Serbian pro wins big in Germany after denying Marvin Rettenmaier historic third title
All the headlines coming into the final day of this year’s WPT Baden revolved around ‘Mad’ Marvin Rettenmaier and whether the two-time WPT champion would be able to claim his third title, becoming only the third player in history, alongside Carlos Mortensen and Gus Hansen to achieve this amazing feat. But despite starting the day second in chips, the German ran out of steam early on. The same could not be said about Serbian pro Vladimir Bozinovic, who played some of the best poker of his career on the way to capturing his first major title, along with the $271,258 first prize.
Attracting a field of 254 players to the Casino Baden, the €3,300 Main Event was packed full of talent, and none bigger or better than Germany’s very own poker superstar Marvin Rettenmaier. After putting in a trademark, dominating performance things were looking particularly good for the two-time WPT winner at the start of the final table but this didn’t last for long. After losing a few early pots, he saw his stack quickly dwindle and before long the German was in shove or fold mode. Unluckily for him, his K-Q ran into Kimmo Kurko’s A-Q, and the German came of second best ending his title and record hopes, but we have no doubt he’ll be back very soon.
After that, Serbian Vladimir Bozinovic and Dutchman Paul Berende took over, establishing their dominance at the final table. First to go was Kimmo Kurko, who was followed shortly by Oswin Ziegelbecker after his A-10 lost to Bozinovic’s A-K in an all-in confrontation.
With the final two set, it was time for the heads-up battle that seemed most for the majority of the day. With hardly any difference between the players’ stacks, it was Berende who started the stronger winning the first few small pots, but it appeared luck was not on the Dutchman’s side on this particular day. Only a few hands in, all the chips would end up in the middle of the table after Berende was dealt A-Q and Bozinovic Q-J. But a flop of T-9-2 gave the Serbian an open-ended straight draw and an 8 on the river meant that Berende had gone from one card away from victory, to virtual elimination.
Only a few hands later the pair would get it all-in again, this time Bozinovic was ahead with A-9, compared to Berende’s A-8. The board came Q-10-2-5-A giving both players top pair, but Bozinovic had the stronger kicker and scooped the final pot and with it became this year’s champion.
Here is how the final table finished up:
1. Vladimir Bozinovic – $271,258
2. Paul Berende – $172,695
3. Oswin Ziegelbecker – $111,587
4. Kimmo Kurko – $81,034
5. Marvin Rettenmaier – $59,496
6. Grzegorz Wyraz – $47,820
