22 Jun 09
WSOP Event #38: An Impressive Victory For Marc Naalden
Maarc Naalden was simply unstoppable at the final table of the $2,000 Limit Hold'em event. He entered the final play day as the chip leader and eliminated virtually everyone entirely by himself.
The remaining nine players returned to the final table on the third
play day of the $2,000 Limit Hold'em tournament. Marc Naalden sat down
behind a quite large chip stack, as he had a comfortable lead with over
two times more chips than his closest challenger. Meanwhile, Ian Johns
had a dangerously short stack and would have to double up soon or face
an early elimination.Marc Naalden took down the first pot of the day and the second one, which pretty much marked how his opponents would spent the rest of their time at the final table. It didn't take long before the first player couldn't find his way through all of the action at the table.
Rep Porter lost a chunk of his stack to Steven Cowley, followed by a hand against Tommy Hang which sent him down to just 46,000 and then he shipped the rest of his chips to Jameson Painter, thus ending his run in 9th place.
Jameson Painter himself wouldn't last much longer, as the chip leader Marc Naalden eliminated him from the tournament in 8th place. While Naalden continued with his aggressive play, taking down pots whenever possible, others were forced to play with nothing to gain at least some chips.
Tommy hang raised from the button and Alex Keating called from the big blind. Both players checked the flop of
. The turn brought 
, Keating bet and Hang called. The river came 
and both players checked. Keating announced, "I have nothing." Hang replied "I probably have a bigger nothing." Keating showed 
and Hang indeed had a "bigger nothing," turning over 
to take down the pot.
While others were fighting for scraps, Naalden continued crushing every
stack standing in his way. Jared O'Dell was relatively safe, that is
until he decided to go up against Naalden and find out the chip leader
had pocket rockets. The ending result - O'Dell was crippled down to
just 110,000 in chips.Tommy Hang lived through a similar story, as he went down to 97,000 in chips after a hand in which Naalden made a full house with pocket fours on the
board. It was Hang and O'Dell who then decided to go up against each
other, with O'Dell moving all-in pre-flop for 45,000 and Hang making
the call. O'Dell showed 
and Hang revealed 
. The board came 
and O'Dell was out, while Hang climbed up to 262,000 in chips.
Danny Qutami was the next player to hit the rail and of course, Naalden was responsible for his demise. Qutami raised from under the gun, Naalden re-raised from the cutton, Qutami called and the action moved to the flop of
. Qutami check-called a bet from Naalden and then check-raised all-in for 51,000 when the 
came on the turn. Naalden made the call and Qutami showed 
while Naalden held 
. The river came and with Qutami missing his gutshot, he was out in 6th place.Marc Naalden continued his good run by sending Keating to the rail in 5th place. With the small boost to his already huge stack, Naalden had 1.94 million compared to Ian Johns (170,000), Tommy Hang (190,000) and Steven Cowley (350,000). The short stacks were trying to fight back, but every time one of them would make a move - he would also have to make his exit. Hang tried to fight the monster stack rising in front of Naalden, but he only added some more chips to it - thus sending Naalden's stack to over 2 million. With Hang out, the play was down to three players
naalden nails the last one
 |
| Source: IMPDI for 2009 WSOP |
held up against Naalden's 
, but then Naalden flushed him away a hand or two later. The board read 
and Naalden showed 
to bust another player from the final table.Steven Cowley had only 325,000 in chips when the heads-up play began, compared to Marc Naalden (pictured right) who had 2.3 million. However, Cowley was more than willing to put up a fight for the title. It didn't take long before he doubled up to 500,000 and then moved up to 1.1 million, thus somewhat leveling the stacks, as Naalden was down to 1.5 million.
The battle between the two raged for a while, with Naalden mostly keeping the lead. One pot went to Naalden, the next one to Cowley and so the play went on until finally, Naalden managed to defeat Cowley and take the well-deserved WSOP bracelet along with $190,770 in prize money.
In their final hand, Naalden raised from the button, Cowley pushed for his last 120,000 and Naalden called. Cowley showed
and Naalden turned over 
. The board came 
and Cowley was out in 2nd place for which he earned $117,902.Here are the final table results:
| World Series Of Poker Event #38 Results |
||
| Place |
Name | Prize |
| 1st |
Marc Naalden | $190,770 |
| 2nd |
Steven Cowley | $117,902 |
| 3rd |
Ian Johns | $77,576 |
| 4th |
Tommy Hang | $54,182 |
| 5th |
Alex Keating | $39,977 |
| 6th |
Danny Qutami | $31,088 |
| 7th |
Jared O'Dell | $25,439 |
| 8th |
Jameson Painter | $21,819 |
| 9th |
Rep Porter | $19,594 |
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