May 26 2012, Donnie Peters

The $100,000 Super High Roller at the 2012 World Poker Tour World Championship was completed on Friday night as Tom Marchese parlayed his second bullet in the event into a payday of more than $1.3 million. He defeated a stout final table and bested one of the most elite tournament fields of the year to claim the title. Finishing runner-up was Andrew Robl and he earned himself $822,375 for his finish. Here’s how it all went down.

Entering the day, Daniel Perper held the chip lead and was followed by Robl in second place. Plenty of eyes were fixed on Justin Bonomo, who entered the final table fourth in chips and was eyeing his second six-figure buy-in title of 2012. Joining those three were Tom Marchese, John Juanda and Bill Klein.

With five spots paying out a minimum of $263,160, a massive bubbled was upon everyone that returned for the third and final day. Klein was the player with the most risk having the least chips entering the final table, but he was able to double up through Perper on the very first hand of play.

According to the WPT Live Updates Team, the cards were in the air during the first level of the day – Level 18 with the blinds at 25,000/50,000/5,000. Marchese had min-raised to 100,000 from under the gun and Perper reraised from middle position to 240,000. Klein shoved all in for 615,000 from the small blind and play folded back to Perper. He called with the . Klein held the next two highest ranked cards of that suit with the . After a board of , Klein earned the double.

From there, things were rather slow as the players eased into action, but it didn’t stay that way for long. On the 13th hand of the final table, Bonomo raised to 100,000 from the cutoff seat and Juanda reraised from the big blind to 300,000. Bonomo flatted and the flop came down . Juanda moved all in and Bonomo made the call to put himself at risk. Juanda tabled an overpair with the and was ahead of Bonomo’s . The turn brought the and the river the to eliminate Bonomo in sixth place and send him home on the bubble.

Twenty hands later, Klein’s luck ran out when he was eliminated in fifth place. He was all in preflop with the against Perper’s . Even though Klein spiked a set of threes on the flop, there would be no double through Perper this time as the turn was the to give Perper a higher set. The river completed the board with the and Klein was out.

Then just three hands later, Perper busted at the hands of Juanda. It wasn’t pretty, either, as Juanda cracked Perper’s with the by flopping a ten and rivering an ace to make two pair and win the pot. For his finish in fourth place, Perper took home just under $400,000.

Over the course of the next 40 hands or so, Marchese won three massive pots against Juanda, but Juanda kept fighting. Then on the 78th hand of the final table, Marchese won a two-million chip pot from Robl. Finally on the 84th hand of the day, someone was able to nip Marchese when Juanda doubled through him. After that, the official chips counts had Marchese with 5.83 million, Juanda with 5.17 million and Robl with 2.61 million as the players moved into Level 21 with the blinds at 50,000/100,000/10,000.

The three-handed battle continued all the way until the 177th hand of the final table came up. On that hand, Robl raised from the small blind to 250,000 and Juanda three-bet to 750,000 from the big blind. Robl fired back with an all-in move and Juanda made the call. Robl tabled the and was against Juanda’s . The flop, turn and river of provided no help for Juanda and he was eliminated in third place for $526,320.

The heads-up match between the final two competitors began with Marchese holding 7.025 million in chips to Robl’s 6.585 million. Things started close and it was a long heads-up duel that lasted nearly 80 hands before the final blow was delivered to send Robl home in second place.

On the final hand of the tournament, the blinds were up to 125,000/250,000/25,000 in Level 25 and Robl raised on the button to 500,000. Marchese popped it up to 1.2 million and Robl shoved. Marchese called with the and was in front of Robl’s with the title within reach. A flop gave no help to Robl and it was followed by the on the turn. Down to the last card, Robl needed an ace and an ace only on the river to double up and stay alive. After the dealer burned one last time, the smacked on the river and officially eliminated Robl in second place. He earned $822,375 for his effort, but the title went Marchese’s way.

WPT World Championship Super High Roller Final Table Payouts

This title marked the second major tournament victory for Marchese and proved to be the largest single score of his young poker career. Marchese walked away with the $1.3 million first-place prize, the $25,500 seat into next year’s WPT World Championship and the trophy. Congratulations to him on the victory and he’ll surely be riding a surge of momentum heading into the World Series of Poker that kicks off in just a few days.

Although this event has wrapped up at the 2012 WPT World Championship, things aren’t over just yet. The $25,000 World Championship event still has a final table to play and play will begin at 1600 PDT (0000 BST) on Saturday with the final six players vying for the $1.2 million first-place prize. Marvin Rettenmaier leads the way into the final table and you can see how they got there by reading the Day 6 recap. PokerNews will have a complete recap of the final table following the action on Saturday.

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October 29 2011, Brett Collson

Day 1 of the World Poker Tour World Poker Finals at Foxwoods saw 185 players pony up $10,000 to compete in one of the most celebrated stops on the World Poker Tour. Only 144 players managed to survive the opening day, but four more players took advantage of the late registration on Day 2 to generate a total field of 189, and a prize pool of $1,778,300. A top prize of just under $450,000 will go to the winner, and 27 players will earn a minimum payday of $19,916.

The leaders heading into Day 3 include Dan Colpoys and reigning WPT Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger, who is second among the 66 players who survived Day 2. Others taking healthy stacks into Day 3 are Peter Politano, Chris Klodnicki, Steven Brackesy, Christian Harder and Thomas Schreiber, all of whom will take more than 100 big blinds into Saturday.

Colpoys finished Day 2 as the leader with 246,000 chips, but it wasn’t an easy path to the top. In one of the largest pots of the day, Colpoys got just under 80,000 chips in the middle holding on a board of . His opponent, Jack Kashishian, called with for two pair, but the fell on the river to give Colpoys a set of aces and a double-up.

Frankenberger began the day fourth in chips and continued his climb by picking off a pair of bluffs with just ace-high. According to the World Poker Tour Live Updates Team, Frankenberger called a double-barrel bluff on a board with just and then checked the on the river to win a pot worth more than 26,000. Then, Frankenberger had the same two cards and called a river bluff on a ten-high paired board to scoop a pot of more than 62,000, putting him among the overall leaders.

Christian Harder had a roller coaster day but still managed to finish sixth overall when play ended Friday night. After tripling his starting stack early in the day, Harder lost a 200,000-chip pot to Darren Elias to send him back where he started at just under 50,000. Harder cold-four-bet with pocket aces preflop and Elias and Kyle Loman called to see a flop of . Loman checked, and Harder moved all-in, having both players covered. Elias called instantly and, after Loman got out of the way, tabled for middle set. Harder had two outs for the win but came up empty, giving Elias a massive double-up. Elias, however, lost nearly half his stack before the end of the day.

Others still alive entering Day 3 include Kathy Liebert, David Sands, Allen Kessler, Jason Mercier, Bernard Lee, Dwight Pilgrim, Matt Glantz, Erik Seidel, and former WPT Finals champions Hoyt Corkins, Cornel Cimpan, Jonathan Little and Jeff Forrest. Among the notables exiting on Day 2 were Dan Shak, David Williams, Cliff Josephy, Todd Terry, Steve Brecher, Tony Dunst, and current WPT Player of the Year leader Will Failla.

On Saturday, play will resume at 1200 EDT (1600 GMT) and conclude after five levels of action. Here’s a look at the top 10 stacks entering Day 3:

Top 10 End of Day 1 Chip Counts

*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

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