Event 21 - $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship - Live Updates

“Hanging around, hanging around. Kid’s got alligator blood. Can’t get rid of him.”

Phil Laak used this famous Rounders quote to describe ElkY in the beginning of Day 2.

As fate would have it, no one would be able to get rid of ElkY during this tournament.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier has won the $10,000 7-Card Stud Championship and his first WSOP bracelet.

This gives ElkY the much coveted Triple Crown of poker and, what makes this win that much more surprising, is that this was ElkY’s first live 7-card stud tournament.

After speeding through twelve players today, ElkY was engaged in a 4-hour heads up match with Landfish.

After hours of swings and the chip lead swaying back and forth from player to player for hours, ElkY finally came up on top and was able to finish the job.

After gaining the final chip lead ElkY managed to get Landfish on the ropes. Then, the short-stacked Landfish moved all in and got a call from ElkY.

The final board read:

Landfish - A♠ 4♠ 3♣ J♠ 4♣ 10♣ 7♦
ElkY - J♣ 5♣ 9♦ 6♥ 6♠ 5♠ 6♦

Landfish was hoping to improve his pair of fours but the ElkY domination continued. After already being in the lead with fives, ElkY hit two pair, followed by a full house.

Aside from the bracelet, ElkY will take home $331,639.  Landfish will be able to add $204,924 to his live tournament winnings for his second-place finish.

ElkY was able to survive the field of 126 players that included the likes of Tom Dwan, Jennifer Harman, Humberto Brenes, Scott Seiver, Barry Greenstein, Allen Kessler and Men Nguyen.

After Day 1 of the event, Sebastien Sabic led the remaining 87 players into Day 2. But Sabic would not make it to the money.

Only 16 players cashed in this tournament and Tom McCormick was our unlucky bubble boy this tournament.

Day 2 saw Alexander Kostritsyn lead the field for a large portion of the day, but he was pushed down to seventh by the end of the day.

Only 14 of the 87 players that started Day 2 survived, and they were led by Steve Landfish.

The first elimination of today was Jason Mercier, then players began to fall quickly. 2010 $10,000 7-Card Stud Champion, Men Nguyen seemed to be in good shape for most of the day, but after losing a large pot to John Hennigan, he was crippled and eliminated soon after in 10^th place.

Nick Schulman, who was short stacked for most of the day, managed to survive to 9^th place. He became our final table bubble boy.

When we moved to the feature table, Chris Tryba was eliminated in the first hand and was followed soon after by Kevin Tang.

Chad Brown became our 6^th place finisher after losing most of his chips to ElkY and then being finished off by Maxwell Troy.

Alexander Kostritsyn was next when his pair of kings lost to Troy’s set of queens.

Player’s then went on a dinner break and ElkY came back with a vengeance.

John Hennigan was eliminated on the first hand after the break when he lost to Landfish’s two pairs.

This left play three handed and that’s when ElkY started his dominating run.

He won pot after pot and managed to get over 60 percent of the chips in play.

Despite this, Landfish was the one to eliminate Maxwell Troy in third place. Troy had a pair of nines and couldn’t improve to beat Landfish’s queens.

This is when the seesaw 4-hour heads-up match began.

The seesaw finally fell in ElkY’s favor and he became the 2011 $10,000 7-Card Stud World Champion and fourth triple crown winner.

That’s all for the 2011 7-Card Stud Championship.

See you soon.

While the heads up match continues we’ll update you on what the players have been consuming.

Steve Landfish has a copy of today’s USA Today, one partially drunk beverage in a styrofoam cup with a straw and one empty water bottle.

ElkY has had the lead all day, he’s consumed two Starbucks espresso shots, one coffee and four green teas.

ElkY has come into almost every tournament with a trusty bottle of Oi Ocha Japanese Green Tea, but they apparently seem to be hard to find in the Rio.

Next to his empty bottle of Oi Ocha, ElkY has an empty T2U All Natural Green Tea bottle, a 7 Tea Body and Mind Green tea and, surprisingly, an empty cup of green tea from Tea Station San Gabriel.

Tea Station in San Gabriel is right outside L.A. about a four-hour drive from here. This raises plenty of questions.

Do ElkY’s super powers expand beyond poker? Did a diehard fan drive in this magical green tea for him? Or could it be, that when drunk in that order, these combinations of teas make one invincible in poker?

We may never know, but what we do know is that ElkY has taken the chip lead once again.

In one hand ElkY completed and Landfish called. ElkY continued to bet every street and Landfish called him down the entire way.

The pot was worth 1.34 million after the last bet and ElkY had a pair of jacks showing. Landfish made the call and ElkY announced straight.

ElkY won the pot and shot back into the chip lead.

But that would not last long. Again.

Landfish would win a 1.6 million pot off of ElkY. Aside from betting every street, players threw in the occasional raise, beefing up the pot.

Landfish would show trip fives and take down the pot.

ElkY then won the next hand with kings. He followed that up by betting Landfish out of a few pots and chipping him down to around 1.1 million.

ElkY currently leads with 2.6 million but that can change any second.

We’ve sped through 12 eliminations throughout the day, but our heads-up seems like it might take some time.

Variance.

Steve Landfish continued to chip away at ElkY, betting him out of pots and beating him at showdowns.

This continued until Landfish had him down to around 250,000.  

At that point, with 3,530,000, Landfish had more than a 14-to-1 lead.

ElkY then went on to win a pot. Then another. ElkY managed to turn the tides and bet Landfish out of a few pots.

Then he won a 320,000 pot with kings and aces. He also managed to get a full house on Landfish, shortly propelling him back into the lead.

But that wouldn’t last for too long, as ElkY would soon lose a pot to Landfish’s two pairs.

Landfish and ElkY are now almost even in chips and the chip lead ebbs and sways from player to player.

The most recent chip count, according to WSOP live updates, are:

Landfish – 2,150,000
ElkY – 1,650,000

Heads-up.

Maxwell Troy has been eliminated and the tournament is now heads-up.

Your new $10,000 7-Card Stud Champion will either be Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier or Steve Landfish.

Both players are shooting for their first World Series of Poker bracelet.

ElkY’s heater seemed to have continued for a while as he won three consecutive pots.

Then, Steve Landfish won the largest pot of the tournament.

A Whale of a Pot for Landfish

Steve Landfish completed and Maxwell Troy called. ElkY raised and Landfish called, Troy folded.

ElkY bet the next street and Landfish called.

The board read:

ElkY – x x 2♣ A♠ 10♣
Landfish – x x A♥ 9♦ 8♦

When ElkY bet, Landfish raised, then ElkY re-raised and Landfish 4-bet.

ElkY called his bet and called Landfish’s bet on the next street as well.

The final board read:

ElkY – x x 2♣ A♠ 10♣ J♠ x
Landfish – x x A♥ 9♦ 8♦ 8♣ x

And Landfish put out a final bet.

ElkY squeezed his final hole card and sighed. He looked at Landfish and then grabbed his cards and begrudgingly threw them into the muck.

Landfish flashed an A♣ to ElkY, revealing aces and eights.

“It’s the best hand I’ve had in a while,” said Landfish as he scooped in the pot.

That hand put Landfish in the chip lead with 1.8 million, while setting ElkY back to 1.5 million.

3rd place finisher, Maxwell Troy.

 

All's Not Well for Maxwell

Maxwell Troy has been eliminated in third place and wins $128,341.

Troy, who’s been short stacked for some time, raised and got called by Landfish.

Troy moved all in for 80,000 and Landfish called.

Landfish showed a pair of queens and Troy, with a pair of nines, was going to need to improve.

But Landfish would be the one to improve, he hit two pair on the last street and eliminated Troy.

Heads-Up

Players are now heads up and are guaranteed $204,924.

First place will take home their first WSOP bracelet and $331,639.

ElkY won the first hand of heads-up with a pair of eights and nines. But Landfish has taken a couple of pots off the Frenchman to end the level in the lead.

Players are now on a 15-minute break and Landfish is in the lead with 2,595,000.

ElkY is down to 1,190,000.

Stay tuned for more on the $10K 7-Card Stud Championship heads-up match.

We’ve come back from the dinner break and John Hennigan fell in the first hand.

ElkY has also showed up from the dinner break in a big way. With a – possibly – full stomach and a bottle of Oi Ocha Japanese Green Tea, ElkY has been tearing up the table and winning pot after pot.

He’s managed to work his way into the chip lead with 2,420,000.

Landfish has seen his stack shrink to the power of ElkY, but not as much as Troy has.

Troy is currently the short stack with 500,000, and Landfish is down to 800,000.

Hennigan, Begin Again

On the first hand back from the break, Landfish completed and Hennigan raised. Landfish 3-bet and Hennigan made the call.

Landfish continued to bet until Hennigan was all in.

When the cards were flipped over Hennigan showed a pair of fives and fours.

But his two pairs were not as strong as Landfish’s two pairs.

Landfish held aces and sevens and eliminated.

Hennigan finished in 4^th place and was denied his third WSOP bracelet, but he’ll take home $92,928 as a consolation prize.

Alligator Blood

ElkY has wandered between the middle of the field to the bottom of the field throughout most of the tournament.

But he’s remained consistent in winning key hands and surviving. Phil Laak took note of ElkY’s persistence yesterday.

“Hanging around, hanging around,” Laak said to ElkY in a poor Russian accent, quoting Teddy KGB from the movie Rounders. “Kid’s got alligator blood. Can’t get rid of him.”

ElkY has been doing more than hanging around since the dinner break, he’s gone from third in chips to first by a large margin.

Whether it be alligator blood or his magical Oi Ocha Green tea, one thing’s for sure, ElkY’s been dominating. His stack is now up to 2,420,000, 64 percent of the chips in play.

ElkY has managed to bet Landfish and Troy out of several hands, winning pots without a showdown.

At one point ElkY won four consecutive pots with having to show the all-mighty hole cards.

But even when he does show his hole cards, he’s still up.

In one pot Troy confidently announced kings, but ElkY one-upped him and showed aces.

We’ve lost another three players at the final table and are down to the final four.

Still in the running are Steve Landfish, ElkY, Maxwell Troy and John Hennigan.

Alexander Kostritsyn, who was our chip leader for most of Day 2 (and part of today), has finally been chipped away and eliminated in 5^th place.

Kevin Tang and Chad Brown were the other two players to see their tournament end. One fell victim to the powerful Landfish and Troy was responsible for the other.

This brings Troy up to the close to the chip lead with 1,316,000. Landfish holds the lead once again with 1,450,000.

The first player to be eliminated after our last update was Kevin Tang.

Out of Tang

Kevin Tang was short-stacked and was looking for a place to double up.

He found it, or so he thought.

On the last street, Tang showed a pair of eights, but they were just not good enough to beat Landfish’s nines.

Chad Brown won't be hanging aroun(d).

 

Brown Down

ElkY doubled up through Chad brown.

ElkY moved all in when he hit a K♣ on sixth street, pairing his exposed K♦.

Brown called anyways.

The last card was dealt and ElkY flipped over his last dealt card, revealing a 5♦ and an ace-high flush.

Brown flipped over a pair of aces, then threw his hand into the buck.

Brown was left with less than 100,000  and was in need of a double up.

Later on, Brown went all in and got called by Maxwell Troy.

Both players flipped up their hands and showed a pair of nines with a four kicker.

Troy picked up the lead when he was dealt a Q♠, but Brown took it back when he was dealt an ace on the next street.

But the ace would soon be outdrawn by Troy’s pair of twos.

Chad Brown was eliminated in 6^th place and won $57,917 for his finish.

Kostritsyn Cut

Alexander Kostritsyn, has been eliminated.

The once chip leader found his tournament at risk when he went all in against Maxwell Troy.

Kostritsyn looked to be in good shape when revealed a pair of kings and was up against Troy’s queens.

That is, until Troy hit a third queen on the last street and eliminated Kostritsyn in 5^th place, a finish worth $72,627.

Players are now on a 1-hour dinner break and will return to play level 23 with 30,000/60,000 limits and a 7,000 ante.

Chip Counts

Here are some dinner break chip counts, courtesy of WSOP live updates.

Steve Landfish – 1,450,000
Maxwell Troy – 1,316,000
ElkY – 720,000
John Hennigan – 216,000

We’ve reached our $10,000 7-Card Stud final table, and then lost one more.

We can also officially say that there will be no back-to-back bracelet winner for this event.

John Hennigan chipped down Men Nguyen and then delivered the final blow soon after.

Nguyen would see himself finish in 10^th place, a few spots short of his finish last year.

We were then left with nine players for a very brief period of time before Nick Schulman was eliminated.

Leading the final eight into the colossal final table arena is John Hennigan. After absorbing most of Men Nguyen’s stack he passed the 1.1 million mark.

He became the second chip leader of the day, taking away Landfish’s crown of dominating chip leader.

Landifsh also comes into the final table with a wee bit more than a million in chips.

He’s went into the final table in second place with 1,006,000.

ElkY went to the final table in third place with 444,000.

The top two players hold more than 50 percent of the chips in play.

Missing Mizzi, Not Going to Nguyen and … umm…. Schulman Out

Sorel Mizzi has become our 11^th place finisher. He went all in against Alexander Kostritsyn and Kostritsyn showed a pair of jacks.

Mizzi had seven cards, but none of them combined could beat those jacks.

Men Nguyen lost an enormous pot to John Hennigan when Nguyen invested the majority of his stack in his set of tens.

It turned out to be a poor investment as Hennigan had him beat with a straight.

A few hands later Hennigan would finish the job with two pair, beating Nguyen’s busted straight and flush draw.

Nguyen made the pay jump and will win $32,488 for his 10^th place finish.

11th place finisher, Sorel Mizzi.

 

Nick Schulman was fighting with a short stack for most of the day yesterday. He also made a daring move to double up on the bubble and it paid off for him.

He found some traction near the end of the day, but soon got became a short stack yet again.

He lost a large pot to Mizzi early today, but managed to outlast him. It wouldn’t be for long.

Schulman went all in against Kostritsyn and was eliminated when he couldn’t beat Kostritsyn’s aces.

Schulman became our final table bubble and 9^th place finisher. He too will earn $32,488 for his finish.

Final Table

The final table has been set up, lit up and is ready for some 7-Card Stud action.

The final table order will be:

Maxwell Troy
Chad Brown
Kevin Tang
Alexander Kostritsyn
Chris Tryba
John Hennigan
ElkY
Steve Landfish.

Man Down

We’ve lost our first player at the $10K 7-Card Stud Championship final table. It was one of our more vocal and entertaining players, Chris Tryba.

On the first hand at the feature table, Tryba and Alexander Kostritsyn completed and Maxwell troy raised.

Tryba 3-bet, Kostritsyn got out of the way and Troy and Tryba were heads up

Tryba would continue to bet until he found himself all in. Troy called and Tryba showed a pair of kings, but kings aren’t better than two pair.

Tryba became our 8^th place finisher and will take home $38,812 for his troubles.

Chip Counts

Here are some final table chip counts, courtesy of WSOP live updates.

John Hennigan – 950,000
Steve Landfish – 930,000
Maxwell Troy – 580,000
Chad Brown – 450,000
Alexander Kostritsyn – 420,000
ElkY – 360,000
Kevin Tang – 122,000

Stay tuned for more final table action.

We’re down to 11 players.

We only need three more players to go until we hit the final table. Steve Landfish continues his landslide chip lead with 860,000.

ElkY has also been winning pots and adding to his stack. He also has one Day 3 elimination under his belt.

Our next finisher will take home $27,643 and then then the final 10 are guaranteed at least $32,488.

Defending champion Men Nguyen is still in the running with 350,000 and is hoping for back-to-back championship bracelets.

But some have not fared so well. Jason Mericer, Ville Wahlbeck and Christopher George have all fallen to the perils of 7-card stud.

Nick Schulman also lost a large portion of his stack to Sorel Mizzi later on in the tournament.

Eliminations

Jason Mercier was the first to go. He finished in 14^th place and earned $24,043 when his pair of tens couldn’t outdraw Men Nguyen’s jacks.

Next to go was Ville Whalbeck. His flush draw never came and Kostritsyn’s trip tens were more than enough to send the Finn home with $24,043 for his 13^th place finsih.

But This Tournament Has 11

ElkY – x x A♦ 2♦ J♠
Christopher George – x x 7♣ Q♣ 4♦
Sorel Mizzi – x x 6♣ 2♣ 8♣

These were the hands on the board and ElkY laid out a bet. George called and Mizzi re-raised.

Both players made the call and George moved all in when he paired his queen on the following street.

ElkY, who received a #4, and Mizzi, who got an 8♣, called. ElkY laid out a final bet after the final card was dealt and Mizzi tanked.

After about a minute he made the call and ElkY announced a flush.

Mizzi mucked and discontent and George stood up and looked at ElkY’s ace-high flush for a couple of seconds.

George finally said goodbye to the table and became our 12^th place finisher, and for that, he makes the first tournament pay jump and takes home $27,643.

Schulman Takes a Hit

Sorel Mizzi completed and Nick Schulman raised.

They continued to bet and call each other until the final street, when their hands read:

Mizzi – x x 5♣#ah9♣ 3♠ x
Schulman – x x 6♥ J♣ 5♦ 5♠ x

Schulman was first to act with his pair of fives and checked to Mizzi.

Mizzi, who had around 40,000 left, led out for a final 24,000 bet.

Schulman tanked for a while. He took out 24,000 from his stack and saw what his stack would look without it.

He strongly clasped the chips in his hand and let out a deep breath.

He finally threw the final bet in the pot and Mizzi revealed a hidden set of queens.

Chip Counts

Here are 10 of them, one missing, courtesy of WSOP live updates.

Steve Landfish – 860,000
John Hennigan – 688,000
Chad Brown – 500,000
ElkY – 336,000
Nick Schulman – 290,000
Kevin Tang – 250,000
Maxwell Troy – 185,000
Sorel Mizzi – 180,000
Men Nguyen – 153,000
Alexander Kostritsyn – 130,000

Day 3 of the $10,000 7-Card Stud Championship is now under way.

Fourteen players have come back for the restart and we will play until we hit a champion (or 10 levels).

Steve Landfish is leading the field after winning a large pot off of Alexander Kostritsyn – the chip leader for most of Day 2 – in the last level of play yesterday.

Also in the running for the bracelet are ElkY, Nick Schulman, Chad Brown, Sorel Mizzi, Jason Mercier and 2010 $10,000 7-Card Stud Champion, Men Nguyen.

Aside from the bracelet, they will playing for the $331,639 first-place prize.

Right now, they are all guaranteed $24,043, a number that will only go up.

126 players signed up for this tournament and now we’re down to our final 14, and several of them are hungry for their first WSOP bracelet.

Play is resuming on level 19 with 12,000/24,000 limits and a 3,000 ante.

Cards are in the air, stay tuned for some 7-card stud action right here, at www.PokerListings.com.