All the attention during the beginning of this week may be on the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, but let’s not forget there are other major tournaments going on all over the world. One of them, the World Poker Tour (WPT) Amneville stop, concluded over the weekend. The €3200 + €300 tournament spanned six days (including two Day One flights) saw 379 players enter and at the end, just one, France’s Adrien Allain, had all the chips. For his first WPT victory, Allain won €310,633 ($429,046).
Allain busted out in a big way in 2009, winning the Asian Poker Tour Macau Main Event for $391,580. After that, he had some solid finishes, including a few five-figure scores, but nothing that really reverberated through the poker world. This year, though, he has made some moves. He placed 4th in the €2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) San Remo stop (€86,100/$125,492) and finished 5th in the €2,500 Six-Max No-Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker Europe (€46,250/$61,784) before his big win this weekend. In his live tournament career, Allain has now earned over $1.2 million.
Going into heads-up play, Allain trailed Jordane Ouin slightly, by about half a million chips (the big blind was 80,000 at the time). Allain was the first to make a big move in the one-on-one duel, taking a pot of close to 2 million chips to wrench the lead away from Ouin. He took off from there, losing the lead briefly, but taking command with a huge hand.
Before the flop, Allain raised to 220,000, Ouin three-bet to 460,000, and Allain called. Even with all that betting, both players checked the flop of Kd-Qd-9c to bring on the turn. The 9d must have been the card they were both waiting for, as Ouin bet 950,000, Allain shoved, and after asking for a count, Ouin called. Allain’s tournament life was at risk, but with 5d-6d in his hand, giving him a flush, he was in good shape. He had to fade a King, Queen, Ace, or the final 9, however, as Ouin had Ac-9s for trips. The river, though, was a harmless 6s and Allain doubled-up, surging into the chip lead, 9.37 million to 2 million.
And just a few minutes later, it was all over.
Ouin moved all-in pre-flop for his last 1.5 million with Kh-9d and Allain made the easy call with Ts-Td. The flop did nothing for either player: Qd-8s-4c. The 4s on the turn still didn’t help Ouin and while the 9s on the river did give him a pair, but it wasn’t the pair he needed and Allain won WPT Amneville.
World Poker Tour Amneville – Final Table Results
1. Adrien Allain – €310,633
2. Jordane Ouin – €170,365
3. Thibaud Guenegou – €113,580
4. Scott Baumstein – €80,640
5. Michel Konieczny – €60,196
6. Arnaud Trouer – €47,700
