Dominik Nitsche Wins WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic

The WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic has reached it’s conclusion, and the new lion of South Africa is Dominik Nitsche. In a field that was top-heavy with recreational players, it was interesting to see the cream rise to the top.

There is nobody walking this earth who plays more live tournaments in Europe than Dominik Nitsche, so how strange – and wonderful – that it is the continent of Africa that yet again produced a fantastic WPT performance after finishing in sixth spot at WPT Marrakech in 2010.

With the exception of Day 2, when Ryan Price pipped him to the top spot, Nitsche led the tournament from start to finish. It was an outstanding case of dominance for a young lad who is having the best season of his life, and all at just 22-years of age!

Here is the recap of events during the final table.

The first two levels of play produced two exits, and a challenger to Dominik Nitsche, in the shape of Jerome Bradpiece.

The action started with both Wesley Weigand and Andrew Anthony moving all-in at will. Then Jerome Bradpiece took the second spot away from William Ross in a hand that saw him flop two pair, and Ross turn a lower two pair. Bradpiece moving over the one million mark for the first time in this competition.

(Photo: Jerome Bradpiece)

Then we lost our first-player, and predictably it was the short stack Andrew Anthony. It was coin flip against Bradpiece: KQ v TT, and for once Anthony could not draw that high card out of the deck. He left us to a thunderous round of applause and $32,394 in prize money.

(Photo: Andrew Anthony)

Then a pivotal moment in the tournament life of Jason Strauss. Dominik Nitsche flopping top set on a board of [8s] [6c] [4d] [9c] [Kh] to squeeze enough change out of Strauss to leave him floundering on the short stack. A few shoves later and Nitsche caught him – JJ v 22 – and Strauss was out in fifth for $41,965.

(Photo: Jason Strauss at his Exit Hand)

That elimination put Nitsche in a very dominant spot, and it was William Ross and Wesley Weigand who were struggling for air. Then Ross managed to win a flip against Nitsche to bide him some more time  – KJ v 33 – with a Jack on the flop, and King on the river, handing the American the pot.

Then the biggest hand of the day, so far, and maybe the first big mistake coming from the corner of Dominik Nitsche. Nitsche opened the pot, Bradpiece three-bet, Nitsche moved all-in and Bradpiece called. It was pocket queens for Bradpiece and pocket sixes for Nitsche. The board was kind to the man from the UK and he moved over 2 million in chips. At last we had a man with chips to test the might of the German superstar.

But just as Bradpiece was settling into a rhythm along came Wesley Weigand to screw it all up for him. It was an all-in pre flop encounter with Weigand holding [Kd] [Qc] and Bradpiece holding [Ah] [6h]. Weigand was staring defeat in the face until a queen on the flop doubled up Weigand, and took a chunk of change from the newly built stack of Bradpiece.

The chip counts at the end of the first two levels were: Dominik Nitsche 3,525,000, Jerome Bradpiece 1,720,000, Wesley Weigand 865,000 & William Ross 660,000.

The second two levels of play began with two players moving all-in indiscriminately. One of them was William Ross, as a result of his short stack, and the other was Dominik Nitsche – who didn’t have a short stack – but was exploiting the short stack of the man to his direct left, Wesley Weigand. There was a $25-30,000 pay jump between fourth and third and Nitsche knew it.

Then just as all eyes were on Nitsche to eliminate Weigand, his good friend William Ross took the honor. Weigand moved all-in from the cutoff holding [As] [9h] and Ross called on the button holding [Qs] [Qd]. The ace was successfully faded and Weigand was out in fourth.

(Photo: Wesley Weigand)

The ink had not yet dried on the check that was paid to Weigand when we were heads-up. William Ross moved all-in on the button and Jerome Bradpiece called in the small blind. This time it was Bradpiece with the pocket queens, and Ross was left searching for the ace holding [Ad] [Ts]. Once again the ace decided it was warmer in the deck and Ross was out in third.

(Photo: Wesley Weigand)

In truth, the heads-up encounter between Bradpiece and Nitsche was the betting mans choice from the outset. It was Nitsche who started with the advantage with 4,050,000 playing 2,800,000, but Bradpiece quickly tilted the tables in his favor after check-calling three streets of Nitsche pressure on a [Ac] [Ad] [4d] [Qs] [5d] board with a pair of sixes.

Then as we entered level-28 Nitsche regained control with a monster pot. Bradpiece raised to 130,000, Nitsche three-bet to 375,000 and Bradpiece made the call. Nitsche then fired three beautiful barrels of 350,000, 450,000 & 575,000 into Bradpiece and the man from the UK caught every single one of them. It was ace-king for Nitsche and ace-jack for Bradpiece and that hand would prove to be the tournament defining moment for the German.

Bradpiece was reduced to a shove or fold strategy, but it was a shove from Nitsche that eventually ended the tournament. Bradpiece raised to 160,000, Nitsche moved all-in and Bradpiece called. It was [Ac] [4c] for Nitsche and [Jc] [Tc] for Bradpiece and as you already know, the ace-high held up for Nitsche and he was crowned the newest WPT Champion.

So congratulations to the consummate live grinder Dominik Nitsche and commiserations to Jerome Bradpiece who came as close as he ever has to winning his first major titles outside of the UK.