Roland De Wolfe
Roland De Wolfe is an English professional poker player and a former writer for the poker magazine Inside Edge. After winning first prize in an event at the 2004 Gutshot Poker Festival, De Wolfe went on to cash in the $1,000 No Limit event of the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Roland de Wolfe began in the poker industry as a writer for the English magazine Inside Edge. Through writing and covering tournaments around the world, De Wolfe decided it was time to seriously.
Table Of Contents
The World Series Of Poker (WSOP) has created some fantastic stories over the years and one such story involved one of our own, the United Kingdom’s Roland de Wolfe.
De Wolfe headed to the 2009 WSOP with two parts of the coveted Triple Crown in place. He won the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris in July 2005 and followed that up with the European Poker Tour Dublin Main Event title in October 2006.
The 2007 WSOP saw de Wolfe come close to completing his Triple Crown with a sixth-place finish in a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event and an 11th place finish in a £5,250 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha event at the WSOP Europe in London.
Another close call occurred the following year when de Wolfe busted from the $5,000 Limit/No Limit Hold’em event at the 2008 WSOP in fourth. It looked as if de Wolfe would never get his hands on a WSOP bracelet.
He then headed to the 2009 WSOP and made deep runs in a trio of events before the star aligned in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event.
A field of 198 players bought into what was the 27th event on the 2009 WSOP schedule. It was the first-ever $5,000 PLO8 event the WSOP had run so there was much anticipation about who would enter. A star-studded field was expected and poker fans weren’t disappointed.
Such luminaries as Barny Boatman, Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton, Kathy Liebert, and Chris Bjorin all bought in. As did Jason Mercier, Eli Elezra, Chris Ferguson, Jeff Lisandro, and Bruno Fitoussi. The field read like a who’s who of poker.
Final 18 Reach The Money
Only 18 players received a payout and it was Mickey Appleman who was the unfortunate soul to burst the money bubble. Appleman was short stacked and shoved from under the gun with and was looked up by Armando Ruiz in the big blind holding . A board sent Appleman to the rail and the remaining 18 players into the money.
Nine of those in the money players fell by the wayside before Day 2 concluded. Jeff Lisandro and Andy Bloch were among the casualties late into Day 2.
The final table of nine players returned to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino on June 15 and de Wolfe found himself sandwiched between Antony Lellouche and Alex Kravchenko, which was far from ideal. Andrew Black, Robert Campbell, John Racener, and chip leader Scott Clements were among the other finalists.
Lellouche was the final table’s first casualty, crashing out in ninth-place for $29,965. Armando Ruiz joined him on the sidelines soon after before the elimination of a certain John Racener, then a relatively unknown quantity, fell in seventh. Racener would go on to finish second in the Main Event the following year.
Andy Black saw his tournament end in a sixth-place finish and in cruel circumstances. Black and Campbell got their chips into the middle with similar hands. Black held and Campbell the . A chopped pot looked the most likely outcome but the board put paid to those plans.
Clements was still the chip leader and in control of the tournament. He extended his lead when he sent Kravchenko to the showers in fifth place.
De Wolfe made up some ground by helping himself to Campbell’s chips but Clements still had twice as many chips as the Triple Crown chasing Brit.
Heads-Up Set: Bracelet Within de Wolfe's Grasp
The tide turned when de Wolfe won a massive pot from Clements, courtesy of a spade flush on the river. De Wolfe’s looked in serious trouble against Clements’ but the board propelled de Wolfe into the chip lead.
Clements and De Wolfe clashed again shortly after that hand and it resulted in Clements crashing out in third for $101,064.
This gave de Wolfe a huge chip lead over Brett Richey but victory was far from a done deal, especially as de Wolfe admitted he’d hardly played any PLO8 in his career.
The moment de Wolfe and the British poker community had been waiting for finally occurred at just before 3:00 p.m. on June 15, 2009. it was heads-up in a raised pot on a flop and de Wolfe checked. Richey fired a bet of 140,000 and de Wolfe announced he was all-in, essentially betting the pot. Richey came over the top and de Wolfe made the call.
De Wolfe:
Richey: Th]
De Wolfe held two pair against Richey’s top pair and wrap. The turn failed to alter the holdings, and the unnecessarily improved de Wolfe’s hand, busting Richey in second-place for $152,618 and crowning De Wolfe a WSOP champion.
Event #27 - $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roland de Wolfe | United Kingdom | $246,161 |
| 2 | Brett Richey | United States | $152,618 |
| 3 | Scott Clements | United States | $101,063 |
| 4 | Robert Campbell | United States | $72,121 |
| 5 | Alexander Kravchenko | Russia | $53,881 |
| 6 | Andy Black | Ireland | $42,993 |
| 7 | John Racener | United States | $36,200 |
| 8 | Armando Ruiz | United States | $32,105 |
| 9 | Antony Lellouche | France | $29,965 |
Other Triple Crown Winners
This victory saw de Wolfe become only the second player in history, behind Gavin Griffin. There are now eight such winners, Griffin, de Wolfe, Jake Cody, Bertrand Grospellier, Davidi Kitai, Mohsin Charania, Harrison Gimbel, and Niall Farrell.
De Wolfe came close to a second bracelet in 2010 with a fourth-place finish in the £10,350 buy-in WSOP Europe Main Event in London, which was won by fellow Brit James Bord.
The last we saw of de Wolfe in action was in December 2010 when he final tabled the A$6,300 Main Event at the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Sydney festival. He’s since vanished from the poker world, although there are rumours he still plays but in private cash games. Whatever de Wolfe is up to these days, nothing will top the day he became a Triple Crown winner.
| Roland De Wolfe | |
|---|---|
De Wolfe backstage at the 2006 World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris | |
| Born | 30th November 1984 London |
| World Series of Poker | |
| Bracelet(s) | 1 |
| Money finish(es) | 17 |
| Highest ITM Main Event finish | None |
| World Poker Tour | |
| Title(s) | 1 |
| Final table(s) | 2 |
| Money finish(es) | 4 |
| European Poker Tour | |
| Title(s) | 1 |
| Final table(s) | 1 |
| Money finish(es) | 5 |
| Information accurate as of 19 August 2014. | |
Roland De Wolfe is an English professional poker player and a former writer for the poker magazine Inside Edge.
After winning first prize in an event at the 2004 Gutshot Poker Festival, De Wolfe went on to cash in the $1,000 No Limit event of the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP).
In July 2005, De Wolfe won first place in the Major Grand Prix de Paris event of the World Poker Tour (WPT)'s fourth season, defeating former champion Juha Helppi in the final heads-up battle.
In April 2006, De Wolfe finished 3rd out of 605 entries in the WPT $25,000 Championship event at the Bellagio, winning over $1,000,000. In October 2006, De Wolfe won the European Poker Tour (EPT) Dublin event, and the €554,300 first prize. In the process, he became the first person to win an event in the WPT and the EPT. This achievement was superseded in January 2008 when Gavin Griffin won a WPT event to follow up on his WSOP and EPT wins, thus becoming the first person to win titles in all three competitions.
De Wolfe also reached the final table of the 2008 edition of Late Night Poker, finishing in 2nd place.
In June 2009, De Wolfe won his first World Series of Poker bracelet, winning the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better tournament for $246,616 and in doing so became only the second person (after Gavin Griffin) to complete the hat-trick of WSOP, EPT, and WPT titles.
As of 2014, his total live tournament winnings exceed $5,325,000.[1] His 17 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,214,153 of those winnings.[2]
References[edit]
- ^'Roland de Wolfe's profile on The Hendon Mob'. The Hendon Mob Poker Database. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
- ^World Series of Poker Earnings, worldseriesofpoker.com