Thijs Menco Takes Down WPTDeepstacks Amsterdam Main Event

The WPTDeepStacks Amersterdam €1,500 Main Event drew 243 entrants to the event following two Day flights. The third of four events for the Championship MonteDam swing, the final table saw the shortest stack Thijs Menco ride a wave to the title and $80,653.

Once play began the first elimination took a little over an hour; Alberto Stegeman three-bet pocket sevens all in preflop, Richard Milne called with ace king suited and hit a king on the flop to end Stegeman’s day.

A few hands later Ami Barer moved his short stack all in preflop holding pocket tens and Kees Aerts called with pocket kings. The board ran all rags, Barer didn’t improve and joined Stegeman in line at the cashier’s cage.

An hour passed before Fredrick Andersson moved all in after a flop Ah Jc 3h. Thijis Menco called with a Broadway draw, a king on the river gave him the pot and Andersson was out in seventh place.

Just like before, a few hands passed before there was another elimination. Milne went to a raised flop with Dennis Bijen and Tobias Peters, moved all in when caught second pair but Peters paired his ace and eliminated Milne.

Twenty minutes ticked off the clock when Aerts and Pim van Wassenberg went to a queen-high flop. They got their stacks in, Aerts had kicker troubles with Qs 8s against van Wassenberg’s Qd Td and the board ran finished with rags. Aerts was out in fifth place.
Four-handed play lasted for a level before Tobias Peters moved all in six out of 12 hands for a stretch with a shorter stack. Menco called, waking up with pocket jacks, Peters held jack ten suited but didn’t improve over Menco’s jacks and was eliminated.

On the next hand Menco limped on the small blind, Bijen moved all in with Jc 5s and Menco called with pocket kings. The board ran around Bijen’s hand and he fell in third place.

Menco and van Wassenberg agreed to an early dinner break with Menco holding 4.8 million and van Wassenberg 2.4 million. Stacks pulled to even after van Wassenberg took sizable pot but a pot where they were both holding rags turned the tide of the final table.

Menco held 4h 3h, van Wassenberg 7c 2h and they saw a flop of 7h 5h 2h – giving van Wassenberg two pair and Menco a ton of draws. All the chips went in, the board finished Td Th – filling Meno’s flush and giving him a big chip advantage.

The final hand came 15 minutes later on a flop of As 3d 2c, both players checked and the turn was 7s. Menco bet, van Wassenberg call and the river came Ts. Menco moved all in, van Wassenberg called with Td 7d for a rivered two pair but Menco made a flush holding 6s 4s and ended the tournament.

Klatt entered, but was eliminated as the leader of the MonteDam Swing after winning the PokerStars National Championship Monte Carlo and finished runner-up in the Main Event.

Finishing in the money but outside the final table were Loni Harwood (26th), Juha Helppi (16th), Linda van de Ree (12th) and Josep Galindo-Lopez bubbled the final table in 10th place.

While the final table was playing down, Day 1A of WPT Amsterdam was kicking off for the first of two starting flights.

Final Table Payouts

1. Thijs Menco – $80,653
2. Pim van Wassenberg – $56,634
3. Dennis Bijen – $35,646
4. Tobais Peters – $21,681
5. Kees Aerts – $16,784
6. Richard Milne – $13,877
7. Fred Andersson – $11,825
8. Ami Barer – $10,087
9. Alberto Stegeman – $8,063