September 27 2012, Donnie Peters, Remko Rinkema

Another event wrapped up on Thursday at the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe as Giovanni Rosadoni found himself in the winner’s circle of Event #4: “3,250 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout. On top of that, Day 2 of Event #5: “10,450 Mixed Max – No-Limit Hold’em concluded and Event #6: “1,650 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha kicked off. Check out recaps from all of those events thanks to PokerNews’ coverage sponsored by PartyPoker.

Giovanni Rosadoni Wins Event #4: “3,250 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout

After three days of exciting poker action, Giovanni Rosadoni emerged victorious over the 141-player field to take home his first WSOP gold bracelet and “107,614. Rosadoni defeated Dan O’Brien heads up to earn the victory.

Event #4 Final Table Results

On Wednesday’s Day 2, the 20 first-round winners of Event #4 returned for action. The plan was to play down to a winner. The 20 players who returned were in the money and included Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Matt Stout, Faraz Jaka and Mohsin Charania, among others. Unfortunately for those five players, and a handful of others, they fell short of the final table.

When the field was cut to 10, the field redrew for the official final table. Valentin Messina was the first player eliminated, and was followed out the door by John Duthie. Trond Aanensen, Roman Romanovskyi, Paul Guichard and Adrien Allain fell in eighth, seventh, sixth and fifth place, respectively, before leaving the final four players.

Among the final group were two WSOP bracelet winners, Oleksii Kovalchuk and John Monnette, as well as Dan O’Brien and Giovanni Rosadoni.

Kovalchuk was first to fall in fourth place, taking home “35,560 after his lost to O’Brien’s . Then, Monnette went out in third place, also at the hands of O’Brien. His didn’t out race O’Brien’s . That left O’Brien and Rosadoni heads up, and, when the match began, O’Brien had the lead with 776,000 in chips to Rosadoni’s 501,000.

After approximately two hours of heads-up play, the two were forced to halt the match for the night because the casino was closing at 5:00 a.m. At the end of the day, Rosadoni was in front with a stack of 787,000 to O’Brien’s 490,000.

At 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, the two returned to continue the duel and to find a winner. Rosadoni seemed to pick up right where he left off. He had O’Brien down low, but then a comeback was in order. After a couple of double-ups, O’Brien snatched the lead back and put his foot on the gas. He ground Rosadoni down once again, but could never finish.

Rosadoni stayed strong and then found a big double with pocket kings when they held against O’Brien’s . From there, it was all Rosadoni as he closed the door more and more with every hand.

On the final hand, O’Brien was all in preflop with . Rosadoni seemed to always have it and did again this time with . Despite flopping a pair of jacks and turning a flush draw, O’Brien was eliminated as the board ran out . He earned “66,503.

Prior to this result, Rosadoni’s largest and only score on record was for “9,000. He has topped that by a lot more after winning this event for “107,614.

Video: http://www.pokernews.com/video/wsope-2012-event-4-winner-giovanni-rosadoni-7214.htm

Day 2 of Event #5: “10,450 Mixed Max – No-Limit Hold’em Concludes; Welcome to the Brandon Cantu Show

The six-handed portion of the “10,450 Mixed Max – No-Limit Hold’em event came to an end on Friday. The 52 remaining players from a starting field of 96 returned for action and played down to the final 16, which means that winning four heads up matches will secure a World Series of Poker Europe bracelet for one of them. Brandon Cantu emerged as the clear chip leader by holding over 25 percent of the total chips in play.

Cantu ran incredibly hot all day and began his streak during a massive preflop three-way all in where two players were coolered. Cantu held pocket aces and managed to eliminate Ognjen Sekularac who held pocket kings and Andy Frankenberger who held pocket queens. Cantu continued his domination throughout the day, even after Phil Hellmuth was moved next to him. Hellmuth and Cantu went to war throughout the evening and were seemingly constantly bickering as play went on. Hellmuth vowed revenge on Cantu and he will get that chance as the two will play heads up together in Round 1. Hellmuth will have his work cut out for him as he is sporting a stack of 127,400 to Cantu’s 738,100

Players were finding the rail at a rapid pace up until the bubble hit. Hand-for-hand play lasted for several hours and everyone was anxiously awaiting the last person to be eliminated. Finally, Mori Eskandani fell by the hands of Marvin Rettenmaier, and each of the 16 remaining players were guaranteed a payday of at least “20,443.

After a random seeding, here is the heads-up bracket:

Two rounds will be played on Friday at 1400 CET (0800 EDT) which will result in the emergence of the top four players, who will then return on Saturday to play to a winner.

Benyamine, Negreanu and Lichtenberger Primed to Cash in Event #6: “1,650 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha

Event #6: “1,650 Six-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha attracted 206 players on Thursday, and after eight levels of play, 26 remained with Jacob Dahl leading the way. Like in any pot-limit Omaha tournament, the action was fast paced in the Majestic Barriere poker room. Andrew Lichtenberger got off to a great start, but that can’t be said for all players including defending champ Philippe Boucher, Fabrice Soulier and Antonio Esfandiari. The aforementioned players were eliminated in the first level, and many followed suit.

John Monnette took care off Vanessa Selbst in the early levels as he took the chip lead going into the first break. Justin Bonomo trended in the same direction, but later in the day he couldn’t get anything going and was eliminated. Monnette on the other hand managed to survive and will return on Friday with 32,300 for his chance of cashing a third event at this year’s World Series of Poker Europe.

One of the most entertaining hands of the day took place between four players. The winner and runner-up of the 2005 WSOP Main Event, Joe Hachem and Steve Dannenmann, were both involved, as were Scott Seiver and Micah Smith. The latter took out all three players when he managed to hit a runner-runner full house. Smith survived Day 1 with 38,500.

Toward the end of the day, pots grew bigger, and Daniel Negreanu got caught up in a very serious one. He could not beat John Eames’ set, and eventually survived the day with a mediocre 22,200. Eames bagged 43,100. Other notable survivors are David Benyamine (67,700), Ana Marquez (58,200), Lichtenberger (63,900) and Dan Shak (24,800). The remaining 26 players will return on Friday to play through the money bubble to the final table of six.

Event #6 Top 10 Chips Counts

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August 10 2012, Chad Holloway

There’s no doubt that poker has changed drastically over the last decade, and even more so since the inception of the World Series of Poker in 1970. Finding players who have remained consistent over the years is rare, but one recently showed up at the 2012 WSOP: three-time bracelet winner Perry Green, who finished runner-up to the legendary Stu Ungar in 1981.

Born in Seattle in 1936, Green worked as a successful fur trader in Alaska for the vast majority of his life. In 1976, he ventured to the WSOP where he took down Event #4: $1,000 Limit Ace to Five Draw for $68,300 and his first gold bracelet. The next year, Green won Event #6 $5,000 Limit Ace to Five Draw and then returned two years later to win Event #6: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Non-Pro for $76,500.

With three bracelets under his belt, Green made a go at the 1981 $10,000 Main Event, which attracted 75 players including Johnny Moss, Hal Fowler, Betty Carey, “Amarillo Slim” Preston and Jesse Alto. The field was reduced to just 38 players by the end of Day 1, and those 38 were reduced to 17 on Day 2. On Day 3, Doyle Brunson was eliminated, leaving Bobby Baldwin and Ungar, the defending champ, as the only former winners remaining. Both went on to make the final table.

1981 WSOP Final Table

Green went on to finish as runner-up to Ungar, who claimed back-to-back Main Event titles. Green returned to the WSOP over the next three decades, amassing 24 WSOP cashes for $645,427.

Recently, Green made another deep run by navigating a field of 6,598 in this year’s Main Event with his wife of 56 years, Gloria, by his side, though she refused to sweat the action. “I don’t watch anymore. Ever since he started doing well in 1981, I stopped going,” Gloria told PokerNews at this year’s WSOP. “I can’t take the pressure. It doesn’t bother him, but it does bother me. When we were dating, we were able to go out to eat because he would win the money, actually from my brother and my cousin, he would play cards with them. We would go out on dates because he would win the money. I always thought if I took the money when he wins, I could put up with it.” Green finished in 152nd place for $52,718.

It’s not every day you come across a poker player from Alaska. Were you born there? What is it that you do in Anchorage?

My father was there in 1922, but I was born in Seattle. I was a fur buyer, and I operated five purse stores. I used to go to the Eskimo villages.

How did you learn to play poker? Likewise, how did you first hear about the WSOP?

Well, I was a teenager and played a little bit, then I went into the Army and supplemented my Army income. Afterwards, we used to have a little game once a week in Anchorage. I stumbled onto the WSOP by someone saying ‘Come on down to the Horseshoe, they’ve got a great game down there.’ The first time I went down there they played lowball and I won a lot of money in the cash games, I didn’t even know about tournaments.

Two of your bracelets are in lowball. Is that your favorite game?

Absolutely, I cut my teeth on five-card low, six-card low, and then seven-card low. I think it’s a terrible shame they don’t have the ace-to-five lowball at the WSOP anymore. You ought to talk to them about it.

Have you been playing the WSOP every year since 1976?

Off and on. I really haven’t played much. I’ve only entered the Main Event eight times, I would say. Over the years I’ve been busy. I’ve been working. I’m really an amateur and when you have responsibilities, five children, it’s much more important to take care of you responsibilities than play poker. But I combine them pretty good.

Are there opportunities for you to play back in Alaska?

I play in a friend’s game, it’s just a very small game. I play about five or six times a year.

In 1981 you finished second to Stu Ungar. Do you have any good stories from back in the day?

Oh yeah, I remember how I had Stu all-in three times in that tournament. I had him all-in early when I had and he had , and the two fives stood up. I had him all-in, I had and he had , and the board came , and then it came another and then another , so we split the pot. I also remember I was going real good and was way ahead, having fun. In those days, I really played for the fun of it. My wife was watching on the side, and Doyle Brunson was in back of me. It was opened [on the flop] for like 8,000. I made it 16,000. He came back and made it 35,000, and I put him all-in after the flop, which was . He was mortified that I came back over the top of him, and he had the only hand that he would probably call me with. Besides two aces, he had .

I turned around to Doyle, pointed my finger at Doyle, which shows you what my mood was, and he jumped up and said, “Ten-deuce of clubs?”

I said, “Yes,” because I figure I have a straight and I have a flush draw. He really had me cornered, but I could have still caught a red queen, or a red seven, I could have made tens and deuces, it could have come deuce-deuce, and that was the one that crushed me. It really was sad. That was the same year I took second place in the Super Bowl of Poker, as well. David Sklansky ranked the top 16 poker professionals in the world and put me number six. I was the only amateur among them in 1981.

Obviously that distinction and recognition meant a lot to you?

Oh yeah, I used to go there to have fun and play. When they used to play hold’em, I’d never join in the games at all. I didn’t know a thing, and then I bought Doyle Brunson’s book. After I read it I said, “Oh, ohhh, ohhhhhhh, this is a pretty good game.” Then I played it a little, but I still love my games of lowball ace-to-five.

Did you think poker would ever grow to be as big as it is today?

I think Jack Binion had the right idea. I think he was the real father of making this as gigantic as it is . . . I thought, “My gosh, who would ever be interested in poker?” Lo and behold, the interest in poker is so intense it’s phenomenal. I really credit Jack Binion over anybody with the expansion of poker. Of course, when you have it legitimized by ESPN , and it shows the face, breadth and width of poker, it makes it a sport people can enjoy whether they’re in a wheelchair or an Olympic athlete . . . It’s played in nursing homes, and it’s played in private homes. It’s played in casinos, bars, and it’s played by everyone.

Look at how the international community has embraced the game. And the youngsters. I have six grandchildren older than 60 percent of the remaining 282-player field [in the WSOP Main Event]. None of my grandchildren play at this level.

What do you think of today’s fields? Is it harder to navigate?

You asked me earlier about Stu Ungar. I think that Stu would have a tough time with these young phenoms because as great as he was, and believe me he was a great player, there’s about 90 percent of today’s players that are within a hair’s breadth. It’s kind of like trying to compare Barry Bonds to Babe Ruth or Reggie Jackson, you know, from different eras.

What has become of your WSOP bracelets?

I have three bracelets. My wife has one, my son has one, and I have one. I didn’t even know I was getting a bracelet [for my first win], I didn’t even know you got bracelets. Jack Binion was so generous and so great. Great with the players. In the old days, you knew the brush people, the floor supervisors, dealer, the names, and every player’s, where they came from, whether they were married, and whether they had leaks in their play. Now you get to the table and you’re forever finding information that you need to know. It’s on-the-job training.

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