Martin Klaser with WSOP braceletMartin Klaser and Casey Kastle knocked out every player at the final table on their way to heads up play. In the end, it would be Klaser who came out on top – earning his first WSOP bracelet and becoming the third german to take home a bracelet this year.

These are the seat assignments and chip counts at the start of the final table:

Seat 1: Joseph Haddad (Portland, Oregon) — 135000
Seat 2: Tom Chambers (Chicago, Illinois) — 263,000
Seat 3: Larry Wright (McQueeney, Texas) — 117,000
Seat 4: Chad Burum (Grants Pass, Oregon) — 117,000
Seat 5: Michael Fetter (Vallejo, California) — 288,000
Seat 6: Casey Kastle (Chicago, Illinois) — 188,000
Seat 7: Jon Maren (North Andover, Massachusetts) — 377,000
Seat 8: Martin Klaser (Rheinbach, Germany) — 337,000
Seat 9: Erik Seidel (Las Vegas, Nevada) — 340,000

John Maren started the day with the chip lead, closely followed by Erik Seidel, in search of his ninth WSOP bracelet, and eventual winner Martin Klaser. Casey Kastle was the first to draw blood when he eliminated Tom Chambers on a board of Ad Ks Qd 3c. Kastle bet the pot on the turn and Chambers raised all in, Kastle made the call and both players turned up their hands. Tom Chambers held the lead with Ah As Kh 9h for a set of aces against Kastle’s nut low and flush draws with 2d 4d 7s 7d, but the river would bring the 6d to give Kastle the scoop. Tom Chambers received $19,656 for his ninth place finish.

Kastle would pick up the second of his four final table knockouts against Larry Wright when he flopped the nut flush and Wright failed to make a low, sending him home in eighth place with $27,027
Martin Klaser, who was the only other player to score and elimination, would soon pick up his first of the final table by taking out Joseph Haddad after flopping the wheel. Klaser raised preflop and Haddad pushed all in to get his money in with the best hand, holding Ah As 2d 4d against Klaser’s Ac 3s 5h Th. When the turn and the river failed to improve Haddad’s hand, he was awarded $34,389 for seventh place.

Martin Klaser would follow up his performance with his second elimination of the day when he knocked out Chad Burum after making a preflop raise which Burum called. The flop came Js 5s 6h, giving Klaser, who held Ad 2s 5c 6h, two pair and a draw to the nut low. Burum moved all in on the flop with Ah Qs 8s 3h and Klaser made the call. When the turn and river neither made Burum his flush nor counterfeited Klaser’s low, Chad Burum was sent to the rail in sixth place, earning himself $44,226.
Casey Kastle earned his third knockout while thoroughly bewildering me, when he called a preflop raise made by Jon Maren to see a flop of Kc 8s Qh. Klaser check/called Maren’s all in on the flop and turned up 2 5 6 6 to find himself ahead of Maren’s A J 2 3. When the turn and river failed to help either players hand, Jon Maren was eliminated in fifth place, earning $56,019.

Eight time WSOP bracelet holder Erik Seidel would become Kastle’s fourth victim when he made a preflop raise with Ad Tc 4d 3d and was faced with a reraise for all of his chips made by Martin Kastle who held Ad Kc Ks 5d. The board came out Qh 7s 4h Kh Qd, giving Kastle the best hand with kings full of queens. While $68,304 for fourth place certainly isn’t the bracelet he was looking for, it’s not a bad consolation prize.

Martin Klaser picked up his third elimination against Michael Fetter in a hand that saw all of the chips go in preflop. When the cards were turned up, Klaser held As Qs 2d 7d against Fetter’s Ah Qs Th 9d. The flop came out 6h 7h 7s, bringing Klaser trips and a gutshot as well as the nut flush draw for Fetter. When the turn came the Td and the river was the Qd, Michael Fetter would become the third place finisher and receive $83,538 in prize money.

When heads up play began, Klaser held close to a 3:1 chip advantage with 1,520,000 chips versus Kastle’s 590,000. Klaser was nothing short of dominating in his heads up play, as he took down 16 of the 19 pots that would be played heads up. On the final hand, the flop came Jh 9c 9d and Kastle moved all in while holding Jd Td 3h 2h. Martin Klaser, who held As Qc Qh 3s, made the call and when the turn brought the Qs it was all over. Casey Kastle earned $137,985 for his runner-up finish and Martin Kastle would become the third German to win a bracelet this year, picking up $216,249 in the process.

Here is an updated list of all German WSOP Bracelet winners:

Martin Klaser - 2008 WSOP
Sebastian Ruthenberg - 2008 WSOP
Jens Voertmann - 2008 WSOP
Katja Thater - 2007 WSOP
Michael Keiner - 2007 WSOP
Eddy Scharf - 2003 WSOP & 2001 WSOP
Matthias Rohnacher – 2007 WSOP