Nobody questions the importance of the WSOP Main Event bubble phase. The difference in the prizes between the 9th and 10th place is $160,020 this year, which is a bit more than 16 times the buy-in for the event, plus the added marketing value, which came with the introduction of the November Nine.
Probably this is the reason why many memorable events occur near the final table bubble every year at the World Series. This year the bubble boy came to be the 2001 Main Event champion Carlos Mortensen. It wasn't blind luck that earned him the less than prestigious "bubble boy" title; he had a major part in him being eliminated as his play was often questionable.
He got to the unofficial final table with 11,475,000 chips (28,7 bb) which meant 8th place for him. His stack size wasn't satisfying to say the least. However, instead of tightening up, Mortensen looked into more flops, and his raises were rather high (up to 3.3 bb) compared to other players' raises (2-2.2 bb).
Two hands prior to his elimination, he limped with 15 bb from the small blind and called the BB's raise, then folded on the flop. His chip management is further exemplified by the fact that by the last hand of the day, the tight David Benefield lost 2.2 million chips, while Mortensen lost 6.2 million. He was eventually eliminated by JC Tran's straigth which hit on the turn.
It wasn't only Mortensen though, who provided some interesting action near the final table bubble. In our little compilation below, we collected some of the most important and interesting events from the previous years.
2012: Koroknai, the ladykiller
In 2012, two ladies were still at the tables in the final 11, namely Elisabeth Hille and Gaelle Baumann, so there was a major chance of a woman reaching a WSOP Main Event final table since the 1995 participation of Barbara Enright. The Hungarian Andras Koroknai was still in, who managed to evade elimination after a questionable floorman decision.
It was also Koroknai, who eliminated Hille in a coinflip, then Gaelle Baumann, who became the "bubble girl" for the Main Event. One thing is certain, Koroknai didn't go down in history as the favourite poker player of women.
2010: The tragedy of Matt Affleck
In 2010, the bubble was the most talked about event. Matt Affleck's story has mostly reached a wide audience thanks to ESPN's all-seeing cameras and all-hearing microphones. 15 remaining players were playing at two tables, and two major stacks got quite good starting hands. Affleck held pocket aces, Jonathan Duhamel pocket jacks. Both players were all-in on the T97Q turn. Almost 42 million chips were in the pot.
Duhamel had only 21% to win, so the river cannot be considered a tragic bad beat for Affleck, but one must think about the fact that Affleck only took half a million dollars, while his stack size before the hand would mean a definite final table, therefore the hand decided the fate of millions of dollars.
Many questioned the emotional outburst of Affleck, because in the end he won $490,000 at the WSOP Main Event, and ESPN also added to the drama by showing video montages and exclusive interviews about the Affleck family.
2009: Billy Kopp's downfall
2009 came to be a year in WSOP history when it wasn't the victory of Joe Cada, or Phil Ivey's final table was the biggest buzz, but everyone's favourite logger, Darvin Moon. The amateur player participated in his first major event in his poker playing career and had a huge card rush, which got him to the best 27 as the chipleader.
The online pro Billy Kopp took the lead, though and had a major lead just a few hands later. Darvin Moon regained the lead soon, but both players were standing pretty good. That is when the 45 million pot came.
Kopp's play was criticised by the poker community; it is argued that he wanted to turn his flopped flush into a bluff, while some tried to put Moon on weaker hands. One is certain, after calling Moon's all-in, Kopp was drawing dead, he already noticed his 12th place before the river was dealt. Moon eventually finished 2nd, Kopp didn't even get near the final table ever since.
As we can see, every year there is a huge clash of hands or an interesting event that is worth to be remembered. We will have to wait one more year to see another one.
Probably this is the reason why many memorable events occur near the final table bubble every year at the World Series. This year the bubble boy came to be the 2001 Main Event champion Carlos Mortensen. It wasn't blind luck that earned him the less than prestigious "bubble boy" title; he had a major part in him being eliminated as his play was often questionable.
He got to the unofficial final table with 11,475,000 chips (28,7 bb) which meant 8th place for him. His stack size wasn't satisfying to say the least. However, instead of tightening up, Mortensen looked into more flops, and his raises were rather high (up to 3.3 bb) compared to other players' raises (2-2.2 bb).
Two hands prior to his elimination, he limped with 15 bb from the small blind and called the BB's raise, then folded on the flop. His chip management is further exemplified by the fact that by the last hand of the day, the tight David Benefield lost 2.2 million chips, while Mortensen lost 6.2 million. He was eventually eliminated by JC Tran's straigth which hit on the turn.
It wasn't only Mortensen though, who provided some interesting action near the final table bubble. In our little compilation below, we collected some of the most important and interesting events from the previous years.
2012: Koroknai, the ladykiller
In 2012, two ladies were still at the tables in the final 11, namely Elisabeth Hille and Gaelle Baumann, so there was a major chance of a woman reaching a WSOP Main Event final table since the 1995 participation of Barbara Enright. The Hungarian Andras Koroknai was still in, who managed to evade elimination after a questionable floorman decision.
It was also Koroknai, who eliminated Hille in a coinflip, then Gaelle Baumann, who became the "bubble girl" for the Main Event. One thing is certain, Koroknai didn't go down in history as the favourite poker player of women.
2010: The tragedy of Matt Affleck
In 2010, the bubble was the most talked about event. Matt Affleck's story has mostly reached a wide audience thanks to ESPN's all-seeing cameras and all-hearing microphones. 15 remaining players were playing at two tables, and two major stacks got quite good starting hands. Affleck held pocket aces, Jonathan Duhamel pocket jacks. Both players were all-in on the T97Q turn. Almost 42 million chips were in the pot.
Duhamel had only 21% to win, so the river cannot be considered a tragic bad beat for Affleck, but one must think about the fact that Affleck only took half a million dollars, while his stack size before the hand would mean a definite final table, therefore the hand decided the fate of millions of dollars.
Many questioned the emotional outburst of Affleck, because in the end he won $490,000 at the WSOP Main Event, and ESPN also added to the drama by showing video montages and exclusive interviews about the Affleck family.
2009: Billy Kopp's downfall
2009 came to be a year in WSOP history when it wasn't the victory of Joe Cada, or Phil Ivey's final table was the biggest buzz, but everyone's favourite logger, Darvin Moon. The amateur player participated in his first major event in his poker playing career and had a huge card rush, which got him to the best 27 as the chipleader.
The online pro Billy Kopp took the lead, though and had a major lead just a few hands later. Darvin Moon regained the lead soon, but both players were standing pretty good. That is when the 45 million pot came.
Kopp's play was criticised by the poker community; it is argued that he wanted to turn his flopped flush into a bluff, while some tried to put Moon on weaker hands. One is certain, after calling Moon's all-in, Kopp was drawing dead, he already noticed his 12th place before the river was dealt. Moon eventually finished 2nd, Kopp didn't even get near the final table ever since.
As we can see, every year there is a huge clash of hands or an interesting event that is worth to be remembered. We will have to wait one more year to see another one.
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