• Bet365$500
  

• Betfair£25
  

• BetssonN/A
  

• Blue Square£25
  

• Bodog10%
  

• Boylesports£200
  

• Ladbrokes£25
  

• StanJames£25
  

• Sportingbet£150
  

• Paddypower£30
  

• Pinnacle$500
  

• VCbet£100
  

• Spin Palace$1000review
  

• ParadiseCasinoVariesreview
  

• Betfred£1600review
  

• Casino Las Vegas$4,000review
  

• CasinoEuro€111review
  

• DublinBet€100review
  

• Europacasino$2,400review
  

• Intercasino$225review
  

• LadbrokesCasino$100review
  

• Littlewoodscasino£200review
  

• ParadiseCasino£100review
  

• RubyFortune$750review
  

• SwissCasino$4,000review
  

• VegasRed$10 free
  

• Aced$1000
  

• Absolute Poker$500review
  

• Bet365 Poker$500review
  

• Betfair Poker$1500review
  

• Blue Square Poker$500review
  

• Bodog Poker10%review
  

• BoylePoker$600
  

• Bwin Poker
  

• Cake Poker$500
  

• EverestPoker$100review
  

• Full Tilt Poker$600review
  

• Interpoker$100
  

• Ladbrokes Poker$1000review
  

• LittlewoodsPoker$100
  

• Pacific Poker$400review
  

• PaddyPowerPoker$600
  

• Paradise Poker$100review
  

• PartyPoker$500review
  

• Poker Heaven€500review
  

• Pokerstars$50review
  

• Stan James Poker$100
  

• Titan Poker$500review
  

• UBPoker$1,100review
  

• UltimatePoker$1,110review
  

• VCPoker$35review
  

• VulcanPoker$200
  

• William Hill Poker£250review
  

The 15th anniversary of the Master Classics of Poker began on November 3rd and ended with a fantastic final table taking place on Sunday, November 12th. The Master Classics is the biggest poker tournament in Europe. This year's winner was a relative unknown by the name of Alex Jalali. He beat out a talented field of players which included France's own Jan Boubli and Rolf Slotboom, a frequent contributor to PokerPages.

Jalali began the final table in the last seat at the table. He was close to the top of the chip stacks with 694,000. Only Slotboom had him covered with 841,000. Boubli, the Frenchman, was the short stack with only 85,000 left. With the blinds up to 5k/10k and an ante of 1,000, the action was frenetic and fierce.

It didn't take long for the first player to bid adieu to the competition. Surprisingly, it wasn't Boubli. Jerome Bradpiece raised all-in with a 56 suited to try and pick up the blinds. Unfortunately for him, JJ Hazan found an AQ in the small blind and reraised him all-in. The big blind folded and Jerome took home a ticket to the 2007 WSOP as well as €25,875.

Boubli's luck ran a wee bit later. Boubli is a frequent player at the MCOP (Master Classics of Poker) and well-known and beloved at the Holland Casino, where the event was held. He battled JJ Hazan, again in the blind. When JJ made a miracle straight with a 5 on the river, Jan knew it was time to go, but not for long. We're sure he'll be back next year.

Jorryt van Hoof went all-in several times in the first twenty hands. On the 21st hand, he decided to go all-in yet again. This time, he got a call, Keith Hawkins went all-in, he didn't have Jorryt covered, with pocket sevens. Hawkins made trips on the flop. Jorryt was crippled, but not out. With his paltry 17k, he made a stand on the very next hand and was sent packing in seventh place, with €43,125 to show for his efforts.

Only a few hands - and a break - later, Jonathan Fhal lost almost all his chips when Jan Sjavik went all-in with pocket kings. For the next few hands, Jonathan decided to play super-aggressive. He went all in against Sjavik again. This time Jonathan had pocket tens. They weren't good enough to withstand Jan's KJ, especially after the flop revealed a King. The turn and river didn't help him out so he left in 6th with €60,375.

Five players remained. The average stack was around 700k. This left time for patience and the ability to watch some high-level poker without the aggression of an all-in play. That is until Rolf Slotbottom got super-aggressive. He went all-in with around 1 mil in chips with an AK against Jalali's AK. Instead of the hoped-for split pot, Jalali made a miracle flush with the Ace of Spades and Slotbottom could go back to writing about the event, rather than playing in it. Slotbottom was the final Dutch hope for hometown glory, but it was not to be. He took home €86,250.

Rolf's demise had a major impact on the game. With only four players left, Jalali was a massive chip leader. He held about 2 mil in chips with only 3.45 mil on the entire table.

Here's a revised chip stack update:

JJ Hazan  --- 787k
Keith Hawkins --- 125k
Jan Sjavik --- 570k
Alex Jalali --- 196.8k

The blinds were now at 10k/20k with a 3k ante. Jalali decided it was high time to bully the table. Hazan wasn't about to be pushed around. He called Jalali's big raise on hand 37 and raised his chips stack up by about 150,000. Soon after, Keith Hawkins went all-in against Sjavik, the Norwegian. His KT looked pretty good after he made two-pair on the flop. However, Sjavik's pocket fours improved on the river to a set and that was all Hawkins could do for the day. He was out with €112,125.

Jalali, the German player, was still in the chip leader. Once it went down to three players, he seemed to step back and let Sjavik and Hazan fight it out. He was waiting to get to heads up it seemed. They duked it out for a bit until Hazan bested Sjavik and sent the Norwegian home in third place. At least, he had €172,500 to console him.

Finally, there were 2 players left. Hazan and Jalali were almost evenly matched at this point. Hazan had 1.5 mil to Jalali's 1.9 mil in chips. However, the death blow wasn't long in the making. Jalali raised in position with a Q10 off-suit. Hazan reraised with 54 off-suit. The flop came 10,6,4. Hazan bet 350k and Jalali announced he was going all-in. JJ called. He made a straight draw on the turn with a 7 but caught nothing but second place on the river with a Jack.

Hazan, a very talented British player, received €345,000. We're sure he'd have liked to have won. However, that honor belongs to Alex Jalali. Not only did Jalali receive the top prize of €690,000, but the brilliant distinction of being the winner of the 2006 Master Classics of Poker.

Congrats!

Be the first to comment Share This  Print Article Share this Share this Email to a friend Email to a friend  Close  Del.icio.us  Google Bookmarks  Digg  Furl  Reddit  Ask  My Favorites  Yahoo MyWeb  StumbleUpon  Facebook  Live Bookmarks  Fark  Spurl  Mister Wong  Close Your name (required): Your email address (required): Send to email address (required, separate with commas): Add a personal message (optional): Tags: Ladbrokes Poker  2296 Clicks Post to Twitter Share on Facebook

Add a new comment