Andoni Larrabe was just eliminated from the 2014 Main Event. He finished in 6th place, earning a very respectable $1,622,471.
Larrabe hails from Spain. He's the first Spanish player to make the Main Event final table since his countryman Carlos Mortensen won the Main Event championship gold bracelet in 2001.
Larrabe, the youngest player at the final table at age 22, came in ranked fourth in chips with 22,550,000. For the first five hours, he remained relatively stable, unable to build his stack much while other players experienced significant movement. During a phase where the cards didn't seem to come, to jhis credit Larrabe didn't give much away either. He held steady, at around 25 million, or so.
Then, Larrabe lost a big hand against Billy Pappas, who doubled up on what turned out to be a decisive hand. Pappas raised, and Larrabe, who had about twice as many chips as Pappas, three-bet all in with . Unfortunately for Larrabe, Pappas held and called instantly. The pocket kings held up, and Larrabe lost about half his stack.
The final nail came in the proverbial coffin about an hour later. Jorryt van Hoof raised from the button, and Larrabe three-bet all in. Van Hoof called with . Larrabe held . Van Hoof paired his king on the flop, and the board missed Larrabe completely, ending his Main Event run.
Larrabe thanked his supporters afterward and recounted his experience over the last four months as being something he won't ever forget.
"Being here was everything I thought, and more," the Basque born poker player said. "I wanted to do better. I wanted to win. But the cards were not there for me. I had to go with some hands that were out of my range, I had to make some moves but they didn't work for me."
Larrabe's elimination added to Dutchman Jorryt Van Hoof's dominant position at the final table. The chip leader now stands at nearly 90 million, while his closest rival, William Tonking has about half of that amount.
Here are the final table results so far:
1st - - $10,000,000
2nd - - $5,147,911
3rd - - $3,807,753
4th - - $2,849,763
5th - - $2,143,794
6th - Andoni Larrabe - $1,622,471
7th - San Sindelar - $1,236,084
8th - Bruno Politano - $947,172
9th - Mark Newhouse - $730,725