The World Poker Tour (WPT) Vienna, final table, was being streamed live across the Internet. Not only did we have the best commentary in the world from the mouths of the two sages of poker: Mike Sexton and Jesse May; but we also had the players hole cards revealed for everyone to see. Sexton and May could not have wished for a better final table in order to try this new format. The pace of the game was furious and the level of moves amazing to see. It is literally no exaggeration to say we saw a different level of poker today especially when the game went three-handed.
555 players made this event the largest ever European field for a WPT event and it created a mouth watering €447,840 first prize. That first prize went to the man who started the day with the chip lead – Dmitry Gromov.
The first player eliminated was Mark Jenisch. He was always a by-stander at the final table and his stack size soon dwindled into the shove or fold zone. When he found pocket queens – he shoved – and was happy to be called by the pocket nines of Gromov. We have seen our fair share of bad beats in this tournament and we hadn’t seen the last of them yet when a nine on the flop eliminated the rather unfortunate Jenisch.
The 7th place finisher was our most elegantly dressed. WPT Venice champion Alessio Isaia wore a tuxedo when he won that tournament. Today he was dressed in full Mozart regalia. His exit came with an ill-timed shove. He made his move with 
and 1.4 million chips but Valentin Stroiescu woke up with pocket aces. The Italian was crippled and only had 230,000 left and in the very next hand, who else but Gromov, sent him packing when his 
nailed a ten on the flop to beat the 
of Isaia.
Maximillian Noll was involved in a few interesting spots at this final table but his last 1.4 million went into the middle holding 
and Simon Ravnsbaek found 
to send Noll to the rail with a €65,460 consolation prize.
The amateur at the table, Valentin Stroiescu, ran into the very impressive Maxim Kolosov just after making a series of mistakes that seemed to affect him a lot. Kolosov willing to gamble with 
against the 
of Stroiescu and it paid of when he hit a ten on the flop and Stroiescu was out in 5th place.
Mario Adinolfi was a real force on Day 3 until the pocket kings of Pascal Lefrancois cracked his pocket aces. That hand seemed to take the steam out of the Italian part time blogger and he was equally as lethargic today. He didn’t really make an impression on this final table and it was Gromov who finally eliminated him when his dominated the 
of Adinolfi.
Not only were our final three players the top three chip leaders when we started, but they were also the best three players at the table. The action when we went three handed was simply stunning and even Jesse May was left speechless on occasions. Somebody had to go though – and in the end it was Simon Ravnsbaek. Ravnsbaek had qualified for this event playing online at Party Poker which makes his €169,690 cash even more impressive. Again it was Gromov who was willing to gamble and his pocket sixes held up against the ace-jack of Ravnsbaek.
The heads up encounter between the two Russians lasted less than five hands. Gromov found 
and Kolosov found 
and it was enough for both players. Ace-ten had been kind to Gromov on this final table and the last hand of this fabulous competition was no different as a ten on the flop handed the title to Gromov.
So Dmitry Gromov has been crowned the WPT Vienna Champion of 2011 but there is no rest for the wicked. Tomorrow the WPT ship sails into Bratislava and we will bring you the action from Day 2 of that event here on the Partypoker blog.
For a full commentary of the final table live reports check out the live blog.
WPT Vienna Final Table picture gallery
[miniflickr photoset_id=”72157626378907338″]
