Daniel Brits Wins WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic ($132,128)

Daniel Brits has become the newest member of the WPT Champions Club after defeating Eugene Du Plessis in heads-up action here at the Emperors Palace in Johannesburg!

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The action started as expected with the short stacks moving the money into the middle quickly. Ronit Chamani moved in twice in the first five hands, and Wesley Weigand also got into the act.

The destiny of this trophy was always going to depend on where the short stacks chips would end up, and they ended up in the most likeliest of places after all three of them got embroiled in a three way car crash of a hand.

Rob Fenner open jammed for 355,000, Ronit Chamani was next to move all in for 375,000, and Wesley Wiegand – who had both players covered – also moved all in. It was [Ac] [Ts] for Fenner, [Ah] [Jh] for Chamani and Wiegand was looking the prettiest with [Ad] [Kd].

With their fate in the hands of the deck, the players paced around the table and they were to get the shock of their lives. A ten appeared in the door to give Fenner the lead, and he tripled up to a million in chips. Ronit Chamani’s dream of becoming the first female to win a WPT open event was crushed as she exited in 6th place and Wesley Wiegand was left with just 75,000 in chips.

Wiegand would last mere minutes after that disaster. His exit came in a three way pot with Daniel Brits and Rob Fenner. Brits held [Ad] [Ks] on an ace high board; Wiegand mucked his hand and left the tournament in fifth place.

Next, we lost the reigning champion Dominik Nitsche.

The hand that did all the damage took place between Nitsche and Fenner. Nitsche opened the button and Fenner defended his big blind. The dealer put a [Ts] [Tc] [2c] flop onto the felt and Fenner check-called a 50,000 Nitsche bet. The [6h] appeared on the turn and once again Fenner check-called a 130,000 Nitsche bet. The final card was the [Js], Fenner checked, Nitsche moved all in and Fenner snap-called. It was pocket deuces giving Fenner the boat and [Td] [9h] for trip tens for Nitsche.

In the next hand, Nitsche moved all in holding [Ad] [Jd], and, lo and behold, he walked straight into the [As] [Qd] of Daniel Brits. The [Kd] [Jc] [8c] flop gave the German the early lead, but the [Tc] on the turn produced Broadway for Brits. When the [Kc] hit the river, we were guaranteed to have a South African champion this time around.

The 26th Level saw Daniel Brits take complete charge and the person to suffer his wrath seemed to be Eugene Du Plessis. To make matters worse for the starting day chip leader, he doubled up Rob Fenner after his pocket treys came up against the might of pocket aces. Fenner hadn’t had time to stack those chips when the pair were once again all in, and this time the spoils went to Du Plessis when his [Jc] [Tc] out flopped the [As] [Kc] of Fenner as a red ten saved his tournament skin.

The pair would tangle for a third time in the 27th level and it would signify the end of the tournament for Fenner. The pair getting it in on [Qh] [7c] [4h] with Du Plessis holding [7h] [6h] for the pair and flush draw against Fenner’s [Th] [9h] for the flush draw and overcards. Fenners draws stayed tucked away, and Du Plessis would move forward to play Daniel Brits in heads-up action.

When heads-up play began, it was Daniel Brits who held the slight lead with 3,040,000 playing the 2,690,000 of Eugene Du Plessis. The match up would last close to three hours before the pair played out the final hand of the competition that can be read just beneath this recap.

So that’s a wrap from South Africa. The next time the WPT Live Updates team will be bringing you the very best live poker reporting will be from the WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble November 15-19.