Heads up play during Event #1 (£1,000 No Limit Hold'em) of the World Series of Poker Europe started out in odd territory, with each player nearly even in the chip count. Thanks to a timely double-up, JP Kelly erased Fabien Dunlop chip lead in one hand. This happened just moments after Adnan Alshamah was eliminated in third place. So the two final competitors started the race for the bracelet on even footing. Dunlop took another massive chip lead when Kelly showed the whole world why you don’t slow play with pocket Aces. The board added two threes to the one in Dunlop’s hand, and he took over again. This is where it became a seasaw battle. Kelly evened things up again when Dunlop tried to deliver a death blow with an A-3, and wound up betting into the straight that Kelly had made on the flop.
The seesaw battle ended twelve minutes after things became even again. Dunlop lost most of his chips in a hand where he and Kelly both had flushes; he just had a smaller one. After some desperate play he eventually doubled up when a he beat Kelly’s pair of sevens with a pair of Queens. Unfortunately he was down to about 19,000 chips, and doubling up just postponed the inevitable. He pinned all his hopes on an unsuited 4-9 against Kelly’s unsuited Q-J. Lady luck then put an exclamation mark on Dunlop’s day by delivering two Queens on the flop. JP Kelly gets the first bracelet of the WSOP Euorpe.
This is not JP Kelly’s first WSOP bracelet of the year. He won a $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event last July, giving him a piece of WSOP jewelry for each wrist from his summers activities. We congratulate JP Kelly on his win.
