Norman Wildenborg wins Poker Series Live in Westervoort

Norman Wildenborg wins Poker Series Live in Westervoort | Sam from London Last Man Standing

Norman Wildenborg won the Poker Series Live preliminary round in Westervoort on Thursday (April 25)! The tournament that was held in the hall of Wieleman conference centre could count on 71 entries, so the best 8 players received a ticket for the semi-final or final. Norman was crowned Chip Leader in the last 10%, the battle for the largest stack ultimately turned out to be with Sam van London! Norman immediately received the beautiful trophy as well as his golden ticket for the grand final of January 25, 2025. Norman has played in three preliminary rounds this season and has not yet won a single prize. Westervoort was the first deep run and that immediately resulted in a victory and a trophy win! A great achievement for Norman, who immediately qualified for the final. We are therefore curious whether he will achieve more victories this season to compete in the national Ranking Classification! Good luck Norman!

On behalf of the Pokeren.nl Crew, experienced tournament director Hans van der Arend and our Team Pokeren.nl player Rick Kusters (winner Poker Series Live #6) traveled together to Westervoort in the province of Gelderland for the 35th preliminary round of the current eighth season. We all know Rick Kusters from the big winner of the sixth season, in addition to his great poker game, Rick also turned out to be an asset to the organization of last Thursday’s tournament. Thanks Rick for filling in and all your enthusiasm!

A total of 54 unique players came to Zalencentrum Wieleman last Thursday, with an additional 17 re-entries during the first five blind levels of 15 minutes. This ultimately resulted in 71 entries, which is good for 8 tickets! Of course, Hans van der Arend again announced the lottery winners on Thursday, unfortunately this time I was not able to receive the names of the ticket winners, but of course both players can send an email to [email protected] and indicate which tournament they want to play. In addition to the regular tournament, Sit & Go’s are always played, this time two were played and the winners were Huseyin Bolat and Nico Zornig. Congratulations to both gentlemen on your prize. Then we continue with the order of the day and that is the report of the tournament.

Defending champion Roy van Huit fell early and dreams of back-to-back fell apart

The last edition of Westervoort was played in February during this season and Roy van Huit ultimately came out on top. Of course you have to defend championships and Roy van Huit also used this motto, he returned to Zalencentrum Wieleman last Thursday in good spirits to compete for the so-called back to back to go. Naturally, to give the community a little extra, we had placed a bounty on his head; whoever eliminated Roy after the re-entry period could receive it. Roy had given everything this edition, but unfortunately could not make any progress and had to leave the tournament early. The bogeyman was Dirk Schuring and he happily and happily collected the free ticket.

Full house of fun and laughter in Westervoort

It was a tournament on Thursday with many new faces and that is always fun and exciting! There was a very friendly and pleasant atmosphere in the room of Zalencentrum Wieleman. Many players were laughing and there was a very pleasant atmosphere. Many players were enjoying their well-deserved drinks and table talk was heard everywhere. Iklil Taher was one of these standout players, he was able to take out many players at a rapid pace and his stack kept growing. Iklil was a debutant in the Poker Series Live circuit, but absolutely no stranger to the game of poker and he showed that at the tables! Unfortunately he was killed just within sight of the harbour in twelfth place and therefore missed out on the tickets and his chance at the grand final. We are curious whether we will see him more often in the coming tournaments in the Gelderland region, because this player could easily perform stunts during the grand final.

Anton van der Cruijsen was back in the flow

Who doesn’t know this extremely friendly Brabander! He also traveled to the picturesque Westervoort last Thursday, armed with his Smurf as a card protector, he attended many Poker Series Live preliminary rounds. He looks like a fun and cheerful player, but beware, appearances can be deceiving! Before you know it he takes all your chips and you still feel good about it! That is Anton’s power! Unfortunately, he was unable to make a deep run in this preliminary round and had to retire before the final table. Anton has now played in 6 preliminary rounds this season, but has not yet managed to reach the last 10%. We expect him to definitely make another move in North Brabant and still secure his place in the final. Nevertheless, he managed to find the spotlight a few times again, because he was wonderfully captured by our Rick Kusters. Anton, you are a wonderful person and I hope I will see you again next week in Tilburg at Café Bet Kolen, because then I will also be working with Hans!

Owner Martijn Wieleman also tried to make a deep run again!

It’s great, of course, that the owners of the gaming locations we work with have such a warm heart for poker and simply play along during their preliminary rounds. Martijn is a great example of this and managed to make a deep run to the final table during the February edition. This edition he was once again there to give everything at the tables, unfortunately his record was not allowed to be broken last Thursday and he had to leave the tournament early after the re-entry phase. Thank you Martijn for this very nice poker location and of course your efforts at the poker tables! He was captured in a photo by Rick Kusters!

The last 9 in full glory!

Deniz Akbayir is the unlucky one and says goodbye as bubble boy at the final table

We arrive at the poker table where our own tournament star Hans van der Arend is dealing and we join during the hand where all chips go to the middle on the flop. We see it flopping and Deniz is all-in for his tournament life against the by Norman Wildenborg. Of course, Deniz saw that his pocket Kings were in terrible shape and was looking for a King on the turn or the river. Unfortunately, that did not change on the turn and an ice cold one on the river. Deniz was allowed to receive a free ticket from Hans van der Arend for this painful bad beat to try again in a new tournament!

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After Deniz’s elimination, the stacks were counted!

As during any other preliminary round of Pokeren.nl, all stacks are counted when the bubble is turned off. The last 10% of the field has then been reached and that means that the chip leader and the winner of the tournament will be announced. This preliminary round was the battle between Sam van London and Norman Wildenborg. Norman, who single-handedly burst the bubble, ended up with a stack of 450,000 points. This turned out to be the crucial deciding factor, because Sam from London finished with 390,000 points after the bubble. Norman became the winner of the evening and received the stylish trophy from Westervoort, making him the new winner!

Of course, the tournament was then played out in super-turbo form to determine who became the Last Man Standing for the Ranking Classification points. Of course Norman could also go for the double and thus 25 ranking points! Unfortunately, Norman could not continue his run and ended up in fifth place. A very good performance by this boss and we will definitely see him in the grand final on January 25 in Hoofddorp! We arrived at the last four players and it was Jesse Jonkman who had to leave the stage in fourth place. Then it was Chris van het Hoenderdaal who received the bronze. This brought us to the heads-up and it was between Johan Jurgens and Sam van London! The latter was very close to the largest stack in the last 10%, but just missed out! He didn’t let that happen in the final phase of the tournament and that made him the Last Man Standing of the tournament in Westervoort! Congratulations on this great performance Sam, the silver ultimately went to Johan and with that the preliminary round of Westervoort went back into the books and we are already looking forward to the next preliminary round that will be played in Fijnaart, at the Graanbeurs on Tuesday, April 30!

Final table statistics

* Chip leader, played the largest stack when reaching the top 10%. As the winner of the tournament, this player is placed directly for the grand final.
** Last Man Standing, this player is the last one standing and can participate in all three semi-finals at the end of the season if he is not yet in the final.

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