German youngster bags $1.1m after rollercoaster final table
2011 WSOP Main Event champ Pius Heinz won’t be the only German world beater prowling this year’s World Series, after fellow countryman and much-loved pro Martin Rettenmaier survived the most dramatic WPT in memory to win a staggering $1,196,858 in the $25k World Championship.
The latest addition to Team PartyPoker, Rettenmaier put on a masterclass in Vegas last weekend. Yet despite riding high in the chip counts every day against a stacked 152-runner field, the 25-year-old almost lost his grip on a first ever major title in one of the swingiest heads-up battles of all time.
Coming into the final table cradling the big stack, Rettenmaier saw off the challenges of past WPT winner Nick Schulman and two-time WPT champ Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi before Frenchman Phillipe Ktorza almost stole the German’s thunder.
As heads-up began, Rettenmaier held 8.55m in chips to Ktorza’s 6.6m, but after a few damaging levels, Rettenmaier looked all but finished. The swings had only just begun, though, and after a huge double up left Ktorza crippled, Rettenmaier began celebrating what he thought was a sure victory. Guess again.
Three consecutive double ups later and Ktorza had miraculously spun a 14-1 chip deficit into a narrow lead, and with the rail birds flagging, onlookers wondered how such an epic battle could ever finish. Luckily for them, but unluckily for Ktorza, a classic cooler was right around the corner. And in the final hand, Ktorza finally bust when his Jacks couldn’t outdraw Rettenmaier’s Kings after both had got their stacks in preflop.
‘This was simply amazing,’ said Rettenmaier after catching his breath. ‘The heads-up was such a rollercoaster and it feels so great to win such a big, prestigious title in my first week as a newly sponsored PartyPoker pro.’
Here’s how the $25k WPT World Championship finished up:
1. Marvin Rettenmaier $1,196,858
2. Philippe Ktorza $805,310
3. Michael Mizrachi $424,618
4. Nick Schulman $256,235
5. Steve O’Dwyer $192,176
6. Trevor Pope $155,571
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