Guillaume Humbert Wins WSOPE Event 1

Tuesday October 11, 2011 : WSOPE FIRST EVENT TAKEN BY UNLIKELY VICTOR
 
First ever WSOP bracelet winner from Switzerland
 
The World Series of Poker tournament's first European event, held in France for the first time, yielded an unlikely victor much to the delight of spectators and fans last night (Sunday).
 
In a result scattered with "first-time ever's", 26-year-old Swiss bartender Guillaume Humbert took home a handsome Euro 215 999 after topping a stacked field of 360 players in the Euro 2500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em tournament held at the Barrière Casino/Majestic Barrière Hotel in Cannes, France.
 
The tournament marked Humbert as the first WSOP champion crowned on French soil and the first ever gold bracelet winner in the WSOP’s history to hail from Switzerland.  Predominantly an online player, this was Humbert's first cash in a WSOP tournament but also his first participation in a live major event of any kind.
 
Maeda Azusa (39) from Tokyo, Japan came in second after entering heads-up play with a sizeable chip lead against Humbert.  Like Humbert, the event was Azusa's first recorded WSOP cash, his first major live poker tournament and places him as Japan's highest finisher in WSOP history.
 
First event payouts on the final table finished up:
 
1.         Guillaume Humbert        Euro 215 999
2.         Azusa Maeda                Euro 133 471
3.         Roy Finlay                     Euro 92 629
4.         Matan Krakow               Euro 65 068
5.         Adrien Allain                  Euro 46 250
6.         Marton Czuczor             Euro 33 255
 
The WSOPE's move to France has seen positive results so far this year with 381 players buying in to day 1A and 390 buying into day 1B, while the 2011 second event is now the biggest tournament hosted by WSOPE with buy-in's from 771 players.