WPT Grand Prix de Paris Final Table: Matt Waxman Wins
The WPT Grand Prix de Paris 2011 has reached its conclusion with American Matt Waxman taking first place. Waxman defeated Hugo Lemaire in heads up play. For his accomplishment, he'll take home $729,886.
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| Matt Waxman |
312 players participated in this year's WPT Grand Prix de Paris, including well-known pros like Mike Sexton, Jason Mercier, Jean-Robert Bellande and Kara Scott. PokerStrategists Adrien Partaud (France) and Szymon Grzela (Poland) were also in attendance, having won seats through our PokerStrategy.com Freeroll Qualifiers on PartyPoker.
Unfortunately, each of their hopes went unfulfilled. Of PokerStrategists in the tournament, only Benny psychobenny Spindler made the money, finishing in 24th place for $23,448.
After 5 days of play, the final table was set. The 6 players to reach it were Byron Kaverman, Hugo Lemaire, Mikko Sundell, Frederic Magen, Matt Waxman and Martin Jacobson. Kaverman was the chip leader with 2,079,000 chips. On the opposite end of the chip spectrum, Martin Jacobson was the shortstack with just 482,000.
Jacobson couldn't nurse his short stack and was the first player to hit the rail. He held A-J and was an underdog against the pocket jacks of Mikko Sundell. The board was no help, and Jacobson busted in sixth place. He did, however, receive $125,083 for his performance.
Mikko Sundell of Finland was next to bust. He ran A-K with a flush draw into Matt Waxman's made flush on the flop, and Sundell's hand couldn't connect on the turn or river. That hand gave Matt Waxman a considerable chip lead over his remaining opponents.
The 3th and 4th place finishers were Fred Magen ($299,834) and Byron Kaverman ($218,860). Magen eliminated Kaverman when he called Kaverman's pre-flop all-in with 
. Kaverman showed 
. The board ran 
, giving Magen an ace-high straight and the pot.
Soon after that hand, Magen himself hit the rail. He held K-Q and was in bad shape against the A-K of Matt Waxman. The board was meaningless, and the tournament was left with just two players- Matt Waxman and Hugo Lemaire.
No problems at heads up play for Waxman
Going into heads-up play, Waxman had a comfortable lead. The American had 7,863,000 chips to his opponent's 1,550,000 chips. It was not surprising when their battle ended in just three hands.
Blinds were 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante. Lemaire opened to 130,000, and Waxman called. The flop was 
and Waxman checked. Lemaire bet 145,000 chips. Waxman came over the top and pushed all-in, and the Frenchman made the call with the better hand. He held 
for top pair, while Waxman only had the flush draw with 
. The 
on the turn was harmless, but the river 
made Waxman's flush.
Matt Waxman won the WPT Paris title, $729,886, and a seat in the WPT World Championship in 2012 ($25,500). Hugo Lemaire earned $442,645 for 2nd place.
The next stop on the WPT tour is Atlantic City, where the WPT Borgata Poker Open 2011 will take place from September 18th through September 23rd. After that, the series will come back to Europe for the WPT Malta.
WPT Grand Prix de Paris Final Table Pictures
WPT Grand Prix de Paris Final Table Results |
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| Rank | Name | Payout | ||
| 1th | Matt Waxman | $729,886 | ||
| 2nd | Hugo Lemaire | $442,645 | ||
| 3rd | Fred Magen | $299,834 | ||
| 4th | Byron Kaverman | $218,860 | ||
| 5th | Mikko Sundell | $187,597 | ||
| 6th | Martin Jacobson | $125,083 | ||
| Blinds: 30,000/60,000/10,000 | Players: 1 (312) | Prize pool: $3,150,710 | ||||
The winner talks about his victory
After his success at the 2011 WPT Grand Prix de Paris, Matt Waxman spoke about his tournament:
