Yorky Pud

Adrien Allain may not be a name you are familiar with but ensure you commit it to memory because this young man is going to go a very long way in the poker world. Two years ago he won his first major title when he took down the 2009 APT Macau Main Event, now he has joined an elite group of players who have won a World Poker Tour title by winning WPT Amneville.

A field of 379 players were left in Allain's wake and he was most deserving of his win, showing dogged determination and controlled aggression throughout the tournament. The French youngster started the six-handed final table second in chips behind American heads-up SNG specialist Scott Baumstein but after two levels of play he found himself second from last in chips and his dreams of becoming a WPT champion looked set to be broken.

However, shortly after the first scheduled break he found himself in a perfect scenario. Baumstein, who had been playing almost every hand, raised preflop with Ah10h and Allain looked down to discover he had been dealt pocket aces. He three-bet shoved all in and Baumstein decided he was prepared to call off more than 950,000 chips, much to the delight of Allain and his legion of fans. The aces held and Allain found himself second in chips again with a stack of two million, allowing him to take on the chip leaders once again and play his usual aggressive game, a style that tormented Phil Hellmuth at the recent World Series of Poker Europe.

It took almost two and a half hours for the first player to be eliminated, Arnaud Trouer being that unfortunate soul and after his departure the table seemed to relax, perhaps now knowing they could not be the first player to bust from the final table. Over the next six and a half hours Trouer was followed to the rail by Michel Konieczny, Scott Baumstein and Thibaud Guenegou, setting up a heads-up battle with fellow countryman Jordane Ouin,a player who had qualified for WPT Amneviile online for a fraction of the €3,500 entry fee.

Both players started almost exactly even in chips but Allain started to apply the pressure straight away and he began to open up a sizeable lead over Ouin but Ouin managed to draw level again with an amazing call. Allain had raised preflop to 170,000 and then called when Ouin three-bet to 570,000. The flop came down 7d-4d-8c, Ouin bet 620,000 only to see Allain move all in. Ouin sat for nearly five full minutes before announcing “call,” and he turned over Ac9c, which was ahead of the JdTs of Allain. The turn and river bricked and Ouin was back level pegging.

Ouin may have taken the lead but everyone thought it was only a matter of time before Allain started to turn the screw again and he began to put some distance between him and his opponent. The key hand saw Allain commit his stack on a Kd-Qd-9c-9d board with 6d5d and Ouin call with Ac9s. The river failed to pair the board and Allain now held a massive 9,370,000 to 2,000,000 chip advantage but even more you could physically see Ouin had all but given up the fight.

Just moments later it was all over. Ouin raised from the button, Allain put him all in and after double checking his cards, Ouin called off his remaining chips with Kh9d. He was up against the TdTs of Allain and when the board ran out 4c-8s-Qd-4s-9s, Ouin was eliminated and Allain was announced as the champion of WPT Amneville.

The next European stop of the WPT is at the start of December in Prague but before then it sets sail for Marrakech and you can bet a certain Adrien Allain will be there attempting to win back-to-back World Poker Tour titles.

Final table results

1st: Adrien Allain: €310,633
2nd: Jordane Ouin: €170,365
3rd: Thibaud Guenegou: €113,580
4th: Scott Baumstein: €80,640
5th: Michel Konieczny: €60,197
6th: Arnaud Trouer: €47,700