Slick BP Players
Introduction
Event 25 of the WSOP in Las Vegas brought 212 of the big poker game players to the tables for the $10,000 buy-in Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better World Championship. Out of an original field of 212 the final pair came down to Brit James ‘Flushy’ Dempsey and Sam Farha of America, Yueqi Zhu being the unlucky one to go out in third place with a check for $225,325. Indeed the final 10 poker players in the competition had seven players from the USA, 2 from Briton (the other being Steve Wong who finished 9th and one Russian in the form of Sergy Altgregin who was placed 4th overall.
Are BP players slick?
James ‘Flushy’ Dempey BPP - British Poker Player
Not an allusion to any current oil spill problems in the Gulf of Mexico but – are the British poker players slick or not? With the Brits having done well so far in this 41st playing of the WSOP; having had 7 top three finishes in the 25 events to date – not to mention having already won three WSOP bracelets, including one for James Dempsey in event 9, a No-Limit Pot hold ‘em.
So, could Dempsey prove himself top be amongst the elite group of players that are capable of winning more than one bracelet in any one WSOP series?
Zhu out following controversial comment form the crowd
The heads up final showdown began around 3:10 local Las Vegas time, controversially just moments after a spectator had to be ejected. Apparently some light hearted banter between he rival British and American fans turned rather ugly when a supporter of Farha shouted out “You can’t mess with the Lebanese unless you’re Chinese” followed by “ I don’t see any Chinese at the table!” and then an even more derogatory remark – to which, understandably, Zhu took offence. The spectator was removed from the poker table arena but, minutes later in the next hand – Zhu went out after his concentration was impaired losing all-in pre-flop against Dempsey.
Dempsey slips up rather than becoming slick
For nearly four hours after Zhu went out, play continued with the advantage mainly going Farha’s way, only for Dempsey to claw it all back on the big hands. Around 6:45 Dempsey took a breakfast sandwich and seemingly too lost his concentration as it was all over in the next two hands. First Farha won with Aces full tabling Ad, Ac, Ks and Kd for a rivered full house. In the final hand both players had three tens at the river but, would you believe it, Dempsey holding Jh and 8d went down to Farha’s Jc with the 9h – who picked up the winners $448k check and a bracelet