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You’ve got to be a little jealous of the folks over in Europe. What we went through in 2003-2004, they’re going through now as poker explodes into the languages of the globe. All the new players, all that money…it’s enough to make you want to move. Spreken zie Deutsch?
Ask the experts in the business of the game and they’ll tell you; whatever your product is, get yourself some translators. Each European country is spawning its own little poker community, and the World Series of Poker acts as a fine measurement for their growth, not only in the numbers who travel to Vegas, but the success they experience. If Michael Keiner’s performance in event 14 - $1,500 seven-card stud is any indication, Germany is doing just fine.
Keiner’s hardly new to poker. He’s been playing in recorded tournaments for over a decade and traveling to the WSOP since 2000. His finishes have been solid, with five cashes that saw him place in the teens, but it wasn’t until 2007 that he reached his first final table, let alone win his first WSOP bracelet. The final table he survived wasn’t exactly the easiest, either.
Greg Raymer went out in sixth place. Barry Greenstein, he of the big game, went out in fourth. Californian young gun Steve Sung went out in third, leaving just Keiner and American Nesbitt Coburn to duke it out for the title. Keiner was exhausted, twice checking with flushes on the river when bets would have been prudent.
The mistakes didn’t matter. Coburn bridged the gap in the early goings, but when it got close, Keiner took over. He took the biggest pot of the tournament with an ace-high straight to Coburn’s set of sixes. That was the wakeup call Doctor Keiner needed, and the rest was a formality.
Keiner took home $146,987 in beating the field of 385, ending his long wait for the WSOP bracelet. As he was finishing his triumph, another journey to victory was starting for a much bigger name. We’ll hear about it tomorrow.
Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com
