Event 12 - $10,000 Mixed Game Championship Live Updates

The $10,000 Mixed Game World Championship is over and 33-year-old Finnish pro Ville Wahlbeck is the champion!

Wahlbeck defeated Full Tilt Poker's David Chiu in heads-up play to claim his first WSOP bracelet just a few days after his third-place finish in the $10,000 Stud World Championship on Thursday.

Wahlbeck wasted little time in getting Chiu's chips after the start of heads-up play, winning the tournament in an Omaha 8 round after he and Chiu had traded chips back and forth in Limit Hold'em.

Chiu got all-in preflop holding A♣ T♠ 9♦ 5♣ and Wahlbeck looked him up with A♦ Q♦ 8♦ 8♠.

The flop came J♠ J♣ 5♥ and Wahlbeck's eights-up held the advantage. The turn was the T♦, giving Chiu the better hand, but the river card was a glorious K♣, giving Wahlbeck the straight, the hand and the tournament.

For the win, the Finn earns $492,375 and his first WSOP bracelet. He was visibly overcome after the victory and told reporters he might have to rethink his plan to quit poker after this summer.

Chiu takes $304,176 for his second-place finish.

Here’s how the last hour played out at the Rio:

Rollercoaster Ride

David Chiu began as the short stack and was dangerously low during a Pot Limit Omaha hand against Dorin. Chiu’s AK two pair held up, however, and Chiu appears to be back in the game.

All three players took turns as chip leader in the last hour, but the bracelet still appeared to be anybody’s to win. Andy Bloch came out to check out the action for a few minutes before disappearing into the VIP area.

Chiu was under a million chips after losing a big No Limit Hold’em hand to Wahlbeck. Chiu bet 250,000 chips on a flop of A♣ T♥ 4♠ and Wahlbeck called.

Both players checked on the turn, which came 9♦. The J♠ came on the river and Wahlbeck showed his 8♥ 9♥ and Chiu mucked, putting the veteran pro on a very short stack.

Chiu battled back later in PLO against Dorin, flopping top two pair on a flop of A♣ K♠ 7♥. The turn and river came 7♣ and 8♣, and Chiu took the pot with A-K-Q-9 over Dorin’s A-Q-9-3. The pot got Chiu back in contention.

Dorin then lost a big PLO pot to Wahlbeck, who now has taken a sizeable chip lead while crippling Dorin in the process.

The Wreck of the Scott Dorin!

Dorin would succumb in a 2-7 Triple Draw hand, getting all-in on the first round of betting and getting a call from Wahlbeck.

On the first draw, Wahlbeck drew two and Dorin one, and on the second both players took one card. They both stood pat on the third draw and Wahlbeck turned up a 7-6 to trump Dorin’s 9-low.

Dorin takes $199,940 for third place.

We’re now heads-up between Wahlbeck and Chiu, with Wahlbeck holding a 5,250,000 to 750,000 chip lead.

Mark Gregorich and his celebrity cheering section are gone, as Scott Dorin eliminated Gregorich in a Triple Draw hand. Gregorich takes home a 4th place finish and trails Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow and Orel Hershiser in his wake as he leaves the building.

The final three are set: it's Dorin, David Chiu and Ville Wahlbeck for the bracelet.

It's not going to be easy for any of the three, as Chiu is a former WPT champion, and Wahlbeck has showed his talents already in the 2009 WSOP with a 3rd place finish in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship event.

Gregorich gone (4th)

Gregorich hung around short stacked for awhile before making his move in Deuce to Seven Triple Draw, re-raising Dorin before the first draw.

Dorin re-raised back for all of Gregorich's chips and Gregorich called. Mike Matusow yelled out "here comes the skill" as the players prepared for three rounds of discards.

Dorin settled on his five after the second draw, while the at-risk Gregorich took one card on the third draw. Dorin turned over 8-6-5-4-2, beating Gregorich's T-8-5-3-2. Gregorich goes home with $139,159 for 4th place.

Dorin, meanwhile, appears to be having some trouble, losing two big pots and dropping to the short stack with 800,000 chips.

The Final Table continues to move at a quick pace, as two more players fell victim to David Chiu and his ever-growing stack.

James Van Alstyne and Huck Seed lost big pots to Chiu in the big bet games, with Van Alstyne eliminated in PLO and Seed bounced in a big Limit Hold'em hand.

Huck did make one contribution before he left when he requested an early color-up to green $25,000 chips, cleaning up the mass of pink $5,000 markers on the table. Chiu has taken a commanding lead with the blinds at 25/50k.

Van Alstyne sent home (6th)

Playing Pot Limit Omaha, Van Alstyne raised to 220,000 chips in the small blind and was called by Chiu and Seed. Van Alstyne pushed all-in with his final 596,000 when the flop came T♥ 9♠ 4♦, and Chiu called while Seed folded.

Van Alstyne showed a pair of Aces with his hand of A♥ A♠ 2♣ J♥, but Chiu had him beat with top two pair, 9♣ T♠ J♣ Q♥.

#img: james-vanalstyne_8807.jpg:left:The Van Alstyne warped tour.#

Chiu improved to a straight when K♣ came on the turn, and Van Alstyne was officially eliminated when the river came 7♠.

The pot was the largest of the tournament and put Chiu to over 2.5 million chips. Van Alstyne wins $79,181 for 6th place.

Huck Seed sent packing (5th)

Crowd favorite Huck Seed was looking pretty solid until two big Hold'em pots sent the former Main Event champ to the rail. After losing a huge pot to Ville Wahlbeck, Seed decided to make a big move just a couple of hands later.

Seed raised on a flop of Q♥ 4♥ 2♦ with the blinds at 25/50k, and Chiu called. The 2♣ hit on the turn and Seed pushed in his remaining 76,000, and Chiu called.

Seed led with two pair after turning over A♥ Q♦, but Chiu's J♥ 9♥ ended up being good for the flush when the 5♥ fell on the river.

Seed takes home $102,286 for 5th place.

Three players bit the dust during the last level. Allie Prescott was the first player bounced. Todd Brunson was next to go and had Mike Wattel hot on his tail.

It might appear that this table is set to finish in record time, but don't let those three bustouts deceive you. There are still mountains of chips on the table so rest assured there will be at least several more hours of jam packed action. 

Prescott Razzed (9th)

Allie Prescott was down to very few chips when he had the pay the bring in during a Razz hand. He was raised by Matt Dorin and Prescott decided to take a stand.

We won't put you through the excrutiating details of the hand, but by the end Dorin showed the 7♣ 6♥ 3♠ 4♥ 8♣ 6♦ Q♥. Prescott caught the A♥ 2♥ K♥ 7♦ Q♦ Q♣ 2♠.

Brunson Toppled (8th)

Todd Brunson also found himself pretty shortstacked during a Stud tound when he picked up split tens. He went head to head with David Chiu but was in terrible shape when he found out Chiu had picked up rolled up kings.

Brunson needed to catch a miracle but failed to do so. Chiu earned some extra style points by boating up unnecessarily on the river.

Wattel's Spillage Update!

Mike Wattel managed to kick over an entire coffee all over the floor just before busting. A polite railbird offered up some napkins so Wattel could clean it up a little. Wattel looked at her like she was crazy and basically waved her off with one hand.

Wattel Iced (7th)

The action continued moments later when Mike Wattel put in his last 56,000 in preflop in a No Limit Hold'em game.

David Chiu had raised it from the button just enough to put Wattel all in. He looked down and saw pocket nines. David Chiu was behidn with his K♣ 8♣. Wattel didn't have enough time to even contemplate what he was going to do with his newfound wealth, a king came right on the flop. The nineless turn and river had Wattel exiting in sixth place.

No one is in a hurry to bust ninth. The pace of play has slowed to a crawl, partly as the players are keen to make the final eight, partly as the current table set-up means the triple draw rounds and the stud rounds are being delayed due to people having to sit out the hand.

In the absence of any poker hands of note, here's the pick of the action.

Water, Water, Everywhere!

Given the scarcity of excitement, the highlight of the last hour was probably Mike Wattel kicking over his drink and splashing the tournament arena with fizzy mineral water and a soliltary, abandoned lemon slice. 

He looked worried momentarily, but a floorman appeared to save the day, mopping up the spillage with a minimum of fuss.

Good job sir!

Brunson's Story

We were out of earshot of Todd as he related what looked like an incredible tale. We can only hazard a guess at the contents of the story, but it came complete with vivid hand gestures, Todd apparently swinging a baseball bat, and at one point, the serious poker pro even cracked a smile.

It looked like an incredible tale, we'll fill you on the details if we gather any more information.

Chips Aplenty

Not much change to report, here are the current chip counts, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com.

The players have filled their bellies with Rio sushi and Capriotti sandwiches and are back at the felt, ready to play down to a finish.

The current round is Omaha and there's twenty minutes left in the level. Anything can happen in the four card variant of the game so expect thrills and spills and possibly spicy bust-outs as this round plays out.

Here are the full chip counts for your perusal as we home in on the final table.

Chips, Chips, Chips

With a transfixed rail watching on, the last hour has witnessed three more bustouts as the final table draws ever closer.

Somehow, Todd Brunson is still hanging on for dear life, despite remaining the shortstack. Here's the top stories from the felt.

Sheikh Baked (12th)

Known online as Ozzy 87, Aurangzeb Sheikh has been banished to the rail at the hands of Joe Serock and it was the Razz poker variant that caused his demise.

He went for a required double-through with 2♠ 5♥ 7♣ in the hole, putting most of his chips in good versus Serock's A♠ 8♥ 4♦.

With four streets to come though, anything was possible and by the time seventh had rolled off, Serock had an 8-low whilst the Sheikh could only manage a queen-low.

That was it for him, bounced out in 12th and sent packing to continue his pwnage online.

Serock Chiu'd Up! (11th)

Joseph "I'm not Joe Sebok" Serock was eliminated moments ago when his last few chips went into the middle with ace-three, only to be beaten by David Chiu's ace-four when chiu made a pair of fours.

#img: joseph-serock_31267.jpg:left: Serock blocked! #

However the damage to Serock's stack was done in a hand just prior to this where he called turn and river of a J♥ 6♥ 3♥ 4♣ 5♣ board for most of his chips with what appeared to be ace-four for fourth pair.

Presumably he thought his opponent James Van Alstyne either had it all, or nothing, but when Van Alstyne turned up with Q♥ 9♥ for the flush, he discovered he had picked the wrong one and his demise came shortly afterward as he picked up $34,958 for 11th.

Serok looked dazed and confused at his elimination, looking round aimlessly with his sole possession -  a plastic carton of fruit - gripped in his hand like a comfort blanket.

The Roman Empire Crumbles (10th)

Roman Yitzhaki has succumbed in the Hold'em limit section, his jacks being cruelly coolered by cool-as-a-cucumber Huck Seed's pocket rockets.

That elimination, which saw Yitzhaki collect $42,818, brings us down to nine players, who have been consolidated onto a single table, where one player will have to sit out the 8-max stud variant and three will have to sit out the triple-draw.

Counting the Cost

Here are the chip standings of those final nine, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com. Thanks guys, it's appreciated!

The players are now on a 75-minute break for dinner to grab some nourishment. We will be back in just over an hour for the resumption of play.

Just twelve players remain and the atmosphere has been ratcheted up a few notches.

Todd Brunson remains the shortstack, but he has managed to evade elimination thusfar, hanging in there, whilst two more players have faltered.

Here's the news from the last hour.

Adam Fried, man (14th)

James Van Alstyne popped it up to 27k and Friedman made the call from the cut-off.

The flop fell K♥ J♠ 9♣ and Van Alstyne bet out the pot. Friedman made the call after a moment's contemplation.

The turn was the J♦, which Friedman must have thought was a great card, seeing as he held a jack in his hands.

All the rest of the chips went into the middle, but Van Alstyne had Friedman in all sorts of trouble, given that he had flopped a set of nines.

When Friedman failed to fill up on the river, his tournament had run his course and he was on the rail with $27,719 in his pocket.

#img: huck-seed_31265.jpg:left: Huck slips to third. #

Ka-Powell! (13th)

Brian Powell was the latest player to see his bracelet hopes dashed against the rocks of variance in the Omaha/8 round.

He ran his overpair and gutshot in the form of A♣ Q♠ Q♦ 6♥ into the superior overpair and gutshot of Ville Wahlbeck, whose A♠ K♣ K♦ 9♣ fitted the J♣ T♦ 7♠ flop just a little better.

Powell failed to improve and was out in 13th, also picking up $27,719.

The Count!

It's getting exciting now, we can almost taste the final table.

Here are the chip standings, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com.

Much as we hate to be the bearers of bad news, anyone sweating on a Brunson heads-up clash here will be disappointed by the news that one of the celebrated father and son duo has perished.

Here's the lowdown from the last hour.

Binge on the Fringe (Binger OUT - 16th)

Michael Binger was a victim of Todd Brunson, falling down on the Stud/8 round as his queens-up was no good versus Todd's aces-up.

Michael Binger just about snuck into the next pay-out bracket however, collecting $21,357 for his 16th place finish.

He'll have wanted that bracelet but $21k will get him a few two-buck Heinekens from the Gold Coast Bar to drown his sorrows.

#img: todd-brunson_30136.jpg:left: FML! Seventh street sucks! #

Seventh Heaven for Prescott

In the Stud/8, Todd called Prescott down on every street of a non-threatening board, holding queens in the hole.

He may have felt he was good for at least the high, but when Prescott showed down buried sevens in the hole, which had been complemented by a third seven on seventh street, Brunson reeled back, clearly annoyed he had been outdrawn at the last.

That hand left Todd as the shortstack with just 175k.

It was a set-back for Brunson Jr. but worse was to befall the Brunson clan in the following hand.

A Legend Departs (Brunson OUT - 15th)

Doyle popped it up to $26k from early position and Scott Dorin made it $76k.

Folded to Doyle, he didn't take long to think about it before four-betting all-in for an additional $230k.

Dorin looked pained and while he tanked deciding what to do, there was speculation from all sides on the two players' holdings.

#img: doyle-brunson_30981.jpg:right: Even venerated legends get bad beats! #

"I think he has ace-king," David Chiu whispered quietly, indicating Dorin.

"I think you have jacks!" Dorin told Doyle, who just stared at his opponent's stack impassively.

Eventually, we got to see what the two had as Dorin made the call for most of his stack, showing A♠ Q♠, whilst Doyle had him dominated with Q♦ Q♥.

"Close!" Doyle said, referring to Dorin's read, but he looked in great shape to double through.

Then the flop fell A♥ J♦ 7♣ to reverse the dynamic of the hand. Now it was Doyle on the cusp of elimination, drawing at one out.

He missed and got up from the table with dignity to a huge round of applause from the respectful rail.

$21,357 for Doyle Snr but no eleventh bracelet for the legend today.

Chipping Away

Here are the chip counts as we close in on that final table, just 14 players remaining. Thanks to worldseriesofpoker.com for the counts.

We're back at this pro-heavy $10k mixed event and already the first hour has claimed its fair share of victims.

Don't worry though, the two Brunsons are still there, keeping hopes of a Brunson 1-2 still alive.

Here's the news on the early bustouts.

Van the Man! (Cernuto - 20th)

In the 2-7 triple draw, John Cernuto was pipped at the post, calling off the last of his chips with an 8-7 low following the draw, only for James Van Alstyne to showdown the nuts : 2-3-4-5-7.

Too good for Cernuto, he busts in 20th spot, with $16,649 for his troubles.

Matt Finish (Hawrilenko - 19th)

Matt Hawrilenko succumbed during the limit Hold'em round to none other than Brunson Jr., getting the last of his chips in the middle in good shape with A♦ 9♦ on a 3♣ 2♣ 2♦ board versus Todd's K♦ Q♠.

A rivered king was not what he wanted to see, as baby Brunson picked up the pot whilst Kawrilenko exits stage with a bad beat tale and $16,649.

Shamsedd-in is Shamsedd-out! (18th)

Soheil Shamseddin was relatively short so A♣ 2♠ 4♠ 7♦ must have looked very attractive to him in the Omaha/8 round.

He raised and Michael Binger three-bet from the button for the rest of his chips. He called, to be shown A♠ 2♥ 4♦ 4♣.

The board ran out without improving either hand, meaning Binger's measly pair of fours was enough to take it down and Soheil joins the rail in 18th spot, having also collected $16,649.

#img: huck-seed_31054.jpg:left: Chip-leader Huck Seed. #

Eric Froehlich-ed (17th)

The Omaha/8 was to prove Eric Froehlich's downfall too as his top pair and second nut low draw with A♠ K♣ J♠ 4♦ ran into Huck Seed's set of threes on a K♠ 5♣ 3♦ board.

Seed's A♦ K♦ 3♠ 3♥ remained good on turn and river and when no low arrived to bail Froehlich out, he was gone, gone, gone with $16,649 for his 17th place finish.

Would You Like Chips with That?

With the players re-drawn to just two tables now, here's the lay of the land, chip-wise, courtesy of worldseriesofpoker.com.