Philipp "Philbort" Gruissem Wins Second Straight WPT Alpha8 Title

Fresh from winning the $100k WPT Alpha8 London last month for $1,379,840, German poker sensation Philipp Gruissem has done it once again, this time at the WPT Alpha8 high roller event in St. Kitts where he overcame a tough field of 23 players to capture the title, as well as the $1,086,400 first place prize. The World Poker Tour Alpha8 high roller series only started this year, and incredibly the 23 year-old has won two out of the three competitions organized so far.
With his latest victory at the Royal Beach Casino, Philipp Gruissem now boasts an impressive $7,976,294 in live tournament earnings, $4,605,401 of which has been won this year alone.
A whole slew of top pros attended the re-buy WPT Alpha8 high roller event in St. Kitts to create a prize pool worth $2,716,000. However, not all of the final eight would get paid, and bowing out short of a cash prize was Fabian Quoss (8th), Isaac Haxton (7th), and Timothy Adams (6th).
Three hands later, Scott Seiver went all-in on a 9-7-4-9-8 board and after Philipp Gruissem showed up with pocket sevens for a full-house, Seiver was sent to the rail in 5th for a $217,280 payday. He was followed by Jason Koon who got it all-in in preflop with A-K only to be called by Mike McDonald with pocket nines, and with the board then rolling out J-J-5-8-2 Koon, too, exited in fourth place for $298,760.
Finally, Tom McDonald (A-7) did likewise to Mike McDonald (2-2) in 3rd ($434,560) to usher in the heads-up phase of the competition against Gruissem. Just 25 hands of heads-up is all it would subsequently take before McDonald (A-6) was all-in preflop and up against the A-5 of Gruissem. The German then hit his 5 to consign McDonald to the rail the runner-up for $679,000, while Gruissem was crowned the 2013 WPT Alpha8 St. Kitts champion.
WPT Alpha8 St. Kitts Payouts:
1 Philipp Gruissem – $1,086,400
2 Tom McDonald – $679,000
3 Mike McDonald – $434,560
4 Jason Koon – $298,760
5 Scott Seiver – $217,280