PocketFiver Yevgeniy atimos Timoshenko came into the final table of the Season VII World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship holding nearly a 2:1 chip lead over his next closest competitor. In the end, he walked away as its champion, pocketing $2.1 million and becoming the second youngest WPT titleholder ever. His win marks the conclusion of Season VII, which has been tracked by PocketFivesLive.com. The site provides WPT coverage of online poker players and will now head to the Rio for the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) beginning in just four weeks. Let’s revisit the action from the final table of the WPT Championship.Timoshenko began final table play with nearly a 2:1 advantage over fellow PocketFiver Christian charder Harder, his next closest adversary. On the 21st hand, 2008 WSOP HORSE Championship winner Scotty Nguyen was sent packing from the Bellagio. Severely short-stacked, Nguyen pushed for two and a half times the big blind and was called by Harder and Shannon ShannonShorr Shorr. The two PocketFivers checked the action to the river on the A-K-2-A-7 board, when Harder bet 600,000 into a dry side pot and Shorr folded. Nguyen flipped over A-4 for trip aces, but saw that he was out-kicked by Harder’s A-9. Nguyen earned $285,000 for his sixth place showing.
Shorr (pictured at left) was bumped in fifth place from the WPT Championship, but saw his bankroll boom by $408,000. With blinds of 80,000-160,000 with a 15,000 ante, Shorr pushed from the small blind for 2.6 million. Timoshenko made the call with pocket fours and the two were off to the races. Shorr’s 6-7 could not improve and he was sent to the rails. The five million chip pot added to Timoshenko’s already dominating position at the final table, boosting the youngster’s stack size to over 22 million, or two-thirds of the chips in play. Just before Shorr’s elimination, Timoshenko had won 15 of the 42 hands at the final table, or 35%.
Two PocketFivers were eliminated on the same hand. The 63rd pot proved unfortunate for Harder and Bertrand ElkY Grospellier (pictured at right). Harder opened the action by pushing on the button for 1.9 million. Seated to his immediate left, Ran Azor made the call. Grospellier, who was in the big blind, shoved for 2.8 million and Azor called again, having both players covered. Each player turned up A-X, with Harder showing A-8, Grospellier exposing A-J, and Azor revealing A-7. A seven hit the flop and neither Harder nor Grospellier could catch up from there. Harder took fourth place for $571,000, while Grospellier officially finished third for $776,000. Grospellier became the Season VII WPT Player of the Year by virtue of his third place effort. Last season, that honor went to Jonathan FieryJustice Little. The WPT Player of the Year receives an automatic bid to the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.Timoshenko entered heads-up play against Azor holding 23 million chips to Azor’s 10 million. On the 144th hand, Timoshenko shoved with A-3 and Azor called for his tournament life with Q-10. The flop came Q-J-7, temporarily giving Azor the lead in the hand with top pair. The turn came a king, leaving Timoshenko needing to catch a 10 or ace on the river. The river came the 10 of spades, which sealed the win for the PocketFiver with a straight. He became the second youngest WPT titleholder ever, trailing only Nick TheTakeover Schulman. Timoshenko was 21 years, two months, and 15 days yesterday, while Schulman was exactly 21 years and two months when he won at Foxwoods in 2005.
Timoshenko told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman after play had concluded, “It feels great. Things went my way and I’m really happy for that. The final table was extremely tough, so I definitely didn’t set my standards high. All of the guys at the final table were capable of playing, so I didn’t expect to win. I just hoped to win and luckily it all worked out for me.” PocketFivesLive.com Tournament Reporter Court Harrington, who has been on site covering all of the action, added, “Twenty-one year-old Timoshenko showed the poise and calm of someone twice his age on one of the biggest stages in poker. He played solidly, efficiently, and patiently, making sure to put himself in a position to maximize his chip lead at the final table and then to capitalize during heads-up play."
Here were the final results from the WPT Championship:1. Yevgeniy Timoshenko - $2,149,960
2. Ran Azor - $1,446,265
3. Bertrand Grospellier - $776,245
4. Christian Harder - $571,965 (pictured at right)
5. Shannon Shorr - $408,550
6. Scotty Nguyen - $285,985
Other PocketFivers who cashed included:
7. Brian tsarrast Rast - $204,275
16. Blake Balla-B13 Cahail - $65,370
17. Owen ocrowe Crowe - $65,370
20. Marco CrazyMarco Johnson - $65,370
26. Steve MySmokey1 Billirakis - $49,025
36. Jonathan FatalError Aguiar - $40,855
50. Cody thugmoneymkr Slaubaugh - $32,685
PocketFivesLive.com now heads to the 2009 WSOP beginning on May 28th with the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event commemorating the 40th running of the tournament series. PocketFivesLive.com will be roving the halls of the Rio throughout the entire two month-long affair providing the world’s best WSOP coverage of online poker players. Visit PocketFivesLive.com today.
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