Roger Hairabedian Wins France's Second 2013 WSOPE Bracelet

France has earned its second bracelet of the 2013 World Series of Poker Europe, after Roger Hairabedian took down Event #5: €2,200 No-Limit Hold’em, earning €148,820 ($201,154) along the way.
Following his remarkable victory at the Casino Barrière de Enghien, near Paris, the Frenchman who now boasts $4,432,754 in live winnings, exclaimed: “It is a very good thing for me and all French players. In a poker player’s life, it is the most prestigious thing to win a bracelet. Many people criticise my play, but now I have proved that my play is good. It is play for winning and I’ve proved that with my second bracelet.”
The €2,200 buy-in event attracted 337 entries to create a prize pool worth €647,040. Amongst the notable names then cashing in at the tournament was such pros as James Dempsey in 35th (€3,345), Phil Hellmuth Jr in 29th (€4,206), Lee Markholt in 25th (€4,801), and Jonathan Duhamel in 16th (€7,719).
After the final table of seven was reached on Day 3, Erik Seidel (A-5) then eliminated Max Greenwood (K-9) in 7th (€22,258), before being dealt pocket sevens and doing likewise to Mike Watson (A-K) in 6th (€28,683).
Roger Hairabedian (Q-Q) subsequently dispatched Erwann Pecheux (J-J) to the rail in 5th (€37,502), followed by Matan Krakow in 4th (€49,784), after which Erik Seidel’s pocket queens was enough to see off Kevin Song (6-6) in 3rd (€67,118), thus setting up the heads-up phase of the competition.
As the heads-up battle commenced, Seidel held a two-to-one chip advantage over his French opponent but Hairabedian evened things up promptly before the title was decided on the 70th hand of the heads-up match. In the hand in question, both Seidel (8-8) and Hairabedian (K-K) were both in pre-flop, and after the board rolled out 6-5-9-J-2, Roger Hairabedian was crowned the champion.
Heaping praise on his formidable US opponent, Hairabedian then commented:”I want to make like Erik and win eight bracelets.”
Final Table Payouts:
1 Roger Hairabedian    €148,820
2 Erik Seidel         €92,003
3 Kevin Song         €67,118
4 Matan Krakow         €49,784
5 Erwann Pecheux    €37,502
6 Mike Watson        €28,683
7 Max Greenwood        €22,258