First Time WSOP Bracelets For Alenius And De Wolfe

And a new triple crown holder for the tournament circuit At the World Series of Poker Events 26 and 27 saw the two winners each claim their first WSOP bracelets, and in the case of one achieve a rare triple honour for tournament play by clinching three major titles. Event 26 - the $1 500 buy-in Limit Hold'em contest - attracted 643 entrants, almost eighty percent of whom were busted out in the first day's action. By day 3 the field had been reduced to 15, four of whom were eliminated in the first half-an-hour of renewed play and a fifth not long after. The final table came down to Al Barbieri in the lead on 495 000, followed by Glenn Engelbert (410 000), Demetrios Arvanetes, Rep Porter and Tomas Alenius all of 370 000, Jason Tam (255 000), Richard Brodie (195 000), Cole Miller (180 000), Kim-Phong Duong (175 000) and Dominik Kulicki (95 000). By the time play reached the three handed stage, it was a close-run contest between Jason Tam in the lead on 970 000, Swedish pro player Tomas Alenius on 930 000 and Al Barbieri on 850 000, with Barbieri going into a card decline which finally saw him eliminated in third place for a payday of $80 072. The elimination left Tam in a very strong position, holding 2 175 000 going into the heads up against Alenius's 720 000, but the cards were with the Swedish player who took a number of major pots until he was some 100 000 ahead of his rival, and thereafter it was just a matter of time and determined play until he emerged victorious. For his second placing finish Tam collected $ 121 999, whilst Alenius took the mian prize of $ 197 509 and his first ever WSOP winner's bracelet. In Event #27 - the $5 000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Split 8 or Better - UK pro Roland De Wolfe triumphed and became only the second player in poker tournament history to win European Poker Tour, World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour titles; only Gavin Griffin has matched that feat. 198 players registered for the event, include many professionals such as Andy Black, Scott Clements, Antony Lellouche and Alex Kravchenko. The field generated a prize pool of $470 000. The final table consisted of Scott Clements, Roland De Wolfe, Brett Richey, Robert Campbell, Alex Kravchenko, Andy Black, John Racener, Armando Ruiz and Anthony Lellouche Scott Clements started final table play in the chip lead but only managed a third placing finish for $ 101 063, opening the way for the heads up between Roland De Wolfe and Brett Richey, with the former holding an impressive 4 to 1 chip lead over his opponent, leading to a quickly resolved contest. De Wolfe took his first bracelet, the distinction of holding three major titles in a year and $ 246 616 in main prize winnings. Richey collected a runner-up payday of $ 152 618.