German poker pro Philipp Gruissem took down his third high roller tournament of 2013 after shipping the $100,000 WPT event in Saint Kitts on Sunday. The victory netted Gruissem $1,086,400 and made him only the second player in history to win back-to-back WPT events, the only other player having done so is fellow German poker pro Marvin Rettanmair. Less than a month ago, Gruissem took down the prior WPT $100,000 Alpha 8 High Roller in London at the Palm Beach Casino in London.
Gruissem has been crushing tournaments all over the world this year, racking up over $4.6 million in tournament earnings this year alone. With a knack for high buy-in events and apparently an incredibly thorough understanding of how to navigate these smaller but extremely talented fields, Gruissem has earned 3 first place finishes, a second, two thirds and a fifth in just in high rollers. This is his second million dollar score in less than a month and he is quickly becoming a household name in the poker community.
Having catapulted himself to second place on Germany’s all time money list, Gruissem now has just under $8 million in career earnings, with over half of that coming in 2013. His performance this year is somewhat reminiscint of Eric Seidels insane run throughout 2011 where he seemed to be winning every high roller event he entered. At this rate, Gruissem will soon pass Pius Heinz on the Germany’s all time money list and continue to add to his resume.
The World Poker Tour added a new stop to their schedule this year thanks very much in part to venture capitalist and amateur poker player Bill Perkins. Perkins got a little bit of publicity in the poker world with his appearance on season 7 of High Stakes Poker, he also played multiple sessions on PokerStars Big Game. Perkins is a regular in the high stakes community and very well liked by all. While waiting for the high roller to conclude, Perkins spiradically organized a quick $20,000 charity tournament for the recent Typhoon Haiyan victims, generating $63,000 for the cause within a couple hours. We need more people like Bill Perkins in the world, no doubt about that.
The high roller event only attracted 28 players, but as expected the field was filled with many of pokers most elite players. Philip Gruissem found himself the short stack during three handed play and looked like he was on his way out but came roaring back and ultimately took the title. We mentioned while covering the final table that we wouldn’t be surprised in the least if Gruissem came back and took down the tournament. He has proven an extremely patient and calculated player who we will be seing plenty more of for years to come.
All in all, Philip Gruissem is one of the best players in the game and that’s saying something given the fact that Poker tournaments are getting tougher with each passing year and The World Poker Tour has issued strict guidelines for all players to raise the bar from a normal Judi Online practice match to a big time venture where everything is up for grabs.