Idema improves on last year's runner-up finish, claims WSOP limit championship

One year to the very day that he finished as the runner-up in the $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em World Championship at the 2010 WSOP, Idema returned to Las Vegas and outdid himself. Idema won the very same $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em Championship in 2011.

That’s right. Idema now has two top-two finishes in what is most certainly one of the toughest annual Limit Hold’em tournaments in the world. He also now has a WSOP gold bracelet – his first. Oh, and he also won $378,642 in prize money.

Idema is a 26-year-old professional poker player from Vancouver, B.C. This marked his fifth time to cash at the WSOP and was his third appearance at a final table.

Idema defeated a formidable lineup that included two former gold bracelet winners (Barry Greenstein and Nick Schulman) in addition to six other highly-accomplished, experienced Limit Hold’em aficionados.

Last year, Idema had a 12-to-1 chip lead at one point when playing heads up, but eventually lost to Matt Keikoan.

"I felt very fortunate to get there last year and this year, as well," said Idema. "Last year, I got very unlucky when we got heads-up. Mind you, I ran very well to get heads-up. I would say it is a surreal experience. It really hasn’t all sunk in yet."

Idema’s performance over the past two years in this tournament is as impressive as any since Thang Luu’s the back-to-back victory in the $1,500 buy-in Omaha High-Low Split events of 2008 and 2009.

The runner up was Matthew Gallin, from Setauket, N.Y., on Long Island. He is a 26-year-old poker pro with a B.A. from Tufts University. He claimed a $233,994 consolation prize.

Three-time gold bracelet winner Barry Greenstein finished third for $169,512. This was his 49th time to cash at the WSOP, which places him alone in tenth place on the all-time cashes list.
Steve Landfish, from St. Albans, Vt., finished fourth for $125,120. He finished as runner up in the $10,000 buy-in Seven-Card Stud World Championship earlier in the series.

Dom deNotaristefani, from Mendham, N.J., was fifth, Justin Smith, from Kissimmee, Fla., was sixth, and Isaac Haxton, a poker pro from Las Vegas, was seventh.

Richard Brodie, a Harvard graduate from Kirkland, Wash., who helped create Microsoft Word, finished eighth, and former gold bracelet winner Nick Schulman, from New York, N.Y., was ninth.

The top 18 finishers collected prize money. Among the former gold bracelet winners who cashed in this tournament -- aside from those who made the final table – were Hoyt Corkins (10th), Darren Woods (11th), Matt Hawrelinko (13th), and Carlos Mortensen (15th).

Tournament summary provided by Nolan Dalla, WSOP Media Director, reprinted by permission.