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13th of may: It's 8:30 PM and heads up play continues at the final of the Flemish Poker Challenge. Both players have about 1 000 000 in chips. Ilan goes all in and Sam quickly calls flipping over his pocket jacks. Ilan shows A8 of suited, it isn't over yet. Sam has Ilan covered by 100 000 chips so this is gonna be the hand that can decide the whole tournament.
The flop is 4 3 2 rainbow. Ilan picks up a wheel-draw and has 7 outs. Another 3 on the turn pairs the board. Sam is one card away from the title ! The river : ... a nine of club and Sam has it ! Sam Vervoort is our 2007 Flemish Poker Challenge Champion ! Ilan takes the loss with grace as he congragulates his opponent.
At the 12th of May 10 tables await 90 players for the finale of the Flemish Poker Challenge. With a deepstack structure that permits a lot of play were up for 2 days of pure pokermadness. It turned out to be a who's who for the Belgian/ Dutch players with reigning Belgian champ Marc Naalden, 2005 Belgian champion Michael Gilson, EPT final wonderboy Kristof Luxy Desmedt, Amar Namani, Kenny "Spacey" Hallaert, Johan Rensink, Marc Dogge, Frank List, Ilan "MagicAngel" Engel and many others attending.
It took more then 3 levels for the first table to break. After more then 2 hours we lost our first player: Dirk Daenens. This was our top 6 after the first break:
1. Baeten Stephane 60.650
2. Vervoort Sam 46.800
3. Elskens Johan 46.250
4. Kristof "Luxy" Desmedt 44.600
5. Rensink Johan 42.250
6. Verdict Frederik 40.050
After our first break players slowly start getting eliminated. Michael Gilson is out after getting called with his pocket 10's by someone holding JQ. His opponent hit a pair and "Scanx" was send packing.
More players fell during the last 4 levels of the day:
In the last half hour of day 1 Marc Naalden pushed on the flop with a flush draw but ran into a set ... no spade came and Marc was out.
Play was stopped after level 10 at blinds 1500-3000. 26 players remain and were expected on day 2.
The most spectacular hand of the day was probably the following one: With 2 tables remaining: Marc Broers raised it up and Kristof Desmedt reraised him. Ilan went all in behind him and both Marc and Kristof "Luxy" immediatly called. Mark had Jacks, Ilan had AQ of hearts and Luxy held 2 aces. The flop showed a glimmer of hope when 2 hearts came and the deuce of hearts on the turn crushed Luxy's aces. Ilan had made his Flush !!! Luxy one a side pot of about 100 000 but it was Ilan who raked in close to 250 000 ! Luxy was eliminated soon afterwards as he pushed with AQ and got called by Frank Lists Bullets. No justice in poker and luxy was out in 14 place.
Meanwhile on the other table Johan Rensink was accumulating chips and was up to close to 600 000. Raf Weverbergh went out in 12 place as he called Johan raise with his last chips and pocket 99's. Johan showed the J4 and when a jack hit the turn it was all over for our participating journalist who just started playing a few months ago.
Dimitri Peeters was involved in a huge pot with pocket Kings againt Johan's AJ who said he decided to gamble. He called for an ace and that was exactly what came on the flop. Dimitri was eliminated in 11th place and was soon joined on the rail by Christophe Gregoir who went out as our bubble. He got a James Bond chip set as a consolidation prize.
Our finale table was set with the following 9 players.
Seat 1 Marc Dogge
Seat 2 Ilan Engel
Seat 3 Alexis Potvin
Seat 4 Frank List
Seat 5 Patrick Magdelijns
Seat 6 Jurgen Sabbot
Seat 7 Brescia Guiseppe
Seat 8 Sam Vervoort
Seat 9 Johan Rensink
Chipleader was Johan Rensink with close to 600 000 chips
Restaurant owner Guiseppe Brecia went out in 9th place. He went all in after a flop of 3, 8, 6 with his AK and got called by Sam Vervoort who held JJ. The turn and river didn't bring any help to Guiseppe. He takes home 1296 ?.
2 dutchmen fell afterwards. First Frank List went out in 8th place and Patrick Magdelijn soon went out behind him when is 6's met the 9's of Sam Vervoort.
Jurgen Sabbot who was hanging in there on the shortstack was happy to move up in the money but had to make a move sooner or later. He pushed under the gun with J7 and Alex called with A6. Both players hit a pair but Alex his pair of aces was dominating Jurgen's 7's. Then a J appeared on the turn giving Jurgen one of his miracle outs ! He was about to sit down again when a 6 fell on the river and Alex improved to a better 2 pair. Jurgen went out be he was happy with his first big cash and got a big hugg from his wife !
5 Players were remaining when Ilan "Magic Angel" made a move with A5. He was called by his buddy Alex who held AK so Ilan was dominated and all in Alex had 4 chips left after he called the all in. The flop was QQ5 and Ilan went from zero to hero ! No improvement for Alex and he was down to 2 antes and was soon knocked out afterwards.
Butal beats became the story of the Flemish Poker Challenge: Johan Pushed all in and was quickly called by Marc. Johan asked Marc: " You got aces?" Marc Nodded and flipped over his black bullets. Johan showed QJ of suit and was way behind.
Flop : 3 7 9
Turn : K (Johan picked up a strait draw )
River : 10 !!!!!!!!!!
Johan caught his 10 on the river !!!! What a brutal beat that was!!!!
Exit Marc in 4th place.
A few hands later it was Ilan who called Johans all in. This time the attempt to steal the blinds who were getting quite pricy failed and Johan was behind again with 8 4 of suited vs Ilans 9's. No more ugly suck outs on this hand and Ilan knocked out Johan in 3th place (5616?).
The heads up match between Ilan and Sam lasted about 30 minutes and ended when Sam trapped Ilan with his Jacks. Sam played great and avoided the bad beats some other players faced. He is our well deserved winner!
PS : I specifically want to thank my dealers for hanging in there the first day after 3 persons called in sick. Thanks a lot !
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