Home / Poker News June 2009 / Anthony Harb grabs $2,000 NL Holdem event bracelet
Anthony Harb grabs $2,000 NL Holdem event bracelet
Posted by: James Carter. - Mon, 2009-06-08 13:43
Day 3 of the $2,000 NL Holdem event saw 25 players return to action. The chip leader at the beginning of day 3 was Mike Carlson who had managed to amass 858,000 chips on day 2. Other players close to the top of the provisional leader board were Peter Rho and Scott Hall.
Anthony Harb started the day somewhere in the middle of the field, only to emerge as the winner when the dust settled.
Jose Rosenkrantz and Robert Goodson were the two unfortunate souls to become the first two victims of the day. Goodson was eliminated by Jim Geary and Rosenkrantz was sent to the rail by the eventual winner, Anthony Harb, when he lost a coinflip.
Warren Woodall and Michael Simpson were eliminated next, Simpson ejected by Jim Geary.
Mike Carlson, the early chip leader, took a hit from Michael Dyer late in the day. It was a classic pocket Jacks vs A,K race in which Carlson’s A,K failed to catch up.
Pilar Tucker picked up some pocket Jacks too and she staked her tournament life on them, only to be called by David Mandt with K,K. The board bricked out and Tucker was done.
Olav von Sachsen tried his luck at the same coin-flip that gave Dyer a huge pot earlier, pitting his pocket Jacks against Anthony Harb’s A,K. The flop landed another J and some bricks, and it looked like von Sachsen had prevailed. The turn and the river though gave Harb a runner-runner straight.
The actual 10-player final table was set when David Mandt fell at the hands of Anthony Harb. Mandt’s A,K had Harb’s A,Q dominated when all the money went into the middle. A Q on the flop turned things around though, and the turn and the river failed to help Mandt catch up. In order to set the official final table though a further elimination was needed. Mike Carlson became the official final table bubble boy, sent to the rail by Peter Rho.
The heads-up stage of the final table saw Anthony Harb match skills with Peter Rho, after Jim Geary’s 3rd place elimination. The heads-up match lasted for about 30 minutes only, and despite the fact that he’d started the heads-up stage with a tiny chip advantage only, Harb managed to get the better of his more experienced opponent to take down his first WSOP bracelet. The final hand of the event saw Rho’s bottom pair succumb to Harb’s nut straight.
