Thursday, June 9, 2011 : Odette Tremblay, a golden haired poker and WSOP veteran from North Las Vegas, became the second woman at the 2011 World Series of Poker to make a final table early Wednesday, but was unfortunately unable to hold on to her position and was eliminated early in the action by Sadan Turker.
Tremblay's ninth position on the third day of event 8 – the $1 500 buy-in NLHE competition – delivered her biggest pay day yet at $49 258, augmenting an impressive history of 7 final tables and 19 cashes at live tournaments that goes back to 1999.
The poker vet survived an original field of 4 178 in the event, in which 59 survivors took to the felt on the third day of action, which was dominated by Sadan Turker and Jon Turner, with the chip lead changing several time.
Turker held a significant chip lead when play ended at level 10, chased by Sean Getzwiller and Turner.
The three players were the only survivors going into the fourth day of the competition with Turker the favourite with a 5 million chip lead.
The 3-way final table re-started Wednesday afternoon Vegas time and went on well into the night, culminating in a marathon heads up of almost six hours as Getzwiller evened the chip counts in his epic struggle against Turker…and eventually succeeded, with as many as 13 chip leader changes in between, to take a truly well-deserved bracelet and the first prize of $611 185.
Turker's second placing was worth $ 377 411, and Turner's elimination in third place earned him $274 005.
In addition to Getzwiller, Turker and Turner, the final table comprised, in finishing order, Max Weinberg, Stefan Raffay, Lawrence Riley, Hunter Frey, Daniel Haglund and Odette Tremblay.
For Las Vegas-based Getzwiller, who has been playing live and online professionally for the past year, the end was both a relief and a celebration.
"I think I played pretty well against a really tough final table," he said after the match, paying tribute to a field that had contained many of the top players in the world.