The highly experienced French live tournament poker ace Roger “Big Roger” Hairabedian clinched his second WSOP bracelet at the World Series of Poker Europe tournament near Paris Friday, in the process denying eight-bracelet veteran Erik Seidel his ninth piece of poker jewellery.
337 players entered the Euro 2,200 No-Limit Hold’em event and it took only two days to whittle the field down to a final table:
Roger Hairabedian – France
Erik Seidel – USA
Kevin Song – United States
Matan Krakow – Israel
Erwann Pecheux – France
Mike Watson- Canada
Max Greenwood – Canada
Ariel Silveira – France
Arnaud Peyroles – France
Heads up it was Seidel vs. Hairabedian, with Seidel holding a chip advantage which his French opponent immediately began to erode; winning pot after pot in a protracted heads up until the luckless Seidel had to concede defeat, leaving with a second placing check for Euro 92,003.
Hairabedian seemed more pleased with his second bracelet than the Euro 148,820 that went with it, saying: “The money is nothing. In poker winning a bracelet is the most prestigious thing you can do. You have to beat the best players in the world.”
The French pro has career winnings of over $4 million