WSOP Event #34: Eric Baldwin Wins

Unrelentlessly, he fought through the strong field of participants with 2,095 starters and managed to take out all 19 opponents on the final day - including big names like Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. In the final heads-up, he made quick work of his opponent Jonas Klausen. In the end, he took both the gold bracelet and the prize money totalling $521,932. We are talking about Eric Baldwin, a young US American from Wisconsin and winner of the 34th Event of the World Series Of Poker 2009.

Initially, it looked like it would be Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier's (pictured left) big day - the most notable name left in the tournament was able to eliminate several short stacks early on and could build up an enormous chip lead over the rest of the field. As we all know, things can turn around fast in poker and ElkY lost two big pots in short succession, abruptly sending him to the rails after a fabulous start. His final hand was a rather ugly way to go out as he was holding KK for the cowboys, the second best possible starting hand - only to run into Steven Bradbury's pocket rockets when the latter tabled AA. Betrand Grospellier couldn't improve on the board and had to leave the tournament area as 13th. Two more players followed suit before the final ten competitors started fighting it out for the final table.

The bubble boy was finally found as Young Phan, who put in his remaining 250,000 chips with Q8, was promptly called by Benjamin Scholl's JJ. He couldn't catch and was eliminated on 10th place for a decent $42,895.

Eric DeFontes was the next to go as he shoved over Jonas Klausen's pre-flop raise. Klausen didn't let go of his , though, and DeFontes showed for a coin-flip. He couldn't help but watch the flop come down to announce his demise. The and on turn and river changed nothing and he was the first to bust on the final table.

Martin Jacobson and ElkY-tamer Steven Bradbury weren't able to keep it up much longer, either, and could only watch from the rails as Andrew Youngblood was eliminated in an unlucky setup. It all started rather quietly, with everyone folding to the blinds. Klausen completed in the small blind and Youngblood decided to check his options. When the flop came down , Klausen bet 75,000 and the matter started to heat up. Youngblood quickly raised to 420,000 just to see an even faster all-in from Klausen. Youngblood didn't think twice before calling and turned over for bottom set. It wasn't enough, though, as Klausen flipped over for a flopped sraight. The turn () and river () didn't give Youngblood a full house and he had to join the spectators.

After this pot, Klausen's stack had risen to 4.4 million in chips, but he still wasn't done. He subsequently eliminated short stack Roland De Wolfe when his A6 held against De Wolfe's 67.

It was James Taylor who took out Benjamin Scholl on fourth place, leaving himself, Baldwin and Klausen in three-handed play for victory. The three players started out about even in chips, but Baldwin was quickly able to take the lead with his aggressive play. Taylor, who had turned into the short stack and started being fed up with Baldwin's aggressive play, decided to make a stand with his two overcards when Baldwin put him all-in on the flop. Baldwin had flopped top pair, though, and Scholl was eliminated on third place as he failed to catch a king or queen. Baldwin was thus able to enter the heads-up with a slight chip lead.

The deciding hand came around just moments after Klausen had been able to grab the lead in the match. Baldwin (pictured right) flopped a set of fours while Klausen had for top two-pair on the board. The on the turn and the on the river couldn't help Klausen as Baldwin jumped back into a 8:1 chip lead.

He never let go of this lead in the following duel. The final decision came in the form of a classic coin-flip. Klausen had shoved all-in over Baldwin's pre-flop raise and the latter called with . He had definitely hoped for a clearer lead, as Klausen was able to muster . Things couldn't have stayed much more exciting on the flop. Baldwin wouldn't want to hit his set of tens anymore, as it would now give Klausen the straight - together with the remaining aces and queens, Klausen could still hope for one of his eight remaining outs. As the dealer paused in suspension, everyone in the entire room was summoning his own personal card wish and all you could here was a medley of yells: "Ten! Ace! Brick! Queen! Six! Ace! Ten!"

In the end, a came on the turn - which was even more favourable than a blank to Baldwin. The ten had switched back to his side as it would now give him the winning full house. This left Baldwin with a mere six outs for the potential last card to be revealed for the tournament. The room turned silent as the dealer lifted his hand to deal the deciding card: the on the river ended the tournament and Eric Baldwin could take home $521,932 on top of the bracelet for his victory.

Klausen earned $322,271 for his strong performance in this event.