Many of the poker world's best tournament players turned up for the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, and the final table of nine included notables such as Shaun Deeb, Dan Smith and Jason Mercier. The latter battled against Alaxander Petersen for the title.
Alaxander Petersen, a relatively unknown poker pro from Denmark, was behind in chips by about a 3 - 1 margin when the heads-up started. However, he quickly found a double up, then he had Mercier all in and covered before the chips had even been re-stacked. This is how the final hand was played out...
Mercier limped from the button and Petersen raised to 300k from the big blind. Mercier called. Petersen bet 600k on the flop 9
Q
6, and Mercier shoved his final 1.2 million. Petersen called
Petersen K
2AJ
Mercier Q
974
Mercier was in the lead with two pair but had to dodge several outs of Petersen.
The 3 turn gave Petersen the nut flush and the 3 river changed nothing. Mercier was eliminated in second place for $572,989. Petersen received $927,655 for his first place along with the WSOP gold bracelet.
This was the first major tournament victory of Petersen's career. Also, it was his first cash at the World Series. In total, he bested a field of 387 players, which created a $3,537,800 prize pool, to win the tournament.
"Coming to Las Vegas was always a break for me, away from playing," Peterson explained. "This is first event I played here where I really took it seriously, and it paid off."
He added, "Where I live (in Denmark), we have to pay a lot of taxes - something like 55 percent," Petersen said. "So, after I pay taxes on this money, it means I really came in second."
Final table results:
OTHER IN-THE-MONEY FINISHERS:
Aside from the final table finishers, other gold bracelet winning players who cashed included - Brian Rast (30th), Sorel Mizzi (37th), and William Kakon (40th).
Tony "Top Cat" Cousineau cashed yet again (31st), which is the 72nd in-the-money finish of his career. It's also his fourth cash at this year's series. Cousineau is the all-time cashes leader in WSOP history without a gold bracelet victory.
FUN FACTS:
Pot-Limit poker made its WSOP debut back in 1984, when two Pot-Limit Omaha tournaments were offered. There were no Pot-Limit tournaments of any kind played at the WSOP from 1970 through 1983.
The only Pot-Limit variety which was played at the WSOP between 1984 and 1991 was Pot-Limit Omaha. Pot-Limit Hold'em action was restricted to cash games.
Winner info:
Name: Alexander Petersen
Birthplace: Aarhus, Denmark
Age: 31
Current Residence: Aarhus, Denmark
Marital Status: Single
Children: None
Profession: Professional Poker Player
Number of WSOP Cashes: 1
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 1
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories: 1
Best Previous WSOP Finish: None
Total WSOP Earnings: $927,655
Personal Facts: Petersen is one of the top Pot-Limit Omaha players in the world, by virtue of his cash game online winnings playing this game over the past 7 years
