Frenchman Jean-Pierre Didier finished first at the WSOP Circuit Caribbean $365 No-Limit Hold’em and walked away with the first gold ring. The event was held at Casino Royale, located on the sunny island of Sint Maarten, where 43 players out of a 236-entry field returned for the last day of the tournament to compete for the first-place prize.
Jean-Pierre Didier emerged as a champion after almost ten levels on the tournament’s final day. The Frenchman made it to the final table to compete against Sint Maarten’s natives Dueval Fenton and Patrick Alain. Didier sent Fenton and Alain to the rail in a quick succession and left the table with the first-place prize of $17,700.
Players Brett Murray and Tahar Slamani busted early. The field was reduced to 39 participants after the first level of play. Eliminations continued to run at a steady pace as players Claudie Nannini, Frederik Maniez, Peter Hajszan and Felix Sang dropped out of the game. Ben Beighle quickly followed in their footsteps. He shoved with ace-three but Sint Maarten’s native Hatice Demir responded with an ace-jack and made a straight. The last two tables were set after the elimination of Arman Bosnakyan and Rodrigue Robineau.
After Angelo Flanders, Pierre Goetz, David Allafort and Marvin Browne were eliminated, the field fell down to ten players. Demir left the game one hand later when she faced the aces of Alain with her ace-queen.
Dutchman Jacco van Limpt was the first to leave the final table. Augusto Cavazzini finished eighth after losing a flip with fours against Alain’s ace-nine. Christophe Enrici bowed out of the game at seventh place after losing most of his stack against Austrian Werner Eder.
Enrici was soon followed by Stephane Genet who also lost the battle against Werner Eder, whose ace-jack sent Genet at fifth place. Werner Eder eventually got short of chips and ended forth with a prize of $5,900.
The final three survivors, Didier, Alain and Fenton did not waste time and brought the game to an end only twenty minutes later. Fenton’s queen-seven was no match for Didier’s aces and he walked away with a third-place prize of $7,900.
It did not take long for Didier to finish off his last opponent as the Frenchmen sent Alain to second place after less than twelve hands. Alain four-bet shoved with ace-jack but Didier responded with ace-seven and improved his hand with yet another seven in the window. Alain went home with a prize of $10,900 leaving the champion crown to his French opponent.
