October 04 2012, Chad Holloway

For the past two weeks, the Casino Barrière in Cannes, France, has played host to the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe. Thanks to PartyPoker sponsoring PokerNews’ coverage, we’ve been on hand to capture all the great action. In Week 1′s recap of the the biggest hands, we took a look at some Phil Hellmuth antics and Antonio Esfandiari’s third bracelet win.

Now, we’re back with a look at some of the most entertaining, interesting, and influential hands from the second week of the 2012 WSOP Europe.

Cantu Controversy in Event #5: “10,450 Mixed Max – No-Limit Hold’em

There was quite a bit of controversy in Event #5: “10,450 Mixed Max – No-Limit Hold’em, most of it fueled by Brandon Cantu. It came in the final four when heads-up matches were in progress, and the first came when Cantu was squaring off against Roger Hairabedian, who became the first Frenchman to win a WSOP Europe bracelet just a few days before, and concerned the Hairabedian’s relocation at the table.

The aforementioned ruling regarding Roger Hairabedian being moved to the opposite end of the table has now halted the action in this heads-up match. Brandon Cantu demanded to once again see Jack Effel regarding his decision on allowing Hairabedian to move to the other side of the table.

“It changes everything,” lamented Cantu to Effel. “All [Hairabedian] is doing is making it about himself.”

Cantu brought up the point that he had no say in the matter and that he came back from break to a table setup that looked completely different.

Effel, however, remained confident in his ruling.

“Look, you guys are playing for a lot of money here,” said Effel.

“I KNOW we are,” interjected Cantu, “which is why it’s ridiculous.”

“I’m going to let you sit here and rant, but I’m not going to change my decision. I suggest you take a deep breath and not let something like this get to you.”

Effel’s word was final and he left and told the dealer to resume play. Cantu put his headphones back on and sat steaming from the decision.

Not long after, Hairabedian and Cantu were at it again in a situation that halted play for approximately 45 minutes.

Brandon Cantu is unhappy again.

He and Roger Hairabedian saw a flop and Hairabedian checked out of turn. The turn was dealt and Hairabedian bet 75,000 when Cantu checked again. Cantu argued that Hairabedian checked out of turn again but the dealer and Hairabedian insisted he only lifted his hand and then said to Cantu that it was his turn to act.

A ruling was made against Cantu but he refused to accept it and called the dealer a liar and insane. The clock was paused and Jack Effel was called. After hearing everyone’s point of view, Effel was leaning toward ruling in favor of Cantu. No final ruling has been made yet as they are checking the footage from the cameras… Jack Effel came back and said that the footage showed that Roger Hairabedian did in fact check and subtly verbalized so. Hairabedian had to take his bet back and the hand played on. The atmosphere is very tense in the room right now.

Cantu went on to beat Hairabedian, but ultimately lost to Jonathan Aguiar after their match was postponed. Of course that led to even more controversy and inspired Cantu to sound off in a video interview with PokerNews.

Video: http://www.pokernews.com/video/wsope-2012-brandon-cantu-shares-his-mind-7232.htm

Hellmuth Chip Leader of WSOP Europe Main Event Final Table

On Wednesday, the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe “10,450 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event was down to just 17 players when a big hand developed and gave 12-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth take the chip lead, which he would carry into the final table.

Not only was the “Poker Brat” looking to capture bracelet No. 13, which would make him the only multiple-bracelet winner in 2012, he was looking to win the WSOP Player of the Year title, which he could clinch if he won the WSOP Europe Main Event and Greg Merson did not go on to win the October Nine Main Event; in addition, either a second, third- or fourth-place finish will also give Hellmuth a legitimate shot at the POY title.

Here’s a look at the big hand that gave Hellmuth the chip lead:

Curt Kohlberg opened to 30,000 from under the gun and action folded to Phil Hellmuth who pushed out a sizable three-bet to 180,000. Action folded back around to Kohlberg, who announced that he was all-in for 900,000 total.

Kurt Kohlberg

“What did he say? All in?” said Hellmuth. “I call!” Hellmuth shot out of his chair and tabled .

Kohlberg showed and was in dire need of some help.

Fortunately for Kohlberg, the flop brought him hope, as it fell , giving him an open-ended straight draw. Hellmuth took one look at the flop and stormed from the table.

The rolled off on the turn, giving Hellmuth a set but Kohlberg was still drawing live going to the river.

Fifth street was paint, but unfortunately for Kohlberg, it was the , pairing him up and securing his elimination in 17th place.

While stacking his new chips, Hellmuth broke into a chorus of English New Wave band ‘Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Hellmuth may not be ruling the world, but he is certainly ruling this room as this win boosts him to 2,000,000 and is good for the top spot on the chip counts.

A Cooler for Tony G in the “50,000 Majestic High Roller

Day 2 of the “50,000 Majestic High Roller took place on Wednesday, and it was a long day on the felt resulting in another early-morning finish. Overall the field size grew to 60 total entries (49 players and 11 rebuys), creating a prize pool of “2.88 million with “1 million going to the winner, and Day 2 saw a bevy of eliminations including Phil Ivey, Jonathan Duhamel, Daniel Negreanu, Sam Trickett and PartyPoker Pro Marvin Rettenmaier. However, it was another PartyPoker Pro, Tony G, who was the victim of a big cooler to finish in 17th place. Here’s a look at the hand as reported in our Live Blog:

Tony G was just the victim of a massive cooler, as he was eliminated in a million-chip pot.

Tony G

Scott Seiver gave us a summary of the hand right after Tony G left the tournament area. Richard Yong had raised preflop, Tony G three-bet and Yong called.

The flop brought and both players checked. On the turn the hit and Yong bet 100,000. Tony G moved all in and Yong called.

Tony G had outs, but the river was the . Right after being eliminated in this massive pot Tony G complimented Yong on his hand. He shook hands and left the room as we are down to just 16 players.

After the eliminations of Fabian Quoss in 11th place and Scott Seiver in 10th place, the final nine players redrew to one table and opted to stop at the end of Level 17. The event will conclude on Thursday with John Juanda leading the pack with 2.596 million in chips. Follow the conclusion of the “50,000 Majestic High Roller right here on PokerNews.

Be sure to check out our Live Reporting Section to follow our updates sponsored by PartyPoker. Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook today!

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October 01 2012, Chad Holloway, Josh Cahlik

The 2012 World Series of Poker Europe continued on Monday as another gold bracelet was awarded in the postponed Event #5: “10,450 Mixed Max – No-Limit Hold’em. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi took a big chip lead into Day 2 of the “10,450 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event. How did he do? Find out below in our recap thanks to PokerNews’ coverage sponsored by PartyPoker.

Aguiar Defeats an Cantu to Win Event #5: “10,450 Mixed Max – No-Limit Hold’em

Redemption. That was the only word on Jonathan Aguiar’s mind as he played Brandon Cantu heads up for a bracelet in Event #5: “10,450 Mixed Max – No-Limit Hold’em on Monday night. Aguiar, who stone bubbled in this exact event in 2011, was battling to redeem what he referred to as “the worst day of his career.” After a six-hour heads-up battle on Day 4, at which point play was halted for more than 24 hours so that the players could take part in the Main Event, Day 5 lasted just 45 minutes as Aguiar was able to seal the deal and defeat Cantu heads up. Aguiar earned his first WSOPE bracelet, as well as the “258,047 first place prize.

The first day of the tournament began with nine-handed play and moved to six-handed on Day 2. Once the final 16 players were reached, a random bracket was drawn and heads-up matches were played until there was a champion The final bracket of 16 did not disappoint in terms of powerful players from the poker world. Phil Hellmuth, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Joe Keuther, Mike Watson, Jason Mercier, Paul Tedeschi, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, and Jennifer Tilly were all among those who made it to the heads-up portion of this tournament, only to be eliminated in the first round. The aforementioned players earned a payday of “20,443 for their performances.

The next round saw the exits of Kristijonas Andrulis, Martin Jacobson, PartyPoker Pro Marvin Rettenmaier, and Konstantin Puchkov, all of whom took home “42,094. The eliminations of these players saw the formation of the final four.

Final Four

Aguiar took care of Jaka fairly quickly and was able to rest up for the final match. The match between Cantu and Roger Hairabedian, however, was a different story. The match lasted for roughly nine hours and had plenty of controversy. Tournament Director Jack Effel was called on two occasions to assess issues brought up by Cantu. The first involved Hairabedian moving to a different side of the table which Cantu did not think should be allowed. The second was ruled in favor of Cantu, and involved Hairabedian betting after he had already checked. These issues delayed play for about an hour total, but despite all of that, Cantu was able to clinch his spot in the finals.

Brandon Cantu

Cantu held the chip lead going into heads-up play with Aguiar and came out with guns firing. All of that changed, however, during a hand where both players saw a flop. Cantu led for 75,000 and Aguiar raised to 270,000. Cantu moved out a three-bet to 540,000 and Aguiar four-bet all in.

Cantu held the nut flush but Aguiar was drawing live with his set of eights. The on the turn was of no help to Aguiar and Cantu was one card away from the championship. It was not meant to be, however, as the fell on the river and gave Aguiar a full house.

From there the two players battled for another roughly three hours and by the end of the night, Cantu was able to overtake the chip lead once again. Due to scheduling issues and the casino closing at 5:00 a.m., the match had to be rescheduled to allow both players to play in the Main Event. Both Cantu and Aguiar busted from the Main Event on Day 1 and so they were back to the felt the next day.

The stacks were fairly close to even when play began on Day 5 with Cantu holding 1.52 million to Aguiar’s 1.361 million. Aguiar drew first blood in the match by taking the chip lead on the second hand and he never looked back after that. Aguiar won several big confrontations early on and Cantu was visibly upset. Finally, Aguiar raised to 40,000 before the flop and Cantu moved all in for roughly his last 600,000. Aguiar snap called and the hands were turned over:

The players were racing with Cantu’s tournament on the line. The flop came down and Aguiar was able to pair his ace and jump into the lead. The fell on fourth street and Aguiar was one card away from the championship and his first bracelet. The dealer put down the on the river and Cantu’s tournament was officially over.

Video: http://www.pokernews.com/video/wsope-2012-event-5-winner-jonathan-aguiar-7233.htm

“10,450 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event Day 2 Comes to an End with Baranov Leading Final 77

The 2012 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event continued on Monday with Day 2 action from the Majestic Barrière in Cannes, France. The remaining 230 players, from a field of 420, returned for six levels of play. By the end of the night only 80 remained with Sergii Baranov and his stack of 607,000 leading the way.

In an early hand, Baranov and Micah Smith checked the river on a board reading with about 20,000 in the pot. Baranov was first to show and flipped over , which was good enough for Smith to toss his hand to the muck. It was a simple hand for Baranov, who began Day 2 seventh in chips, and one of many that helped him steadily rise to the top of the counts.

Sergii Baranov

Speaking of starting stacks, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi began the day as the chip leader (234,850), and held a significant lead over his closest competitor, Day 1b chip leader Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier. Neither player was lacking in experience or success, but their Day 2s couldn’t have been more opposite.

While Grospellier played a patient game and slowly accumulated chips throughout the day, eventually bagging up 326,700, Mizrachi went the opposite direction. Mizrachi played a loose-aggressive game and his chip stack reflected that as it went for a wild up-and-down ride as described by Daniel Negreanu on Twitter. It soon became apparent that Mizrachi was taking one step forward and two steps back, and eventually it caught up with him and he was eliminated in Level 11.

Others who joined Mizrachi on the rail throughout the day were Vanessa Rousso, Joe Hachem, Faraz Jaka, Harrison Gimbel, Steve O’Dwyer, Greg Merson, Mike “Timex” McDonald, Tristan Wade, Phil Ivey, Scotty Nguyen, Roberto Romanello, Antonio Esfandiari and McLean Karr, just to name a few.

While there were scores of eliminations, a handful of notables managed to survive the day. Former November Niner Joseph Cheong; 2009 WSOP Europe runner-up Daniel Negreanu; 12-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth; October Nine chip leader Jesse Sylvia; recent WCOOP winner Jason Mercier; and the defending champ, Elio Fox, are just a few of the pros who’ll be returning to action on Day 3.

Here’s a look at the top 10 end-of-day-2 chip counts:

2012 WSOP Europe End-of-Day-2 Top Ten Counts

Six 90-minute levels are scheduled for Day 3 on Tuesday as the remaining 80 players look to make the money at the top 48. Play is scheduled to kick off at 1200 CET (0600 EDT) , and of course PokerNews will be on hand to bring you all the action and eliminations from the 2012 WSOP Europe Main Event.

Be sure to check out our Live Reporting Section to follow our updates sponsored by PartyPoker. Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook today!

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