Congratulations to Eric Baldwin, Event No. 34 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Champion ($521,932)
After two days of play, Baldwin and 20 others returned for the final day of action. As the short stacks fell early, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier emerged as the clear leader, and for a short while he enjoyed a huge chip lead over the rest of the field. Grospellier lost two key hands in quick succession, however, the second a huge one versus Steven Bradbury when he ran pocket kings into Bradbury's pocket aces, and Elky finished an unlucky 13th.
Two eliminations later and the last ten players assembled around the final table. Young Phan was on the short stack, and left early in 10th. Roland de Wolfe was also short on chips for much of today, including at the final table, though he would last all of the way to fifth place.
James Taylor next eliminated Benjamin Scholl in fourth place, leaving Taylor, and Baldwin, and Jonas Klausen. The trio had nearly even stacks for the first part of three-handed play, though eventually the aggressive Baldwin pushed out into the lead and Taylor became short. Finally Baldwin eliminated Taylor, and when heads up began he had a small chip lead over Klausen.
He'd increase that lead, but it only took Klausen a few hands to claim the advantage back. Then came a huge hand in which Baldwin flopped a set of fours while Klausen flopped top two pair, catapulting Baldwin to an 8-to-1 chip lead. A few hands later -- about forty into their heads-up battle -- Baldwin used pocket tens to take the title.
Congratulations to Eric Baldwin, and thanks for following our coverage on PokerNews.