Mike Cordell from Little Rock, Arkansas has become the latest 2016 WSOP gold bracelet winner after defeating 2015 November Niner Pierre Neuville heads-up. The player won Event #10: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed for his first WSOP gold piece and the amount of $346,088 in prize money, his biggest WSOP cash so far.
Last week, Cordell experienced a devastating personal loss as his mother passed away. The player dedicated his achievement to her, saying that she would have been extremely proud of him. And when asked about his triumph, the winner said that it has been a long-time dream of his to win a WSOP gold bracelet.
Cordell is also the holder of one WSOP Circuit gold ring. In 2008, the player won the WSOP Circuit Caesars Indiana $550 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event to collect the gold piece and $21,274. Including his most recent victory, he now has WSOP-related earnings of a little less than $400,000.
Cordell defeated a massive field of 1,477 entries. The $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed kicked off on June 8 and needed three days for a winner to be determined. And the eventual champion was among the key figures throughout the whole tournament.
Overall, the event’s entries generated a prize pool of close to $2 million. The money was distributed to the top 222 finishers, with lowest payouts totaling $2,250. The bubble burst on Day 2 of the event.
As for its final day, it started with just 21 survivors returning to fight for the first-place prize and the gold bracelet, of course. Javier Garcirreynaldos was the chip leader at that point of play and Cordell was among the players to have passed the million mark in chips. German poker wunderkind Fedor Holz and former November Niner Pierre Neuville were also among those still in contention.
And as mentioned above, the Belgian player, who finished 7th in the 2015 WSOP $10,000 Main Event, was Cordell’s heads-up opponent. However, two-handed play lasted only 13 hands. Hand #133 was the last one for the day. It saw Neuville shove all in with [4c][4d]. Cordell called instantly with [Kd][Qc]. The board ran out [Ks][6s][6c][7d][Kh], giving Cordell a full house and securing Neuville with the runner-up finish and a nice payout of $213,837.
Robert Hankins from Murfreesboro, Tennessee finished 3rd to collect $148,885. German Lutz Klinkhammer took 4th place, scooping $105,063. Javier Garcirreynaldos from Spain received $75,154 for taking 5th place in the tournament. Timothy Cha from Los Angeles, California rounded out the six-handed final table for a payout of $54,507.
