The third and final preliminary event of the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe wrapped up on Friday night and sitting atop the final leader board standings was none other than Theo Jorgensen, a 36 year-old accomplished poker pro from Copenhagen, Denmark. He defeated a field of 165 of poker’s best in the ₤5,000 buy-in tournament, defeating Betfair sponsored pro Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi heads-up. Tournament play now moves on to the Main Event, which began on Saturday and will crown a champion on Thursday, October 2nd.
This was Jorgensen’s second final table of his World Series of Poker career. He finished fifth and cashed for $46,530 in the 2007 WSOP in the buy-in World Championship of Seven Card Stud. That tournament was eventually won by Chris Reslock; Full Tilt Poker pro and five-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey was also at the final table. Jorgensen has also made himself well-known across the European Poker Tour circuit, finishing in fourth place in both the 2007 Copenhagen event and the 2006 Deauville tournament. He became the third Danish player ever to win a WSOP bracelet, joining Jesper Hougaard and Jan Sorensen. All WSOP Europe events award a bracelet to the winner.
Mizzi made a deep run in the 2007 WSOP Main Event, finishing 208th and cashing for $51,398. He has over $1 million in online winnings, where he plays under the name “Imper1um” on most sites. He also chopped the Irish Poker Open and is currently a member of Team Betfair. One other member of Team Betfair is Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, who is the reigning WSOPE Main Event champion and has sparked a younger generation to travel to London in 2008. Obrestad lost two games to none to poker legend Doyle Brunson heads-up on Friday. Mizzi has a win in August in a $215 buy-in heads-up tournament on PokerStars for $21,000 and took third in the $100 rebuy on that site two weeks ago for $14,000.
Here were the top 10 finishers in the third event of the 2008 WSOP Europe, the last one before the beginning of the ₤10,350 Main Event:
1. Theo Jorgensen – £218,626
2. Sorel Mizzi – £132,000
3. Eric Dalby – £84,562
4. Erik Friberg – £66,000
5. Max Pescatori – £51,562
6. David Penly – £41,250
7. Chris Ferguson – £33,000
8. Jason Mercier – £26,812
9. Tomy Nyback – £22,688
10. Ilkka Koskinen – £18,562
Erik Friberg made a name for himself by finishing eighth and cashing for $1.9 million in the 2006 Main Event, which was eventually won by Jamie Gold. Others at that now infamous final table included Paul Wasicka (second place), Michael Binger (third place), and Allen Cunningham (fourth place). Friberg also finished third at the Six-Handed Hold’em Championship during the 2007 WSOP.
Ferguson nearly won his sixth WSOP bracelet in 2008, but finished second in the $5,000 buy-in World Championship Seven Card Stud High-Low Split Eight or Better, cashing for $202,406. Before many of today’s poker players even knew what Texas Hold’em was, Ferguson took down the 2000 WSOP Main Event for $1.5 million, defeating T.J. Cloutier heads-up.
The first of two starting days of the £10,350 buy-in Main Event kicked off today, drawing 165 entrants. Day 1B kicks off at 1:00pm local time on Sunday. The champion of the WSOP Europe Main Event will be crowned on Thursday, October 2nd.
