WSOP Event #50: Mueller Wins His Second Limit Hold'em Bracelet

The remaining eight players returned for the final table of the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout event. David Williams was a serious contender for the title, but he was not the only troublemaker at the table. Greg Mueller and Marc Naalden had already won one Limit Hold'em bracelet in this year's WSOP and they were eager to win another one.

Mueller started his day quite well, in fact too well some would say, though it was not his fault - he kept hitting the cards he needed. In one of such hands, Mueller raised, Flamininio Malaguti re-raised and Mueller called. The flop came , Mueller checked, Malaguti bet and Mueller called. The turn brought , Mueller check-called again Malaguti's bet. The river came , Mueller checked, Malaguti bet and this time Mueller raised. Malaguti called and mucked his A-Q when Mueller tabled for the rivered pair of kings.

Mueller's good run continued in another hand against Malaguti. This time he hit a pair of jacks on the turn which were good enough to win the hand. After the rivered kings and jacks came pocket queens, pocket aces, Mueller had 'em all, so it comes as no surprise that it was Mueller who eliminated the first player at the final table.

Mueller raised and Jose Barbero made the call. The flop came and Mueller check-raised Barbero's bet. Barbero three-bet and Mueller set him all-in. Barbero showed and Mueller revealed . The turn came and the river brought , thus eliminating Barbero in 8th place.

Josephus Van Den Bijgaart was the next player to hit the rail. He was short-stacked and had to make a move. Unfortunately, his countryman Marc Naalden didn't allow him to take down the pot with a mere raise and re-raised. Van Den Bijgaart called and the flop came . Naalden bet, Van Den Bijgaart raised with his last chips and Naalden called. Van Den Bijgaart showed and Naalden held . The turn brought and the river came to send Van Den Bijgaart home in 7th place.

Flaminio Malaguti lost a fair share of his chips to Mueller but the man who busted him was David Williams. Action began with Malaguti making a raise and Williams being the only one interested enough to call. The flop came , Malaguti bet and Williams called again. The turn brought , Malaguti bet, Williams raised him all-in and Malaguti called. Williams tabled and Malaguti revealed . The river came and the final table was down to just five players.

Matt Sterling was trying to fight his way through but with a short stack, he couldn't really do much but hope for the deck to help him out a bit. The help never came, as Greg Mueller took the last of his chips, thus eliminating him in 5th place.

Williams was the chip leader in the early stages of play with Mueller constantly on his tail. An interesting encounter between the two finally occurred when Williams raised from under the gun, Mueller re-raised from the small blind and Williams called. Before the cards were even revealed on the flop, Mueller fired a bet into the pot. The flop came , Williams folded and Mueller showed the , commenting, "I wish I hadn't bet!" It's never too easy to extract chips from your opponents when the board doesn't give them at least a glimpse of hope.

Williams was seen packing his bags shortly after that hand. Millie Shiu raised, Mueller re-raised, Williams called all-in, Shiu four-bet and Mueller called. The flop came , Shiu bet and Mueller called. The turn brought and this time Mueller check-raised with Shiu making the call. The river came , Shiu checked, Mueller bet and Shiu called. Mueller turned over , Shiu showed and Williams revealed which couldn't save him from trouble, thus the table lost David Williams.

Source: IMPDI for 2009 WSOP

The final table quickly reached the heads-up play after Millie Shiu was eliminated in 3rd place. Shiu was all-in from the big blind and both Mueller and Naalden made the call. The flop came , Naalden checked, Mueller bet and Naalden folded. Shiu showed while Mueller revealed . The turn brought and the river came , this Shiu was sent to the rail in 3rd place.

The heads-up match featured Greg Mueller holding a 2,895,000 to 705,000 chip lead over Marc Naalden. Both players were going after their second Limit Hold'em bracelet in WSOP 2009 since Mueller won Event #33 and Naalden won Event #38.

Naalden quickly made the battle even and worked his way up into a 1.9 million to 1.7 million chip lead. It looked like Naalden was going to grab the title in an amazing back and forth battle but eventually, it was Mueller (pictured right) who managed to regain the lead and ride all the way to the title.

In their last hand, Naalden opened with a raise and Mueller called. The flop came . Mueller checked, Naalden bet and Mueller called. The turn brought , Mueller checked, Naalden bet and this time Mueller raised. Naalden re-raised all-in and Mueller called. Naalden tabled while Mueller turned over . Both had a pair of kings but Mueller had a better kicker. The river brought and it was all over, Greg "Full Blown Tilt" Mueller won the title and his second bracelet which made him the fourth multiple-bracelet winner in this year's WSOP.

Here are the final table results:

World Series Of Poker Event #50 Results
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Greg Mueller	$194,854
2nd	Marc Naalden	$120,614
3rd	Millie Shiu	$77,138
4th	David Williams	$51,145
5th	Matt Sterling	$35,058
6th	Flaminio Malaguti	$24,824
7th	Joep Van Den Bijgaart	$18,136
8th	Jose Barbero	$13,655