Home / Poker News June 2008 / Ruthenberg survives pros, takes the gold in event #33
Ruthenberg survives pros, takes the gold in event #33
Posted by: James Carter. - Sun, 2008-06-22 13:24
Sebastian Ruthenberg’s victory in the $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event is one for the poker history-books. Not only did the German from Hamburg set a couple of personal records, like his first WSOP bracelet and his biggest live-event cash, he climbed to the top treading on a very select bunch of opponents. He survived Annie Duke, Marcel Luske and Steve Sung, and for the crown jewel: he defeated none other than Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson in the heads-up stage in the end.
The second day of the event ended on a very fine note for the German: he took down a few big pots and thus secured chip lead for the final table on a stack of 663,000.
Chris Ferguson started the day in second place behind Ruthenberg on a 434,000 strong stack. The small stack was Bob Lauria from West Haven, Connecticut with 44,000 chips. Other final table participants were Annie Duke (277,000), Steve Sung (207,000), Marcel Luske (308,000), Alessio Isaia (Cuneo, Italy, 398,000), and Bob Beveridge, from Vancouver, BC with 280,000.
Even though he started the final table with the smallest stack, Bob Lauria had an impressive run which took him all the way to third place where his set of 8s ran into a full house Chris Ferguson mustered on the 7th street. His valiant performance earned him $125,737.
The first one to go to the rail was Bob Beveridge on a hand in which Luske scooped the pot with a pair of 5s and a 7-6 low.
Steve Sung fell next at the hands of Annie Duke, followed by Alessio Isaia (knocked out by Ruthenberg) and Marcel Luske, who happened to bump into Bob Lauria while the latter was still on fire.
After Lauria got felted by Ferguson, the heads-up battle began, with ‘Jesus’ holding a slight chip-lead over Ruthenberg.
After a grueling 3-hour battle, Sebastian managed to take down three big hands which finally brought him the title, and the $328,756 first-prize.
