Michael Keiner wins 888 Poker Open V title - 10/11/2008

German pro Michael Keiner scooped $250,000 and the 888 Poker Open V trophy after winning a heads-up battle with Craig Young - who qualified online for one cent.

Willey Wins PartyPoker.net Tour Championship

WSOP bracelet winner Keiner was chip leader going into the final and edged a fantastic heads-up contest where Young was one card away from winning the tournament. Keiner moved all-in with two tens and chip leader Young called with AhKh - the flop came 10hJh8s and the turn was the 3h to give Young the flush, but the Jack of diamonds on the river gave Keiner the full-house.

With that hand the German seized both a big chip lead and with it the initiative and finished the job soon after when Craig pushed all-in with 9d8c and Michael called with 7c4s. Michael moved ahead with a four on the flop and the turn and river couldn't help Young out and Keiner took the trophy.

"It feels unbelievable to win this - it's a beautiful and exciting moment, I really wanted to win this tournament," said Keiner.

"You have to win your coin flip if you want to win the tournament and luckily I won mine. He played really tough and I didn't have a good read on him - he's a good player and has a good future. "

Craig scoops $100,000 for his runners-up finish and was understandably gutted when the Jack came on the river to deny him the trophy, but overall the salesman from Buckinghamshire was delighted with his performance.

"It was a real rollercoaster ride but probably the best player won," said the 35 year-old. "I would've been happy with fourth place when I was the short stack. I always thought I could hold my own and I proved that."

Online qualifier Mike Partridge was the first player out of the final when James Akenhead bet 26k with AdKc and with 130k left Partridge moved all-in with As9d and the King played - Partridge walking out with $20,000.

The Marbella Kid Paul Zimbler was all action in both his heat and semi-final but he had to settle for $25,000 when he moved all-in with the black Kings and Keiner called with AJ and the German hit the case Ace on the river.

Akenhead picked up $520,000 for his second place finish in the WSOP $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event in May but he was unable to go one better here, pocketing $40,000 for finishing fourth. Richard Wheatley held two sixes and flopped trips on the 76J board and instacalled when Akenhead moved all-in with A8 of diamonds giving him the nut flush draw - the sixes held.

Wheatley was unable to capitalise though and finished in third place with $60,000, knocked out by Young. Wheatley limped with K2 and Young called with Q7, the flop came JQ10 - Young reraised all-in after Wheatley bet and he called in a flash, with a Queen on the turn and five on the river seeing Young go heads-up.

Young had to overcome Mike Ellis and Craig Burgess in his heat and ‘Mr Cool' Marc Goodwin in his semi-final to take a shot at turning his one cent into $250,000, while Keiner beat the Gentleman Liam Flood heads-up in his heat, which also included Roy ‘the boy' Brindley and Roberto Romanello.

There were plenty of big names that failed to make it through to the final table in a fiercely competitive tournament. Australian Tony G won an entertaining heads-up battle with cricket legend and fellow countryman Shane Warne in a heat that included Hendon Mobster Barny Boatman and sports promoter Barry Hearn - with the men from Down Under coming out on top in that Ashes clash.

Defending champion Andrew Feldman was the first player to fall in the second semi-final, where UK Open II winner Ian Frazer finished in fourth spot ahead of Josh Tyler and Andy Ward. Juha Helppi lost a heads-up battle in the third turbo heat against Australian internet qualifier Larry Papadinis after finishing second to Partridge in their heat with Padraig Parkinson and Teddy Sheringham.

Neil Channing, Roland De Wolfe, Surinder Sunar, John Tabatabai, Nik Persaud, Dale Hoy, Sammy ‘any two' George, Ben Roberts and Andy Greekfish also played in the tournament, which will be televised on Sky Sports in January.

1 Michael Keiner $200,000
2 Craig Young $100,000
3 Richard Wheatley $60,000
4 James Akenhead $40,000
5 Paul Zimbler $25,000
6 Mike Partridge $20,000

RESULTS:

Celebrity Heat, 27 October (winner into Heat One):
1 WILLIE THORNE, 2 Rod Harrington, 3 Rob Key, 4 Caroline Feraday, 5 Michelle Orpe, 6 Brandon Block

Heat One, 27 October (runners-up into the first Turbo Heat):
1 CRAIG YOUNG, 2 Willie Thorne, 3 Mike Ellis, 4 Craig Burgess, 5 Mohammed Al Aboud, 6 Thomas Bell

Heat Two, 28 October:
1 MARC GOODWIN, 2 Mushtaq Ahmed, 3 Gordon Williamson, 4 Dave Cook, 5 Mick McCool, 6 Kieran O'Neill

Heat Three, 28 October:
1 GEZ BAILEY, 2 Dennis Taylor, 3 Ville Hiltunen, 4 Neil Channing, 5 Nathan Lee, 6 Daniel Rudd

Heat Four, 29 October:
1 RODOLFO PLOEGER, 2 Richard Berridge, 3 Karl Mahrenholz, 4 Anu Sareen, 5 Rob Cooper, 6 Didier Dekens

Heat Five, 29 October:
1 JAMES AKENHEAD, 2 Paul Grummitt, 3 Wilhelm Breuer, 4 Luke Abolins, 5 Dimitri Mascarenhas, 6 Ciaran O'Leary

Heat Six, 30 October:
1 MIGUEL GUIJARRO, 2 Steve Holden, 3 Stuart Nutter, 4 Elmar Dirnberger, 5 Thomas Brdaric, 6 Roland De Wolfe

Turbo One, 30 October (winner into the first semi-final):
1 RICHARD BERRIDGE, 2 Steve Holden, 3 Willie Thorne, 4 Paul Grummitt, 5 Mushtaq Ahmed, 6 Dennis Taylor

Heat Seven, 30 October:
1 IAN FRAZER, 2 Mick Ryan, 3 Pedro Marques, 4 Allesandro Pastura, 5 Eddie Hearn, 6 Jan-Peter Jachtmann

Heat Eight, 31 October:
1 RICHARD WHEATLEY, 2 Ray Parlour, 3 Francesco Zandegiacomo, 4 Mark Lee, 5 John Tabatabai, 6 Nik Persaud

Heat Nine, 31 October:
1 ANDY WARD, 2 Josh Tyler, 3 Surinder Sunar, 4 Alex Seckelmann, 5 Henrick Lundstrom, 6 Dave Johnson

Heat Ten, 1 November:
1 PAUL ZIMBLER, 2 Kimmo Louhelainen, 3 Dale Hoy, 4 Andy Greekfish, 5 John Askey, 6 John Magill

Heat Eleven, 1 November:
1 JAMES DEMPSEY, 2 Richard Ashby, 3 Matt Wilson, 4 Guillermo Silvestris, 5 Sammy "any two" George, 6 Ricardo Bozicevich

Heat Twelve, 2 November:
1 ANDREW FELDMAN, 2 Simon Zach, 3 Guillermo Castagnino, 4 Trevor Reardon, 5 Nelson Chain, 6 Tony Bloom

Turbo Two, 2 November (winner into second semi-final):
1 JOSH TYLER, 2 Richard Ashby, 3 Ray Parlour, 4 Mick Ryan, 5 Kimmo Louhelainen, 6 Simon Zach

Heat Thirteen, 2 November:
1 MAX WINBERG, 2 Jakob Terkelson, 3 Jose Vaughan, 4 Israel Yadao, 5 Christoph Haller, 6 Ben Roberts

Heat Fourteen, 3 November:
1 TONY G, 2 Shane Warne, 3 Barny Boatman, 4 Riccardo Battistini, 5 Remko van der Plas, 6 Barry Hearn

Heat Fifteen, 3 November:
1 BART WETSTEIJN, 2 Larry Papadinis, 3 Peter Eeles, 4 Andy Black, 5 Marty Smyth, 6 Jeff Fenech

Heat Sixteen, 4 November:
1 ACHILLEAS KALLAKIS, 2 Markus Golser, 3 Leo Thompson, 4 Donnacha O'Dea, 5 Luke Patten, 6 John Kalmar

Heat Seventeen, 4 November:
1 MICHAEL KEINER, 2 Liam Flood, 3 Gary Medwell, 4 David Saab, 5 Roy Brindley, 6 Roberto Romanello

Heat Eighteen, 5 November:
1 MIKE PARTRIDGE, 2 Juha Helppi, 3 Padraig Parkinson, 4 Dixie Dean, 5 Teddy Sheringham, 6 Jack Hinchey

Turbo Three, 5 November (winner into third semi-final):
1 LARRY PAPADINIS, 2 Juha Helppi, 3 Markus Golser, 4 Jakob Terkelson, 5 Shane Warne, 6 Liam Flood

First semi-final, 5 November:
1 CRAIG YOUNG 411,000, 2 JAMES AKENHEAD 289,000, 3 Marc Goodwin, 4 Richard Berridge, 5 Miguel Guijarro, 6 Rodolfo Ploeger, 7 Gez Bailey

Second semi-final, 6 November:
1 PAUL ZIMBLER 418,000, 2 RICHARD WHEATLEY 282,000, 3 James Dempsey, 4 Ian Frazer, 5 Josh Tyler, 6 Andy Ward, 7 Andrew Feldman

Third semi-final, 6 November:
1 MICHAEL KEINER 518,000, 2 MIKE PARTRIDGE 182,000, 3 Larry Papadinis, 4 Max Winberg, 5 Achilleas Kallakis, 6 Tony G, 7 Bart Wetsteijn

FINAL, 7 November
1 Michael Keiner, 2 Craig Young, 3 Richard Wheatley, 4 James Akenhead, 5 Paul Zimbler, 6 Mike Partridge