Needle King Wins WSOP 2009 LHE Event #38
June 23, 2009
Sporting a huge chip lead at the final table, it was Marc “Needle King” Naalden’s event to lose. True enough, he conquered the final table with ease and as a result of his masterful performance, he brings home his very first WSOP gold bracelet courtesy of Event #38, the $2,000 Limit Hold’em event at the 2009 World Series of Poker.
Naalden started the day with 755,000 in chips. Almost immediately, as soon as the day started at 10,000/20,000 blinds, Naalden won pots versus Steve Cowley and Tommy Hang to increase his stack even more. But it was Rep Porter who left the game first after he ran into Jameson Painter’s Pocket Aces. Porter won $19,594 for ninth place.
Unfortunately for Painter, his end was also near. Alex Keating got lucky to river a full house to cripple Painter’s stack. Then he was eliminated by Naalden. Painter re-raised after Naalden raised under the gun and was called. Naalden check-raised Painter all-in after the 6h-7s-10c flop. Painter called with Kh-Qh while Naalden had top pair with 10d-8h. An Ac hit the turn and a 9h hit the river, giving Naalden a straight and sending Painter home with $21,819 for eighth place.
Jared O’ Dell’s Ad-10d was simply no match to Tommy Hang’s Ah-Qd. Hang hit two pair at the flop and O’Dell hit the rail with $25,439 for seventh place. Danny Qutami exited next when his Ad-10c was outflopped by Naalden’s Ks-Jd. Naalden then sent Alex Keating home in fifth place for $39,977 when he won a coinflip with his pocket fives versus Keating’s Ac-Kd.
Tommy Hang was sent home in fourth place with $54,182 when his As-5h lost over Naalden’s Pocket Tens. Naalden continued to run over the table when his 6c-3c made a flush to take out Ian Johns who had to settle for third place and a very respectable sum of $77,576.
Despite Naalden’s insurmountable lead (Naalden was holding 2,300,000 in chips versus Steve Cowley’s 325,000), Cowley made a valiant stand as he did close the gap to just 400,000. But Naalden rebounded and soon increased his chip lead once more. On the last hand, Naalden raised and Cowley shoved all-in with Ad-5d. Naalden had Qc-8s but the board gave him the win as it ran out Qs-9h-10h-4d-10s. Cowley earned $117,902 for his 2nd place finish while Naalden took home $190,770.
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