In relatively short fashion the 2008 WSOP Event #7 final table concluded tonight with Matt Keikoan becoming the events champion. It took just over 7 hours for the final table to be played.
When the day started the chip counts where:
Theo Tran – 1,884,000
Mihai Manole -1,020,000
Matt Keikoan – 1,011,000
Shannon Shorr – 627,000
Carter Gill – 652,000
Mike Lisanti – 358,000
Alex Bolotin – 345,000
J.C. Tran – 273,000
Chris Bjorin – 205,000
The chip leaders played solid big stack poker early picking up many uncontested pots, for example: Theo Tran picked up 5 of the first 14 pots during which time Matt Keikoan picked up three pots himself. JC Tran was the days first double up when he pushed all in with from middle position and Alex Bolotin next to act pushed all in as well. The remaining players folded and Tran showed Q9 and Alex Bolotin AJ. The flop ran 7c 5c 3h, but the turn was nice for Tran, the 9c. The river was the 3d and Tran doubled up.
JC Tran is by far the most accomplished pro in the field with 7 first place major tournaments finishes, dozens of final tables including several in WPT high buy in events, $6 million dollars in career winnings and player of the year titles under his belt. Needless to say he was not the player any of his opponents wanted to see to see double up again.
Final table hand #19 brought the table its first elimination when Mike Lisanti unsuccessfully ran big slick for his remaining 248K chips against Matt Keikoan pocket kings. Mike Lisanti who is a 47 year Canadian Marketer and father to two teenage boys admits he doesn’t have much time for poker these day so he’ll likely be happy with the $50,705 payout once the shock effect wears off.
Hand #21 saw Alex Bolotin eliminated in 8th Place for a $72,436 payday when he met up with JC Tran, the player he had doubled up just 7 hands previous. This hand was a race with Tran having AJ and Bolotin pocket nines. Tran jumped out in front when an ace flopped and won the pot after the turn and river bricked. As we mentioned already JC Tran is not the player his opponents want to see win chips but they can at least delight in the fact they’ve moved up in prize money and also eliminated one of the other accomplished pros at the table. If you didn’t know Alex Bolotin before this event, he is a 27 years old professional player with over 1.3 million in career winnings, his biggest being a runner up in last year’s $5,000 six-handed WSOP event.
JC Tran would double up to 475K chips on hand #30 and just when it was looking like he’d be a contender… on hand #37 his pocket tens would find the pocket cowboys of Carter Gill and J.C. Tran was eliminated in seventh place receiving $94,166.
Chris Bjorn a Sweden born player with 39 WSOP cashes, 2 WSOP bracelets and 3.5 million in career winnings was, much the delight of his opponents eliminated in sixth place receiving $123,141. This occurred on final table hand #44 when he found himself all in preflop with Kc 9c with both Mihai Manole and Carter Gill. The hand was checked down as the board eventually read Qh Ts 5h 9s 8h.. Gil tabled six seven off suit revealing the winning hand, a rivered straight.
Theo Tran was the chip leader at the start of the day and had been playing aggressive poker most of the final table. He is a Vegas Poker pro with more than 1.5 million in career winnings and is certainly the player off to the best start at the WSOP. He finished fourth in Event #2 which was good for a $327,148 On final table hand #50 Theo Tran and Mihai Manole would both get their money all in on a flop of 8d-3c 5s Manole would table Ace Eight for top pair top kicker but find himself in terrible shape when Tran revealed pocket fives for a set. The turn card eliminated Manole and he received $155,013 for his 5th place finish.
After 55 hands the players took a break and the chip counts were:
Theo Tran – 2,807,000
Carter Gill – 1,395,000
Matt Keikoan – 1,085,000
Shannon Shorr – 446,000
To fill you in on the player we haven’t introduced yet. Shannon Shorr is an accomplished poker pro who had over $2 million in career winnings heading into this event, his largest coming in when he won the $10,000 Bellagio Cup championship for a $960,690 payday.
Matt Keikoan is a 40-year-old poker pro from Sacramento, He’s cashed in a dozen or so high stakes tournaments with his previous highest placement in a WSOP being an eleventh place finish in a 2004 WSOP event but his biggest WSOP cash being the $154,194 he received for his 63rd place finish in last years Main Event.
Carter Gill is an accomplished online poker player with $497,832 career multi-table tournament winnings at PokerStars where he plays under the handle devinr12.
About 20 hands after the break Theo Tran eclipsed the 3 million chip mark. Just when he appeared to be the odds on favorite to win this event he shipped over 1.25 million of his chips over to Shannon Shore, who was already on a mini rush having taken down 3 of the past 4 pots, on a hand that played out like. Tran opens the pot for 70K and Shorr called. The flop came Kc 7s 4h and both players check. On a turn card of 3s Tran bet 105,000 and Shorr raised to 275K, Tran Calls. The turn is Jc Tran checks and Shorr moves all in for 920K. Tran spends well over 5 minutes in the Tank before muttering “I call” to which Shorr tabled pocket 7’s for the set and Tran mucked.
Shannon Shore would continue to go on a run becoming the second player to have eclipsed the 3 million chip mark.
Theo Tran would end up having to settle for yet again fourth place, the same position he finished 2008 WSOP event #2 in. His elimination would come on final table hand #80 when he ran pocked sevens into Carter Gill’s pocket jacks. Tran received $191,231 for his fourth place finish.
At this stage the chip counts were
Shannon Shorr – 2,979,000
Carter Gill – 1,935,000
Matt Keikoan – 1,260,000
On hand #90 the flop came 3d 9c 6s and both Carter Gill and Matt Keikoan where ecstatic to get their money in as fast as possible. Gill tabled pocket jacks for an over-pair but saw the bard news when Keikoan tabled pocket sixed for a set. This hand would leave Gill Crippled and three hands later having barely enough to survive a couple rounds he’d toss his money in with 6 8 and be eliminated in 3rd Place receiving $228,897.
It had taken just 4h 20m for the tournament reach heads up play but it would take 68 hands and a few more hours before the championship would be decided. Matt Keikoan dominated the matchup, taking all the key pots as Shannon Shorr’s chip stack slowly declined till he had little chance at a comeback.
The final hand saw Shorr push all in with 10s 6h and Keikoan call with ks 5s. The flop came K 7 7 and Shorr was dead when the turn came a queen. Shorr received $349,141 for his runner up finish and Matt Keikoan is the 2008 WSOP Event 7 champion receiving $550,601 in cash, and the coveted gold bracelet.
Source credit: PokerNews Event 7 Coverage
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[...] has been the case for a few days, six tournaments ran simultaneously today and the big stories were Matt Keikoan winning event 7 and Anthony “tongi” Rivera winning event 8. Those two events have their own coverage; [...]
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