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November 2nd 2006
Roll on the Wolf: Roland wins the Dublin EPT
What an 18 months it’s been for Roland De Wolfe! Back in July 2005 Roland stormed on into the poker headlines with his win at the WPT Grand Prix De Paris. Then in April this year Roland roared onto the final table of the $25,000 WPT Championship, ending in third place for $1 million. And now Roland’s win in the final EPT event of 2006, the Irish Masters, makes him the only player to have won both a WPT and an EPT event. It also made him $696,970 richer.
The main-event of the Dublin EPT kicked off on Friday 27th October at the Regency Hotel, with around 200 players pitching up for Day One A. That day saw Englishman Marc Goodwin enjoying the luck of the Irish, narrowly escaping from a three way all-in with 6-6 against Q-Q and 3h-4h when a six popped out on the river. That meant he was raking in a $47,000 pot instead of walking to the rail, and he didn’t let it go to waste, using it like a baseball bat to bludgeon his opponents and end the day second in chips with $98,000.
Day One B saw most of the famous pros kick-start their tournament, although they all seemed to struggle to get out of first gear. EPT London winner Vicky Coren, 2004 WSOP champ Greg Raymer, WPT winner Dave “DevilFish” Ulliot, and EPT winner and Hendon Mobster Ram Vaswani all hit the rail early in the day, with most of them heading straight over to the cash games.
Not all the star players were put to the sword however. Ending the day in second position overall was William Thorsson, a Swedish player who finished 13th in this year’s WSOP main-event for over $900,000. In sixth position at the close of play was Roy “The Boy” Brindley, and one behind him in seventh place was Britain’s Roland De Wolfe. Andy Black, fifth in the 2005 WSOP main-event, started Day Two in tenth place. The leader at the end of Day One was the relatively unknown Jonas Helness.
Day Two got off to a roaring start with 21 eliminations inside 35 minutes; it also proved a bad day for most of the household hopes. Roy Brindley, Marc Goodwin, and Andy Black all crashed out before the close of play, as did Day One chip leader Jonas Helness. It proved an excellent day for Roland De Wolfe however, who took a big chip lead when he collided with crowd favourite Willie Tan. “The Dice Man” moved all-in with A-J and it was a case of bad timing as Roland woke up with A-K. A king on the flop sent Willie Tan out in ninth on the final table bubble and Roland ended the day with $1.35 million in chips, $580,000 more than his closest opponent, William Thorsson.
The final table was an exciting event, dominated in large part by an interesting duel between the two aforementioned tournament stars Roland De Wolfe and William Thorsson. Roland appeared to have the upper hand, with Thorsson resorting to calling Roland a “fish” after another frustrating loss. Despite this Thorsson played well, and his aggressive style kept him comfortable in second place.
Thorsson in fact should have reached the final two for what would have been a fascinating heads-up duel with his nemesis Roland De Wolfe. Unfortunately for him, and for many observers, his tournament was cut short by a horror river beat against David Tavernier. The two players got their chips in on the turn with the board showing Q-8-T-7; Tavernier had hit the flop hard with Q-8 for two pair but Thorsson had flopped the straight with J-9. Thorsson was a 9:1 favourite heading to the river but as so often happens an eight popped out on the river and crippled Thorsson; he bowed out shortly afterwards after losing a race with A-T against De Wolfe’s 6-6.
De Wolfe started his heads-up battle with a $2.5 million to $1.5 million chip lead over David Tavernier, and although the lead was easily reversible Tavernier was never able to get to grips with his tricky opponent. He lasted half-an-hour before De Wolfe induced Tavernier into making an all-in bluff that ended the tournament. With the board showing 3-5-A-5 Roland bet $70k and Tavernier raised to $250k; Roland called. The river was a nine and Roland led out with a $250k bet, which Tavernier must have seen as a bluff because he moved all-in. Roland happily called showing 5-4 for trip fives. Tavernier had Q-J - a total bluff.
For Roland De Wolfe it was a second big title within 18 months and a 3rd $500,000+ payday in the same period. For David Tavernier the $394,970 runners-up prize was the biggest of his career.
Final Table payouts:
1st Roland De Wolfe (UK) €554,300
2nd David Tavernier (Fra) €314,120
3rd William Thorsson (Swe) €184,720
4th Gavin Simms (UK) €138,580
5th George McKeever (Ire) €112,710
6th Rob Yong (UK) €88,690
7th Nick Slade (UK) €70,210
8th Patrick Bueno (Fra) €51,740
Submitted: 02/11/2006 11:45:12
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