WPT Vienna: Gaëlle Baumann Among the Final Six

First it was Esther Taylor-Brady. Then it was Kelly Minkin. And now it’s French pro Gaëlle Baumann, who’s got a shot at becoming the very first woman to win an open WPT Main Event title on the Main Tour. At PokerWomenNews we have predicted that 2015 will be the year, where a woman will be crowned WPT-champion – and maybe Baumann is the one to meet our expectations?

Baumann burst into the mainstream poker scene, when she fell on the WSOP Main Event final table bubble in 10th place back in 2012 for a $590,442 payday. Not since Barbara Enright final tabled the Main Event in 1995 and Annie Duke finished in 10th place in 2000 had a woman come this far in the Main Event. And the villain that send Baumann home packing was no other than Andras Koroknai with whom Baumann was involved in a very controversial hand – that still to this day must be one of the most bizarre hands in Main Event history (check it out on YouTube if you didn’t watch it).

But that’s all history. Now it’s final table time in Vienna.

Baumann will be going into the final table as the short stack with 382,000 (16 bb) and facing some strong opponents. Chip leader is the relative unknown Austrian player Vladimir Krastev, who looks like someone that just stepped out of an Andrei Tarkovsky movie. The second largest stack belongs to Konstantionos Nanos from Greece, who final tabled the EPT Vienna in 2010. Hot on his heels is 2014 EPT Deauville champion Sotirios Koutoupas, while WPT Cyrus winner Thomas Bichon and Eureka Vienna Main Event runner-up Andreas Freund both are a little under chip average.

Unfortunately Baumann is not joined at the final table by Austrian player Jitka Seidler. She was eliminated in 10th place for €10,650, when she shoved for 290,000 with QJ and was called by Konstantinos Nanos, who had picked up jacks, and she failed to improve.

One of the strongest players in the field, online superstar Fedor Holz, who had dominated the tournament from day 1, fell in 11th place – and will surely not be missed by the remaining players.

The chip counts and seat assignments at the final table are:

Seat 1: Vladimir Krastev, 2,379,000 (99 bb)
Seat 2: Thomas Bichon, 593,000 (25 bb)
Seat 3: Konstantinos Nanos, 1,386,000 (58 bb)
Seat 4: Andreas Freund, 521,000 (22 bb)
Seat 5: Sotirios Koutoupas, 1,327,000 (55)
Seat 6: Gaëlle Baumann, 382,000 (18 bb)

The players are all guaranteed €29,500 by now, but there’s €150,00 up top for the champion. PokerWomenNews wish Gaëlle Baumann the best of luck and run good today.