Papazian Carries Big Lead into $888 Crazy Eights Title Heads-Up Battle Against Kramer
There were only 28 players in contention at the end of Day 2 and Event #60: $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed is now down to just two hopefuls. Romania's Alexandru Papazian and [Removed:172] from Germany will come back 1 p.m. Wednesday to finish their fight for a whopping $888,888 first-place prize and the honor of joining the WSOP champions club. Papazian has a commanding lead with 50,725,000 while Kramer has 14,225,000.
While Kramer entered the unofficial nine-handed final table with the biggest stack, the following stage was dominated by Papazian, who stormed through the rest of the day until he and Kramer decided to bag up before 1 a.m., leaving their final duel for tomorrow.
The lead up to the final table belonged to Kramer, who knocked out WSOP bracelet winner Eric Baldwin in 12th place when Baldwin four-bet shoved with ace-three only to run into Kramer's kings. Kramer also took care of Randy Pfeifer in 10th place, forming the last table.
The final table boasted many top European players but the only two-time bracelet winner among the final nine was Nevada's own Ben Yu. Unfortunately for Yu, he couldn't find any luck as he lost a vast majority of his chips when he got it in good, only to get three-outed by James Cappucci. Yu lost his remaining bits a few moments later, running into Harry Lodge's aces.
Kramer maneuvered his big stack with an aggressive approach, but he doubled Lodge twice and Cappucci once. Papazian took over the chip lead just before the dinner break, and his one-man show started thereafter.
After two levels without any bust outs, Papazian finally knocked out Guillaume Diaz in eighth place. His ace-king held strong against Diaz' ace-queen, eliminating the French player for a $86,888 payday.
Papazian's next casualty was Michael Tureniec who departed after pushing in his remaining seven blinds over Papazian's raise but his ace-deuce found no luck against pocket eights. Tureniec collected $112,888 for his efforts.
Papazian was steamrolling over the final table, and his heater had no mercy for his fellow countryman Vlad Darie. Both dressed in a Romanian national soccer team shirts and cheered by a loud rail, Papazian and Darie tangled preflop. Papazian's ace-king bested Darie's pair of jacks, sending Darie to the payouts for the $146,888 sixth-place prize.
Two hands later, Papazian added yet another casualty to his list as James Cappucci, who laddered several pay jumps with his short stack, finally saw his fate. Papazian had two live cards in their all-in confrontation, and he turned a flush to bust Cappucci in fifth place for a $193,888.
Papazian's streak continued with the elimination of Ioannis Angelou Konstas, who shoved ace-deuce of spades only to find Papazian calling with eights. Konstas picked up $257,888 after busting in fourth.
Harry Lodge and [Removed:172] were sitting in their chairs, watching Papazian destroying the table. With the tournament down to the last three players, Papazian had already accumulated 80-percent of all chips in play.
Papazian didn't add the sixth name among his scalps as Lodge and Kramer clashed with each other. Lodge had ace-eight of clubs and out flopped Kramer's kings but Kramer caught a king on the river to send the English player out. Lodge received $344,888 for third place.
Papazian and Kramer quickly agreed to wrap up the night before playing a single hand heads up. They'll play it out tomorrow (Wednesday) at 1 p.m. PDT. While the WSOP bracelet is always an extra motivation, this heads-up match will also have a huge pay jump on the line. Both contenders are guaranteed $463,888 but the champion will reach much bigger reward - $888,888.
There are 16 minutes and 20 seconds left to play in Level 36 with the blinds of 200,000/400,000 and an ante of 50,000. Come back to PokerNews to see the hand-by-hand live coverage of the final battle.
Final table results so far:
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $888,888 | ||
| 2 | $463,888 | ||
| 3 | Harry Lodge | United Kingdom | $344,888 |
| 4 | Ioannis Angelou Konstas | Greece | $257,888 |
| 5 | James Cappucci | United States | $193,888 |
| 6 | Vlad Darie | Romania | $146,888 |
| 7 | Michael Tureniec | Sweden | $112,888 |
| 8 | Guillaume Diaz | France | $86,888 |