Poker Articles

The World Series of Poker Europe Main Event wrapped up on Thursday night. The last PocketFiver standing in the £10,000 buy-in tournament was none other than Scott emptyseat88 Fischman, who hit the rails in sixth place, pocketing £171,950 in the process. For Fischman, it was his first in the money finish in a World Series of Poker bracelet event in 2008. His elimination marked a rousing conclusion to the 2008 tournament series for PocketFivesLive.com, which played home to WSOP Europe coverage. Tournament Reporter Court Harrington now heads back across the pond to Niagara Falls, site of the World Poker Tour’s North American Poker Championship, which starts on October 10th.

Stanislav Alekhin sent Fischman packing on the 55th hand of final table play. After a flop of 10-J-A with two diamonds, Fischman pushed all in with A-Q. Unfortunately, he ran into the nuts, as Alekhin held K-Q. The turn and river blanked out, ousting Fischman from the WSOPE Main Event. Harrington commented on Fischman’s deep run through the bracelet tournament: “Scott had a great tournament and the misfortune of running into the hottest player at the final table. Fischman doesn't play a lot of live tourneys, but when he shows up, he always comes to play and brings with him one of the best games in poker.”

Fischman is a two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner; both of his pieces of hardware came in 2004. For his first bracelet, he took down a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold'em tournament for $300,000. Three events later, he won a $2,000 buy-in HORSE tournament for $100,200. He finished second in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event in 2005 for $352,000 and has nearly $850,000 to his name in career WSOP earnings.

Here were the final cashes by PocketFivers in the WSOP Europe Main Event. The top 36 places paid out:
6th Place: Scott emptyseat88 Fischman (£171,950)
10th Place: Peter number1pen Neff (£54,300)
15th Place: Brian aba20 Townsend (£45,250)
16th Place: Justin Boosted J Smtih (£36,200)
24th Place: Tim Tmay420 West (£28,960)
31st Place: Peter breeth Turmezey (£25,340)

Next up, Harrington heads to Niagara Falls, Canada, the site of the WPT North American Poker Championship. That tournament was won last year by PocketFiver Scott BigRiskky Clements, who took home nearly $1.4 million. Heads up, he defeated another PocketFiver, Jonathan FieryJustice Little. Others at the six-handed final table were David Cloutier, Barry barryg1 Greenstein, Kofi Farkye, and Jeff ActionJeff Garza. All in all, it was a tournament chalk full of PocketFivers. Harrington explains the allure of the North American Poker Championship: “The NAPC is a great tournament. It brings out some new faces with its 19 and up age restriction, which opens the tournament to the under 21 crowd. It also has a reputation for having one of the best structures on the WPT circuit.” The NAPC begins on October 10th.

Meanwhile, down in Aruba, the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic just wrapped up Day 3. That tournament will crown a winner on Saturday. Joseph Serock leads the 35 remaining players into Day 4 on Friday. Also in the midst are several PocketFivers, including:
2nd in Chips: Mark PokerH0 Kroon - 465,500
3rd in Chips: Lynn SassyTexan Samples - 449,500
14th in Chips: Gary debo34 DeBernardi - 297,500
21st in Chips: Jeff jpapola Papola - 146,000
27th in Chips: Aditya intervention Argawal - 116,500
30th in Chips: Michael V00D00 Chile Foley - 90,500

The top 10 stacks overall are, according to coverage on CardPlayer:
1. Joseph Serock, 508,000
2. Mark Kroon, 465,500
3. Lynn Samples, 449,500
4. Chris Morrison, 430,000
5. Brian Malczewski, 389,000
6. Bruce Peery, 386,500
7. James Mordue, 385,500
8. Steve Frasure, 377,000
9. Jason Smith, 360,000
10. Karl Stark, 351,500

You can catch updates on the Aruba Poker Classic from our very own David dhubermex Huber, who is on the scene at the Radisson Hotel and Casino. Check out Aruba Poker Classic updates right now.

If you’re planning to play in the WPT North American Poker Championship, we’ll cover you for free on PocketFivesLive.com. It’s an easy way to let friends and family back home know how you’re doing. Registration is open now on PocketFivesLive.com, your source for WPT coverage of online poker players.