WSOP

WSOP

Event #53 of the WSOP schedule, held in No Limit Hold’em format, saw 2,816 entrants pay $1,500 each, creating prize pool of close to $4 million. Taking the largest chunk of this prize pool home was winner Brett Shaffer, of Kansas, who walked away with $665,397 and his first WSOP bracelet.

Day 3 started Monday with 25 players left, who played down to a final table of 9 after only about 4 hours. The players at the final table were:

Seat 1 – Matias Ruzzi
Seat 2 – David Vamplew
Seat 3 – Diego Zeiter
Seat 4 – Mike Watson
Seat 5 – Arttu Raekorpi
Seat 6 – Jonathan Cohen
Seat 7 – Loni Harwood
Seat 8 – Darren Rabinowitz
Seat 9 – Brett Shaffer

Brett Shaffer, winner of WSOP Event #53

Brett Shaffer, winner of WSOP Event #53

Mattias Ruzzi was quickly eliminated when his QT ran into the KQ of Jonathan Cohen, going out in 9th place. Shortly thereafter, Darren Rabinowitz got into a preflop flip with Brett Shaffer, with Rabinowitz’ AK failing to improve against Shaffer’s 88. Rabinowitz was eliminated in 8th place.

The next player knocked out also was flipping with
AK against a pair. This time, it was Jonathan Cohen facing the TT of Mike Watson. The pocket pair help up, and Cohen was sent packing in 7th place. Watson did the honors again, knocking out Diego Zeiter when Zeiter ran his KT into Watson’s A9. The board paired both of Watson’s hole cards, and the T on the river was not enough help to save Diego Zeiter. He left the tournament in 6th place.

There followed a lull in eliminations, lasting about an hour and a half until the table broke for dinner. After the break, there was again about an hour and a half of play until someone was knocked out. The short stacks were able to double up time and time again, staving off their fate. Finally, a player was eliminated. Mike Watson shoved, and he was looked up by Arttu Raekorpi. Watson had the 98 and Raekorpi the K6. The flop was T74, so Watson had an open-ended straight draw. The 8 turn gave him a pair of eights to put him in the lead, but the 5s river filled a gutshot for Raekorpi. Mike Watson was sent packing in 5th place with $153,850.

Play would continue past midnight before Loni Harwood was eliminated. She got it in preflop with A8 against David Vamplew’s AQ, and the board was no help to her. Harwood left the table in 4th place with $210,456.

Three-handed play began with David Vamplew and Artuu Raekorpi neck-and-neck for the chip lead with around 5 million chips apiece. Brett Shaffer trailed behind with around half that number. They played for an hour and a half, but then it was decided to call it a day and return to play again Tuesday.

At the beginning of the fourth day of play, the stacks looked like this:

1. David Vamplew – 5,345,000
2. Brett Shaffer – 5,285,000
3. Arttu Raekorpi – 2,055,000

Raekorpi quickly ran his QJ into the dominating KQ of Shaffer, and got no help from the board. The Finn was sent home in 3rd place, with $291,392 in winnings.

That left Scot David Vamplew to play against the American Brett Shaffer heads-up. The two were about evenly matched in chips, with Shaffer holding a slight edge. Shaffer was able to win a few pots where Vamplew folded postflop, and he increased his lead.

Then, the final hand played out. Vamplew opened and Shaffer moved all-in. Vamplew called, and both players revealed their hole cards:

Vamplew: QQ
Shaffer: A9

David Vamplew was a healthy 72% in the pot at that point, but the numbers were changed significantly when the flop arrived: A39. Shaffer was now in the lead with top two pair, and now Vamplew needed to catch a queen to stay alive. The turn was the 7 and the river came the T, so David Vamplew was eliminated in 2nd place, good for $413,157.

Brett Shaffer outlasted a large field and a grueling 4 days of play to emerge victorious. He took home the 1st place prize of $665,397, along with his first career gold bracelet. The complete final table payouts were:

1. Brett Shaffer – $665,397
2. David Vamplew – $413,157
3. Arttu Raekorpi – $291,392
4. Loni Harwood – $210,456
5. Mike Watson – $153,850
6. Diego Zeiter – $113,819
7. Jonathan Cohen – $85,193
8. Darren Rabinowitz – $64,513
9. Matias Ruzzi – $49,420