Guillaume Humbert Wins WSOPE Event #1

Guillaume Humbert took full advantage of his first ever appearance in a major live poker tournament, winning the World Series of Poker Europe’s Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event.

The tournament was the first event at the 2011 WSOP Europe. For his victory, Humbert took home €215,999.

To say Humbert was an unexpected winner would be something of an understatement. While it’s hardly rare for a player to win a major tournament without having had many significant cashes prior, they usually at least have a history of playing in live events. Humbert – who hails from Nyon, Switzerland – had never played in a major live tournament, and did not even have an entry in the Hendon Mob poker database.

Until the final table, however, Humbert was not the center of attention during the tournament. That role fell to Phil Hellmuth, who spent a lot of time in or near the chip lead as he stuck around until the final day of play. Hellmuth ultimately bowed out in 7^th place, earning €24,183. Hellmuth also added some precious points to his WSOP Player of the Year tally; however, he did not earn enough to overtake the amount that Ben Lamb will finish with even if Lamb should finish 9^th at the Main Event final table.

The first event at this year’s WSOP Europe saw 360 entries, an increase of over 100 players compared to last year’s similarly-priced six-handed tournament. The total prize pool came in at €864,000. Finishing second and taking home €133,471 was Azusa Maeda, a Japanese player with several cashes in tournaments in Asia.

Sunday also saw the completion of Day 1B in Event #2, the €1,090 No-Limit Hold’em tournament. A total of 771 players are taking part in the tournament, which generated a prize fund of €740,160. The field made it the largest tournament in the history of the WSOP Europe. On the second day of play, the fields will merge, and the remaining 104 players will compete for one of the 81 spots in the money. The winner will ultimately receive €148,030.