People weren’t messing around in the 23rd event of the WSOP as, out of the 1,344 who paid the $2,000 buy-in, only 134 of them would be coming back to play for the available $2,446,000.
It was no surprise to see big name players in this event either like T.J. Cloutier, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Clonie Gowen, and John Juanda.
It was, however, a surprise not to see any of them coming back for the second day of action. Some players that did make it to day 2, and made it in a big way, are as follows:
Rank/Player/Chips
1. Dustin Dirksen 170,200
2. Andrew Jeffreys 164,500
3. Glen Bean 118,400
4. David Chicotsky 104,000
5. Matthew Ehrlich 103,400
6. Nick Niergarth 89,900
7. Patrick Stemper 86,200
8. Russell Carson 84,900
9. Barry Greenstein 82,100
10. Yves Grenon 78,900
134 people began the day trying to win entry into the top 99 where the money was. Unfortunately for 35 players though, this task would prove too much on this day.
Phil Hellmuth was one player who was eliminated before the money. Tim Phan went out before cashing too and Senovio Ramirez was the unlucky 100th player out.
There were no worries for players like Blair Hinkle and Andrew Jeffreys though as the two topped the leaderboard heading into the final table. Here’s the nine who made it past day 2 and to the last table:
Seat/Player/Chips
Seat 1: Andrew Jeffreys 1,051,000
Seat 2: Blair Hinkle 1,030,000
Seat 3: Dominik Kulicki 241,000
Seat 4: Daniel O’Brien 456,000
Seat 5: Mark Brockington 552,000
Seat 6: Chris Bjorin 247,000
Seat 7: Dustin Dirksen 867,000
Seat 8: David Steicke 611,000
Seat 9: Stephane Tayar 323,000
Stephane Tayar would be the first person to say goodbye as he paired nothing against David Steicke’s pocket queens. Two great hands were turned over in the next elimination as Steicke held pocket rockets against the pocket kings of Andrew Jeffreys. Steicke hit a set and the better hand won out.
Another aces set was seen in the elimination of Dominik Kulicki as it was Blair Hinkle hitting it to send the Dutchman out on the town early. Right after this, Hinkle put Chris Bjorin out in 6th place.
Hinkle wasn’t finished though as he paired eights against Dustin Dirksen’s nothing to eliminate him. A theme began developing here as Blair also took out Steicke with a two pair.
Down to three handed play, Blair’s luck continued on when he hit a set of 6’s against Dan O’Brien to bring the tournament to two-handed play against Mark Brockington.
Hinkle again utilized the pocket 6’s against Brockington and this eliminated Mark making Hinkle the winner. Blair actually made history with his win as he and his brother Grant became the only brothers to win a gold bracelet at the same WSOP. They are also only the second brother combo ever to hold a WSOP bracelet.
Here’s the results at the top:
Rank/Player/Money
1. Blair Hinkle $507,563
2. Mark Brockington $326,552
3. Daniel O’Brien $198,132
4. David Paul Steicke $166,333
5. Dustin Dirksen $135,757
6. Chris Bjorin $106,404
7. Dominick Kulicki $81,944
8. Andrew Jeffreys $63,598
9. Stephane Tayar $45,252
10. Alessandro Dalbello $29,108
11. Nick Niergarth $29,108
12. Rick Lenoble $29,108
13. Yue Huang $22,993
14. Matthew LaGarde $22,993
15. Mike Ellis $22,993
16. Dean Schneider $16,877
17. Corwin Cole $16,877
18. Scott Preston $16,877
19. Matthew Ehrlich $13,208
20. Conor Tate $13,208
21. Ricky Tang $13,208
22. Graham Wheldon $13,208
23. Dylan Bircheff $13,208
24. Chris Dombrowski $13,208
25. Ken Justin $13,208