April 18 2011, Chad Holloway

While this past Sunday was the first without the major online tournaments in the U.S., this didn’t stop FSN’s coverage of the World Poker Tour’s ninth season. This week, FSN aired Part II of its Foxwoods World Poker Finals broadcast. We’ll be covering the entire final table at the Foxwoods World Poker Finals in this recap – from first elimination to last.

The World Poker Finals drew 242 players and created a prize pool of $2,276,978, with $548,752 reserved for first place. Some of the entrants included Howard Lederer, Barry Greenstein, Jason Mercier, Gavin Smith, and Josh Arieh. While many of those players managed to make the money, the final table was dominated by young guns. “This young, aggressive poker bunch should make for great poker action. The cards are about ready to fly, let’s go watch the bluffing begin,” co-host Vince Van Patten said to kick things off.

Here is how the final table looked at the top of the broadcast.

Final Table

Seat 1: Nikolai Yakovenko (637,000)
Seat 2: Jeff Forrest (1,933,000)
Seat 3: Thomas Marchese (2,986,000)
Seat 4: David Inselberg (392,000)
Seat 5: Keven Stammen (269,000)
Seat 6: Mohsin Charania (1,097,000)

First Hand: Action began with the blinds at 12,000/24,000 with a 4,000 ante. In the first hand, Nikolai Yakovenko raised to 58,000 from the cutoff and received call from Jeff Forrest on the button and Thomas Marchese in the small blind. The flop came down and action folded to Forrest, who promptly fired out 84,000. Yakovenko folded his while Forrest made the call.

When the dealer burned and turned the , Marchese bet 234,000, Forrest called, and the hit the river. Both players checked and Marchese showed for a rivered pair of nines with a missed flush draw, which was enough to beat Forrest’s .

Charania Eliminated in 6th Place: Action folded to Keven Stammen and he moved all-in for 355,000 holding . Mohsin Charania, who was also short-stacked, moved all in behind with . The rest of the field folded and the board ran out . Stammen doubled to 800,000 while Charania was left with just 30,000.

All in the next hand with , Charania received calls from the of Forrest and of Marchese. The saw Marchese win the pot and Charania hit the rail in sixth place for $104,741.

Stammen Out in Fifth Place; Yakovenko in Fourth: After Stammen ran into the of David Inselberg and was sent packing in fifth place ($128,650), Yakovenko raised to 100,000 with and received a call from the of Inselberg in the big blind. When the flop fell , Inselberg checked his top two pair, Yakovenko bet 50,000, and Inselberg raised to 150,000. Yakovenko wasted little time in moving all in for 885,000 and discovered the bad news after Inselberg made the call. The turn and river changed nothing and Yakovenko was eliminated in fourth place ($170,773).

Big Slick No Good for Marchese: In back-to-back hands, Marchese peeked down at big slick and proceeded to double Forrest and Inselberg respectively. The doubles shook up the chip standings and left Marchese, who started the final table as chip leader, in second place with 2,390,000. Meanwhile, Inselberg had vaulted to the chip lead with 3,220,000, followed by Forrest on the short stack with 1,705,000.

Big Pot: Forrest raised to 225,000 with only to have Marchese move all-in with . To call would cost Forrest all of his chips, about 1.6 million more, and that is exactly what he did. With 3,630,000 in the pot, the flop fell to solidify Forrest’s lead. The turn left Marchese drawing dead, and the was run out on the river for good measure. Marchese was left with just under 800,000 after the hand.

Marchese Finishes in 3rd Place: In the very next hand, Forrest raised to 275,000, Marchese moved all-in for 770,000, and Forrest made the call.

Marchese:
Forrest:

Historically, Big Slick had been disaster for Marchese and this time would prove no different as the flop came down , pairing Forrest’s six and giving him the lead. The turn and river were no help to Marchese and he was eliminated in third place for $211,759.

Heads-Up: Forrest entered heads-up play with 5,185,000 to Inselberg’s 2,130,000. On the fourth hand between the two, Forrest raised to 200,000 with and Inselberg made the call with . Inselberg then checked the flop, Forrest bet 250,000, Inselberg check-raised to 600,000, and Forrest moved all-in. Inselberg made the call and was looking for a six, seven, or nine to double into the chip lead. If not, Forrest would capture a WPT title in his first-ever attempt.

The turn meant Inselberg was drawing to a seven on the river, but it was not meant to be as the came down. Inselberg finished as runner up ($325,608) while Forrest became the WPT Season 9 Foxwoods World Poker Final Champion and took down the $548,752 first-place prize.

“It definitely doesn’t even feel real yet. I don’t know when it will finally hit me, you know, that I’m a WPT champion, but it’s completely, it’s a dream come true,” Forrest said after his big win.

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