888.com World Poker Crown - Live Updates

It's all over from Peralada Castle, Barcelona. After dominating the final table for the entire day Jack Hinchey has won the 888.com World Poker Crown.

In the final hand Michael Lawson held T♦ T♠ and bet $72,000. Jack Hinchey looked down to find K♣ Q♠ and decided to make the call.

The flop came K♥ J♥ 6♥ and Lawson, already fairly pot-committed, moved all-in, making the pot $247,000 total. Hinchey made the call and the players revealed their hands. The board finished J♠ and then K♠ giving Hinchey a full house and the victory.

Hinchey will take home $1 million for coming in in first place while Lawson will have to settle for $397,000.

"This is a lot better than being in a sewage pit!" said Hinchey after the final table concluded.

A fantastic conclusion to an exciting new tournament in the poker world. Congratulations to all the final-table finishers and 888.com for putting on an exceptional event.

We're out!

Michael Lawson bets $40,000 pre-flop with 7♦ 3♥ and Jack Hinchey calls with J♠ T♥. The flop comes J♣ 4♠ 2♦ and Lawson reaches for chips. He opts to bet $65,000, which represents a large portion of his chips. Unfortunately for him Jack Hinchey is going nowhere with his top pair and he reraises an extra $180,000.

Lawson is forced to lay it down and suddenly is looking short with only $259,000 left.

Jack Hinchey raises to $40,000 with A♠ 2♣ and Michael Lawson makes the call in the big blind with Q♣ 7♣. The flop comes 9♠ 7♠ 4♣ and Lawson bets out $50,000. Hinchey folds and Lawson takes the pot, bringing himself up to $444,000 of the $1.1 million in play.

Action has been paused for a short break. It has now resumed with increased blinds.

Chip counts after the double-up:

Jack Hinchey: $744,000

Michael Lawson: $364,000

Jack Hinchey raises to $36,000 in the small blind and Michael Lawson moves all-in for $206,000 from the big blind. Hinchey goes into the tank for a long few minutes, talking himself into a call and finally telling Lawson, "Let's gamble."

Hinchey makes the call and shows Q♥ T♥ to Lawson's A♣ 6♥. The flop comes 8♠ 7♣ 5♣ and Lawson flops an open-ended straight draw. The turn is the 9♥ and Lawson gets there, but Hinchey picks up the gut-shot. The river is the 8♦ and Lawson earns the check mark to double through Hinchey and prolong the battle.

Jack Hinchey limps in with Q♣ 6♠ and Michael Lawson moves all-in with A♥ 2♦. Hinchey lays the hand down and Lawson takes it.

Heads-up play between Canadians Jack Hinchey and Michael Lawson is due to begin any minute, with Hinchey holding a dramatic chip lead over his countryman. We'll get full chip counts up as soon as they're provided to us and action reports as soon as there's action.

Update: Action has resumed and chip counts are as follows:

Jack Hinchey	$908,000
Michael Lawson	$200,000

 

"Papa" Jack Hinchey has been catching cards like a card-catching machine, turning up A-Q, pocket eights and A-6 suited in a span of four or five hands before finally raising to $41,000 from the small blind with A♣ T♣.

Piotr Stanislaw goes into the tank holding A♥ 5♠ in the big blind and finally moves all-in for $171,000. Hinchey mulls his options, looking unimpressed by his opponent's gumption. Finally, he makes the call and Stanislaw hurls his cards disgustedly to the table after he sees he is dominated.

The flop comes A♦ T♠ 7♦ and Hinchey flops top two pair. The turn is the 6♣ and Stanislaw is drawing dead. The river is the 6♠ and that makes it official. Piotr Stanislaw is eliminated in third place and earns $210,000 for his time.

"Papa" Jack Hinchey raises to $36,000 from under the gun and Bjorn Van Bavel makes the call on the button. The flop comes T♠ 8♥ 6♦ and Hinchey bet out $80,000. Van Bavel instantly moves all-in and Hinchey beats him to the pot, turning up Q♦ Q♣ to Van Bavel's 9♥ 9♠. The turn is the 2♠ and the river the J♠ and Van Bavel can't hit his outs for either the set or the straight.

The Dutchman is eliminated in fourth place and takes home $180,000 for his time.

Jack Hinchey is dealt A♦ 4♦ and bets $16,000. Bart Wetsteijn looks down to find K♠ K♣ and decides to try and trap by flat-calling.

The flop comes an incredible 5♣ 3♠ 2♠, which gives Hinchey the wheel straight. Hinchey bets $30,000 and Wetsteijn comes over the top by pushing all-in. Hinchey insta-calls and Wetsteijn is stunned as the players reveal their cards.

The board finishes 3♦ and then J♠. Wetsteijn is our fifth-place finisher and will receive $120,000 for his efforts. It will probably be a long while before Wetsteijn slow-plays kings again.

Piotr Stanislaw goes all-in from the big blind and Jack Hinchey makes another aggressive call. The players reveal their hands:

Stanislaw: Q♥ Q♠

Hinchey: A♠ J♣

The boad comes Q♣ 5♥ 3♠ 6♥ A♣ and Stanislaw's set of ladies is good enough to take the pot. The kid from Poland is stacking up just as Hinchey appears poised for a downswing.

We've finally received the payout structure for the 888.com World Poker Crown and there is definitely some money to be made here. Take a look:

1. $1 million
2. $397,000
3. $210,000
4. $180,000
5. $120,000
6. $90,000
7. $60,000
8. $30,000

 

Bert van Doesburg has played his last hand. In the hand van Doesburg open-shoved with K♦ 9♠ and who else looked him up from the big blind but "Papa Jack" Hinchey with 5♣ 5♠.

The board came 8♦ 10♣ 3♣ 10♥ Q♠ and that was all she wrote for the Dutch man. Stay tuned to see if anyone can stand between Hinchey and first place.

 

Here's a look at the chip stacks as players continue to try and battle their way into a bigger payday.

Jack Hinchey	$324,000
Bart Wetsteijn	$224,000
Michael Lawson	$204,000
Bjorn Van Bavel	$135,000
Piotr Stanislaw	$134,000
Bert van Doesburg	$87,000
Mark Roessler	$0
Marc Castonguay	$0

 

Jack Hinchey holds A♥ 7♠ and makes a standard bet. Bart Wetsteijn looks down to A♣ K♣ and pushes all-in.

Hinchey makes a somewhat questionable call and we head to the board. It comes Q♦ J♥ 6♦ 6♥ 5♣ and Wetsteijn wins a huge pot. He now has $224,000, making him second only to Hinchey.

 

With just six players left and Jack Hinchey holding a commanding chip lead no one seems to be willing to take any risks. Hinchey is very active while the other five are looking to go up a few pay spots.

Michael Lawson, making up the second half of the Canadian contingent here in Spain, is a 21-year-old who has made it all the way here from a $20 satellite buy-in on Pacific Poker. Naming Norwegian phenom Annette Obrestad as both a coach and a friend, Lawson has had the instruction. We'll just have to wait and see if he can put that knowledge into practice.

Piotr Stanislaw has come back from the dead with yet another double-up, this time at the expense of a very suspect call from chip leader Jack Hinchey. With blinds of $4k/$8k Stanislaw was sitting with less than 10 big blinds and shoved under the gun for around $70,000.

It was folded to Hinchey in the small blind, who looked down at 2♣ 2♠. He gave it some thought before announcing call. The big blind released and Stanislaw tabled 6♠ 6♣, which were in great shape.

The board ran J♣ 9♥ 5♣ A♦ 4♦ and the sixes are good for the double. Stanislaw is now on $146,000, good for third position in the chip counts.

The price of poker is going up in Peralada as the remaining six players are now subject to blinds of $4,000/$8,000. Pay up suckah!

Jack Hinchey, one of the two remaining Canadians at this final table, hails from the province of Ontario where he manages a pump and electric motor service. An old-school Stud player who, for obvious reasons, started playing in the real world, Hinchey battled his way through this immense field before traveling all the way here to Barcelona to show these online young guns a thing or two about poker off the virtual felt.

Piotr Stanislaw of Poland came back from the dinner break in dire need of resuscitation. He got exactly that a moment ago when he got all-in pre-flop racing A♦ J♠ agains the pocket sixes of Bjorn Van Bavel.

With Stanislaw's tournament life on the line the flop came down A♠ Q♣ 2♥, nailing the aces for the all-in player and leaving the pocket sixes in terrible shape. The turn and river came T♥ K♠ and Stanislaw finishes the hand with the broadway straight to double up to over $70,000.

The remaining six players are back from the break and ready to continue down the road to an eventual winner. Stay tuned as we chronicle their journey.

#img: bart-wetsteijn_18873.jpg:right: Do the Bart-Man!#

PL.com first met this young Dutchman when he narrowly missed the final table at the recent EPT San Remo main event, the first EPT event to take place on Italian soil. Wetsteijn finished 15th in Italy, which was good for €17,600.

Playing under the name MrMr82 on Pacific Poker, Wetsteijn is known for his sportsmanlike conduct at the table. Although seeming to play a solid if somewhat conservative game, Bart has shown he has what it takes to make moves when he has to.

There are just a few minutes left in the dinner break and as we prepare for the return of the final six players we thought we'd fill you in on what we know about them. Stay tuned and keep an eye out for these bite-sized bios which will be interspersed among the hand reports.

We've just received word that the six remaining players are now on dinner break. Check back in an hour for poker action from the Castle.

In a battle of the Dutchmen Bjorn Van Bavel just doubled through Bert van Doesburg. Van Bavel held pocket fours to van Doesburg's A♥ J♦.

The board came 6♥ 6♦ 3♦ 9♣ 8♥ and Van Bavel is still very much alive with just over $100,000 now.

German Mark Roessler has dodged a few bullets tonight but he just got hit by a stroke of bad fortune.

In the hand Jack Hinchey holding K♣ 3♦ and Roessler holding J♣ 8♣ limp to a flop of J♠ 9♥ 2♦. Roessler makes the initial bet of $10,000, but Hinchey reraises with nothing but king-high. Roessler makes the correct read and goes all-in for his last $60,000.

It's $30,000 more for Hinchey to call and eventually the Canadian does, indeed, call.

The turn comes Q♥ giving Hinchey a straight draw and the river falls 10♣ to complete the straight.

Roessler is out in seventh in a bit of a nasty hand. Even Hinchey is shaking his head at the surprising turn of events.

"Some call it poker but I think it was a donkey play," exclaims Roessler in an exit interview.

We've just noticed a certain Annette Obrestad in the audience. Obrestad was the 2007 WSOPE Main Event champion and is one of the best online poker players in the world. Obrestad is most likely there to root for Canadian Michael Lawson, who is a close friend.

Bart Wetsteijn has A♠ 9♣ and opts to bet. Mark Roessler has K♣ 3♣ and, for some reason, decides to ship it all-in for approximately $50,000. Wetsteijn thinks for a few minutes but eventually makes the call.

The board comes K♥ J♥ 10♦ 2♠ 4♦ and Roessler spikes a king to survive.

Bert van Doesburg is first to act and with A♠ K♠ in the hole moves all-in for approximately $60,000. Piotr Stanislaw has K♦ K♣ and surprisingly just calls, leaving himself only $30,000 left behind. Jack Hinchey apparently feels priced in because he calls with 8♦ 8♣.

The flop comes an incredible A♣ K♥ Q♥ and Stanislaw immediately moves all-in for his remaining $30,000. Despite the good price Hinchey can't make the call and the players reveal their hands.

Van Doesburg is looking for one of two aces left in the deck as we head to the turn which comes... A♥!

The turn is a meaningless 6♣ and van Doesburg doubles up, while Stanislaw is on life support and looks absolutely stunned.

Here's our first look at the chip-stack sizes of the 888.com World Poker Crown final table:

Jack Hinchey	$418,000
Michael Lawson	$249,000
Bart Wetsteijn	$185,000
Piotr Stanislaw	$92,000
Bjorn Van Bavel	$61,000
Bert van Doesburg	$59,000
Mark Roessler	$45,000
Marc Castonguay	$0

 

Our lone representative from Poland just doubled up. Piotr Stanislaw managed to get it all-in with 7♠ 7♥ versus Van Bavel with 4♥ 4♦. There were no surprises on the board and Stanislaw is breathing a bit better now.

Bjorn Van Bavel bets while holding Q♣ 10♥ and Jack Hinchey, who has 8-8, reraises to $7,000. Van Bavel stares Hinchey down but eventually makes the call.

The flop comes Q♦ 8♣ 6♣ and Hinchey checks his flopped set. Van Bavel bets $24,000, however, and Hinchey comes back over the top for $50,000.

Van Bavel thinks for a couple minutes but is eventually able to make the laydown. Hinchey scoops a big one.

Marc Castonguay is our first casualty of the real final table. We're not entirely sure what happened as our live feed cut out during the pivotal hand but we're guessing his demise came at the hand of either chip leader Jack Hinchy or Bart Wetsteijn, who is also building momentum.

Today we're watching the action from Barcelona as the World Poker Crown final table begins. We join with eight players left and first place still very much up for grabs.

Jack Hinchey, Bart Wetsteijn, Piotr Stanislaw, Bjorn Van Bavel, Michael Lawson, Mark Roessler, Bert van Doesburg and Marc Castonguay are all still in it.

Pini Roberto and Michael Leah were the early casualties. Stick with us as we bring you live updates from the final table.

888.com is also offering a live webcast of the event which we encourage you to check out.