World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Theo Jorgensen came out on top in the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Grand Prix de Paris on Saturday. Jorgensen, who once defeated Full Tilt Poker pro Gus Hansen in a boxing match, banked €633,000 from the €10,000 buy-in tournament. Jorgensen entered the final table as the chip leader.
A total of 247 players turned out for the Grand Prix de Paris and, when the smoke cleared, eight reached this weekend’s final table. Among those who sought poker glory in Paris and coughed up the €10,000 entry fee were November Nine member and Everest Poker pro Antoine Saout, Andrew Feldman, Aussie Millions Main Event winner Tyron Krost, Men “The Master” Nguyen, and PokerStars pro Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier.
Jimmy Ostensson was the final table’s first casualty, bowing out when his wired pair of nines could not hold up against the A-6 of Fabrice Touil. The flop came J-4-K, but a running A-6 sent Ostensson out of the Aviation Club and looking for a taxi on the world-famous Champs-Elysées.
Seventh place at the Grand Prix de Paris went to Arnaud Mattern, who picked an inopportune time to shove with A-Q, as Antoine Amourette picked up pocket rockets. Mattern, who won the 2007 European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague stop, picked up €82,000. Nourredine Aïtaleb was the next to go. Aïtaleb shoved with A-J, but ran into Per Linde’s pocket queens. Linde, who finished 13th in April’s EPT San Remo Main Event, was once one out away from elimination in Paris.
In the defining pot of the Grand Prix de Paris, Jorgensen doubled up at the expense of Amourette with pocket kings against pocket sevens. The board ran out 5-4-5-10-3 and Jorgensen scooped a 3.3 million chip pot, the largest of the tournament at the time. Amourette quickly doubled up to stave off being the Grand Prix de Paris’ fifth place finisher, a distinction that went to Touil, who committed his chips pre-flop with A-8. Jorgensen called with J-8, but spiked a jack on the turn to shrink the field even further.
Mikhael Guenni woke up with pocket fives when his stack amounted to just five big blinds, but ran into Jorgensen’s pocket nines and could not improve. Linde was the next to go. Short-stacked, he pushed all-in with a paltry 7-5 and failed to draw out on Jorgensen’s K-J. Jorgensen flopped a straight and never looked back, sending Linde home €234,000 richer for his wear.
Heads-up play spanned all of three hands. In the final pot, Amourette was all-in with K-6 and up against Jorgensen’s A-K. The board ran out 6-J-4-A-5 and Jorgensen claimed his first WPT title. The tournament marked Jorgensen’s first top 20 finish in a WPT event. His bracelet came in 2008 during the WSOP Europe festivities, where he outlasted a field of 165 players in a £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event for £218,000. Jorgensen defeated Titan Poker pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi heads-up for his WSOP title in a final table that also included Erik Friberg, Max Pescatori, Chris Ferguson, and Jason Mercier.
Here were the final table results from the WPT Grand Prix de Paris:
1. Theo Jorgensen – €633,902
2. Antoine Amourette – €328,690
3. Per Linde – €234,780
4. Mickael Guenni – €187,825
5. Fabrice Touil – €140,870
6. Nourredine Aïtaleb – €93,910
7. Arnaud Mattern – €82,175
8. Jimmy Ostensson – €70,435
Kicking off on Wednesday is the WPT Spanish Championship, which will emanate from Casino Barcelona. The €3,500 tournament crowns a winner on May 23rd and preliminary events begin on Monday. In June 2009, Mark Flowers defeated Per Sjogren in the finale of the WPT Spanish Championship, which attracted a field of 160 players.
