Home / Poker News October 2009 / PKR Heads-up Grand Slam – Vladimir Geshkenbein pockets the goods
PKR Heads-up Grand Slam – Vladimir Geshkenbein pockets the goods
Posted by: James Carter. - Thu, 2009-10-15 16:26
Russian player Vladimir Geskenbein won the first ever PKR Heads-up Grand Slam. Now, you may not know him, but that doesn’t mean he’s an entirely new face on the international poker scene. He’s won the APPT Macau High Rollers event, defeating none other than Johnny Chan heads-up, so it’s safe to say he has some
live poker experience and that his resume is already rather impressive.
He didn’t disappoint at the heads-up Grand Slam either, where he took the victory getting past Alex Keating, Brahim Hajji, David Steicke and James Sudworth.
The starting field was a star-studded one indeed, and that meant several big names hit the rail early on. Ilari Sahamies was one of these big names. He busted out in about 10 minutes as Alec Torelli cracked his pocket kings to cripple him for good in one of their opening hands.
Annette Obrestad was quick to follow him to the rail, sent there courtesy of Ian Frazer. She failed to reach the 15 minute mark too. Yevgeniy Timoshenko’s battle against Luke Schwartz was one of the early highlights of the event. Schwartz emerged victorious from that confrontation, after his pocket Js got the better of Timoshenko’s pocket Ks, filling up to a set on the turn.
Alec Torelli waded through the field at a relatively alert pace in the meantime. His stride was only broken once, when he shoved all in on a flop of 9,7,2 all heart, with a 10h, 8h in his pocket. Esfandiari had Jh,4h and Torelli was in deep trouble. The 6h which came on the river gave him a straight flush though.
He was eventually bounced by Juha Helppi on a 10,10 vs A,A match-up.
Sudworth and Geshkenbein played in the other semi final, and the style of play they adopted was quite peculiar to say the least. They raised and shoved all-in without taking a look at their cards, while drinking heavily. The final hand of their match-up saw Geshkenbein’s Q,5 outrun Sudworth’s A,6 for the win.
In his final match against Juha Helppi, Geshkenbein picked up right where he’d left off against Sudworth. He kept pressuring the Finnish pro and made him fold the best hand on one occasion to turn the tide of the battle.
The final hand of their match-up and the event Saw Helppi’s A,6o fall to the Russian’ Qd, 10d which proceeded to hit a flush.
