1,825,000
Seat 2: Elio Fox – 3,990,000
Seat 3: Dermot Blain – 2,405,000
Seat 4: Jake Cody – 2,685,000
Seat 5: Shawn Buchanan – 1,015,000
Seat 6: Moritz Kranich – 1,660,000
Seat 7: Chris Moorman – 2,230,000
Seat 8: Brian Roberts – 2,000,000

The split format event was a new addition to the WSOPE schedule and after the fantastic response it received from the 125 players who participated in it, it is likely the tournament will make a return at the 2012 WSOPE. Day 1 saw players seated at nine-handed tables, Day 2 they switched to six-handed and then heads-up on Day 3.

Mizrachi had four difficult heads up opponents but you would not have thought so if you saw how he demolished them. The first to feel Mizrachi’s wrath was Kent Lundmark, the winner of the 2010 European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event. The young Swede was sent to the rail in less than 30 minutes and Brian Hastings did not fare any better, in fact he was busted out even faster!

Roger Hairabedian was the semi-final opponent of “The Grinder” and after a drawn out match where the pair seemed content to play for small pot a hand came out of nowhere. Mizrachi raised to 26,000 (blinds 6,000/12,000/2,000a) and Hairabedian called. The Jh-5s-8s flop saw Hairabedian lead out with a bet of 30,000 and Mizrachi quickly call. The 4d on the turn saw Hairabedian bet 80,000,Mizrachi raise to 480,000 and then snap-call when “Big Roger” moved all in. Hairabedian turned over 5c5h for a set of fives but “The Grinder” had turned a straight with his 7c6h. The 3s on the river failed to fill Hairabedian up and he was eliminated, setting up a final battle between Mizrachi and Shawn Buchanan.

Due to the players carrying over their chips from previous round instead if having them reset Mizrachi held a two-to-one chip lead over Buchanan, though Buchanan’s stack was still worth 120 big blinds! Mizrachi went on the attack from the very start of the tournament and was relentless right up to busting Buchanan. The final hand, around 90 minutes into the match, saw Buchanan raise to 25,000, Mizrachi move all in and Buchanan call off his remaining 425,000 chips with AcJd. A double up looked on the cards as Mizrachi turned over a dominated AhTd but the final board ran out Tc-6s-3d-2d-2h, gifting Mizrachi the win, his second WSOP bracelet at the €336,008 first place prize.

According to the Hendon Mob database Mizrachi now has $11,909,020 in cashes in live tournaments, which puts him in sixth place in the all-time money listings.

Steve Billirakis is a highly rated poker player who has had some tremendous results including winning the $5,000 World Championship Mixed Hold’em event at the 2007 World Series of Poker and now he has added another win and another bracelet to his already impressive resume by winning the €5,300 Pot Limit Omaha event at the World Series of Poker Europe.

Since his first result in a tracked tournament back in 2004 Billirakis has won three major tournaments and reached a total of nine final tables, which have helped him to win more than $2,110,000 in live tournament winnings. However, this latest result may be the Chicago residents best performance when you consider who entered the tournament and who made it to the final table with him.

David Benyamine, Shawn Buchanan, Jason Mercier and Oleksii Kovalchuk all made it to the money place, whilst Billirakis was kept company on the final table by November Nine member Eoghan O’Dea, WSOP-C winner Sam Chartier, Jerome Bradpeice, Sam Trickett and Ramzi Jelassi so his victory was most certainly well deserved.

Billirakis went into the heads up encounter with Michele Di Lauro with a slight chip lead but he won a massive 1,000,000 chip pot on the very first hand that gave him a five-to-one chip advantage. All the chips went into the middle during the very next hand when Di Lauro raised to 44,000 then called Billirakis’ 130,000 three-bet. A flop reading As-Kd-7c was greeted a 70,000 continuation bet from Billirakis and all in shove from Di Lauro and a very quick call. The players turned over their hands:

Billirakis: Ac-Kh-Qd-3h for top two pair
Di Lauro: Ah-Jh-10c-4h for top pair with a gutshot straight draw.

The turn and river were the 3s and 9c respectively and with that Di Lauro became the runner-up and Billirakis the latest WSOPE champion. Almost immediately after the tournament had finished Billirakis entered the €10,300 split event that is currently taking place, where Day 1 is played nine-handed, Day 2 six-handed and Day 3 in a heads up format! It has attracted some of the biggest names in the business.

Final table payouts

1st: Steve Billirakis – €238,140
2nd: Michele Di Lauro – €147,171
3rd: Ramzi Jelassi – €105,937
4th: Sam Trickett – €77,642
5th: Jerome Bradpiece – €57,912
6th: Konstantin Uspenskiy – €43,950
7th: Erich Kollmann – €33,922
8th: Sam Chartier – €26,610
9th: Eoghan O’Dea – €21,221

On home turf and in front of a large and vociferous support ,the 24 year old Londoner won his first World Series of Poker title after beating defending champion and double bracelet winner JP Kelley heads up. The final hand saw both players move in all pre-flop with Shelley holding pocket threes against Kelly’s Queen-Jack. The race was all but over when Shelley hit a set on the flop.

A clearly stunned Shelley said “I think I’ll wake up soon. I can’t believe that I’ve won a bracelet and a six figure cheque!” As well as the coveted gold bracelet, Shelley also takes home £133,857 – which represents an impressive return on the £100 he spent to win his seat in a special PKR staff satellite that took place at the PKR offices the previous week.

Shelly’s win was all the more remarkable given his heads up opponent. Widely recognised as one of the game’s premier young talents, Kelly was aiming for a place in the poker history books on several levels. A win would have made him one of the select few to win back-to-back World Series events, the first person to win two WSOPE bracelets and would also have seen him overtake the legendary Phil Ivey in becoming the youngest player to win three WSOP titles.

The third of five gold bracelet events at this year’s World Series of Poker Europe is winding down to an exciting conclusion.

A starting field size of 582 entrants in the £1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event has been whittled down to just nine players. Survivors will return Tuesday, September 21st at 2 PM to London’s luxurious Casino at the Empire, where they will take their seats at the final table. At stake is £133,857 in first place prize money plus the most coveted prize in poker – a WSOP gold bracelet.
Coming into the final table, the chip leader is Kevah Payman, from Vancouver, BC (Canada). He previously cashed in the first event held at WSOP Europe. Payman took 23th place in the Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em championship. Payman is in great position to earn what would be a first-ever WSOP victory. He works as a home theatre installer, but plays poker seriously part-time.

Ranked second in chips is Mehdi Senhaji, from Casablanca, Morocco. He is a student who is playing in his first WSOP tournament ever. He entered this event by winning a single-table satellite. Should Senhaji win, he would become the first Moroccan champion in history. In fact, he would become the first WSOP winner ever from the continent of Africa.

However, much attention will be focused on J.P. Kelly, from Aylesbury, UK. The two-time WSOP gold bracelet champion won this same event last year, held in London. Should he win tomorrow, he would become the first player to successfully defend a WSOP title since Thang Luu won back-to-back Omaha High-Low Split gold bracelets in 2007 and 2008. The last player to accomplish consecutive wins in the game Hold’em was Phil Hellmuth, who won back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993 ($5,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em). In fact, the list of Hold’em back-to-back winners is a short one indeed, consisting of Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, Stu Ungar, and Doyle Brunson. One expects that Kelly would be quite pleased to add his name to that illustrious list.

Furthermore, Kelly could set additional marks of distinction. Should he win, he would become the first British player ever to win three WSOP gold bracelets. He is currently tied with Chris Bjorin and Praz Bansi in wins with two. He could also become the youngest three-time gold bracelet winner in WSOP history, at 24 years, 7 months, and 11 days. That would eclipse the mark set by Phil Ivey in 1993.

Here are the nine players and starting chip counts when final table play begins at 2 pm on Tuesday:

SEAT 1: Karim Jomeen (London, UK) — 109,000 in chips
SEAT 2: Scott Shelley (London, UK) — 148,000 in chips
SEAT 3: Nickey Katz (London, UK) — 150,000 in chips
SEAT 4: Paul Pitchford (Sutton-on-Ashfield, UK) — 77,000 in chips
SEAT 5: Jeppe Bisgaard (Copenhagen, Denmark) — 171,000 in chips
SEAT 6: Mehdi Senhaji (Casablanca, Morocco) — 369,000 in chips
SEAT 7: Kevah Payman (Vancouver, BC Canada) — 434,000 in chips
SEAT 8: J.P. Kelly (Aylesbury, UK) — 242,000 in chips
SEAT 9: Jack Lyman (London, UK) — 55,000 in chips

Turnout for the £1,000 buy-in tournament was so large that three starting days were necessary to accommodate the field of 582 players. Day 1-A was played on Friday. Day 1-B was played on Saturday. Day 1-C was completed on Sunday. Today, the 80 survivors from the three starting days combined into a single field for the first time and played down to the final nine.

Among those who did not survive this day was Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler (Las Vegas, NV). He was eliminated in 38th place, but did manage to cash. When combined with his eight cashes earlier in Las Vegas, this marked his ninth overall in-the-money finish at this year’s WSOP. Kessler now has a chance to tie (or break) the all-time record for most WSOP cashes in a single year set by Nikolay Evdakov in 2008. Two more gold bracelet events remain.

The schedule closes out with the £10,000 buy-in Heads-Up High Roller No-Limit Hold’em championship to be played on Tuesday, starting at 5 pm. The £10,000 buy-in Main Event championship begins on Thursday, starting at noon.

The first event winner at this year’s London series was Phil Laak (Las Vegas, NV USA). Jeffrey Lisandro (Salerno, Italy) was the winner of the second event.

Through the first three events of WSOP Europe, overall attendance is up slightly over last year. The 2010 edition of WSOP Europe continues through September 28th.

The Day 1-C chip leader is Leonard Truche from France. He currently has 42,400 in chips, which is about twice the average stack size at this point. Truche, who has recorded several min-cashes in tournaments played throughout Europe, is in his best position yet to make a deep run in a WSOP competition. Truche accummulated most of his chips on a huge confrontation late in the day versus another big stack when his pocket jacks won a critical race versus ace-king.

However, the overall chip leader from all three combined starting days is Wes Pantling, from Canada. He has three previous WSOP cashes, two of which took place earlier this year in Las Vegas. His brother Andrew Pantling final tabled the first event and ended up finishing second. Pantling has 56,200 in his stack.

Other notable names up on the leader board include Matthew Jarvis (Canada) who is one of this year’s famed “November Nine.” Jarvis is hoping to become the second WSOP Main Event finalist to final table an event here in London. The previous day, John Racener came in fifth in the Pot-Limit Omaha championship. Former gold bracelet winners who remain alive include J.P. Kelly (UK) and Scott Fischman (USA).

Things did not go nearly as well for some other notable names at this year’s London series. Two-time gold bracelet winner Chris Bjorin’s unprecedented bid to make a fourth consecutive WSOP Europe final table came up far short as he was eliminated early on the first day of play. Willie Tann was also shooting for the third final table this year, but was eliminated. More than three dozen former gold bracelet winners also hit the rail during the first day of play.

Another player who did not survive was named Habib Paracha. He participated in his first WSOP event ever in this tournament. Paracha flew all the way to London from his home in Karachi, Pakistan in order to play in the world’s most prestigious poker series. While he did not finish in-the-money, Paracha hopes to play in more events in the future. He was thrilled to enter and collected several autographs from poker celebrities who were present as a nice consolation prize. Indeed, Paracha illustrates the tremendous appeal of the WSOP in attracting players from many different nations and backgrounds.

Turnout for the £1,000 buy-in tournament was so large that three starting days were necessary to accommodate the field of 582 players. Day 1-A was played on Friday. Day 1-B was played on Saturday. Day 1-C was completed on Sunday. The 80 survivors from the three starting days return to Casino at the Empire on Monday afternoon for a 2 pm restart. Players will continue until the final table of nine players has been determined. The final table will be played on Tuesday afternoon, scheduled for a 2 pm start.

Through the first three events of WSOP Europe, overall attendance is up slightly over last year. Two more gold bracelet events remain on this year’s schedule, including the £10,000 buy-in Heads-Up High Roller No-Limit Hold’em championship to be played on Tuesday, which starts at 5 pm. The £10,000 buy-in Main Event championship will begin on Thursday, starting at noon.

The first event winner at this year’s London series was Phil Laak (Las Vegas, NV USA). Jeffrey Lisandro (Salerno, Italy) was the winner of the second event. However, neither player is still alive in this tournament. The 2010 edition of WSOP Europe continues through September 28th.

The victory gives Lisandro exalted status within the poker world, as he continues to acquire victories and achieve quasi-immortal status. Gold bracelet number five won in London places him in a tie for 12th place on the all-time WSOP wins list — along with such luminaries as Stu Ungar, Berry Johnston, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, Scotty Nguyen, Ted Forrest and Gary “Bones” Berland. Not a bad group to be included in, when it comes to poker.

Joseph Serock, a 22-year-old poker pro from Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA) took second place, worth £98,262 (approximately $165,000 USD) and some valuable final table and short-handed experience against several of the best poker players in the game today. This is Serock’s second runner-up finish at the WSOP. In 2009, he won $341,783 in a Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event at the 40th Annual WSOP. In just two short years of play, Serock has amassed more than $650,000 in WSOP winnings and now has ten in-the-money finishes. Not many players can claim such impressive results.

The three-day tournament concluded early Sunday morning at Casino at the Empire in London. This was the second of five events scheduled this year at World Series of Poker Europe.

The Pot-Limit Omaha championship has been part of the WSOP Europe schedule each and every year since inception. Previous PLO champions include Dario Alioto (Italy) in 2007, Theo Jorgensen (Denmark) in 2008 and Jani Vilmunen (Finland) in 2009.

This was one of the most star-studded Pot-Limit Omaha tournaments in recent memory. Of the 120 entrants, more than two dozen players were former WSOP gold bracelet winners. Many more were among the top PLO specialists in Europe.

Lisandro overcame a valiant effort from the 22-year-old Serock, who despite a lack of live tournament experience proved his mettle throughout. But ultimately Lisandro was too much for the young lion, en route to a thrilling gold bracelet victory — his fourth WSOP gold bracelet within the last 15 months. No other player has won so many titles within that period.

The final table included four former WSOP gold bracelet winners – including Chris Bjorin (London, UK), Willie Tann (London, UK) and Jeff Madsen (Los Angeles, CA USA). Two of the finalists were former WSOP “Player of the Year” winners – including Madsen (2006) and Lisandro (2009). Furthermore, Bjorin and Tann each made their second consecutive final table at this year’s London series.

In addition, this table included John Racener, a member of the 2010 WSOP Main Event Final Table. Racener, a “November Niner,” could certainly be proud of a fine effort and a confidence-builder in preparation for the biggest game of his life which will take place during November’s restart in Las Vegas. He finished fifth place in this event, worth another £39,486 to his burgeoning bankroll.

The total prize pool amounted to ₤600,000. The top 18 finishers collected prize money. Day Two ran nearly 14 hours due to an unusually long hand-for-hand sequence, when play remained locked at 19-handed. With players one spot away from the money, hands were dealt out one at a time per table in order to reach the 18th payout position. Normally, hand-for-hand takes no more than 30 minutes to an hour to complete. However, hand-for-hand took more than three hours in this tournament, leaving just about everyone exhausted at the end of a very long night.

Also of note — with yet another impressive in-the-money showing, two-time gold bracelet winner Chris Bjorin now has six WSOP Europe cashes and four final table appearances — the most by any player. Since this was only the 13th gold bracelet presented in Europe, this means Bjorin has cashed in almost half of all events and final-tabled nearly one-third of all tournaments played in London, so far.

He’s won major tournaments. He cashed dozens of times. He played in high-stakes poker games on television and among celebrities. He’s traveled around the world playing poker. He’s become famous. He dates a movie star. He even set a world record for the most consecutive hours spent playing poker (at 115). It seemed, the one thing Phil Laak had not done was win a WSOP gold bracelet.

Until now.
Laak, a.k.a. the “Unabomber” achieved a monumental breakthrough victory in the ₤2,500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em championship (Event #1). This was the first of five events scheduled at this year’s tournament series played at London’s Casino at the Empire. The colorful Las Vegas resident and poker pro collected ₤170,802 for first place, which is the equivalent of about $270,000 (USD).

Laak overcame long odds and a strong second-place showing by Andrew Pantling, from Malta by way of Toronto, Canada. Pantling dominated play during most of the three-day tournament. He seized the chip lead late on Day One. He continued to hold the lead throughout Day Two and arrived at the final table way ahead in chips by nearly a 2 to 1 margin over his closest rival. Once the final table began, Pantling was never in serious danger of relinquishing his advantage, that is, until he became embattled in a heads-up duel with Laak. It was Laak who was the recipient of a fortuitous flurry of good fortune en route to a thrilling first-ever gold bracelet victory.

The win was particularly pleasing to Laak at this moment in history. Laak finished second five years ago in a WSOP heads-up match against Johnny Chan, who won his then-record tenth gold bracelet. He came to the final table with his right arm in a cast and sling, the result of a serious accident while riding an ATV last month. Laak, who was cheered on by his biggest fan — Hollywood actress and former gold bracelet winner Jennifer Tilly — seemed far more serious than his usual unpredictable persona. While he was talking incessantly throughout the finale, the carnival-like antics that usually accompany a high-profile finale were missing on this occasion. Perhaps that was due to the gravity of the moment and the special significance of finally achieving a long-elusive gold bracelet.

The final table included two former WSOP gold bracelet winners – Chris Bjorin (London, UK) and Willie Tann (London, UK). Also present were Ilan Rouah (Strasburg, France), Andrew Pantling (Malta), and David Peters (Toledo, OH USA).

The tournament was a complete sell out, attracting a capacity crowd totaling 244 entries. The prize pool amounted to ₤610,000. The top 24 finishers collected prize money. Among those who cashed was John Tabatabai (Cardiff, UK), who was the runner up to Annette Obrestad when she won the inaugural WSOP Europe championship held in 2007.

With yet another impressive third-place finish, two-time former gold bracelet winner Chris Bjorin now has five WSOP Europe cashes and three final table appearances — the most by any player. Since this was only the 12th gold bracelet presented in Europe, that means Bjorin has cashed in 42 percent of events and final tabled one quarter of all tournaments played in London.