Danny Le, a part-time poker player and businessman residing in Westminster, California, has just fulfilled a long-standing dream of his – to win a WSOP gold bracelet. The player was the last man standing in the $1,500 Limit Hold’em event and received the coveted gold piece and the first-place prize of $188,815 for his feat.
The $1,500 Limit Hold’em was the 22nd gold bracelet tournament on this year’s WSOP official schedule. The event drew 665 entries or slightly more than last year, when it attracted a total of 660 entries. Played over the span of three days, the $1,500 Limit Hold’em saw the top 100 finishers receive a share of the $897,750 prize pool.
Le emerged victorious after dominating Day 3 of the event. He was leading the 15 survivors at the time cards were thrown in the air on Thursday, holding two times more chips than his closest rival – former gold bracelet winner Tyler Bonkowski. And as mentioned above, Le maintained his chip advantage for the greater part of the day.
The tournament was concluded with the Vietnam-born player, now residing in California, defeating heads-up opponent Scott Farnsworth from Snoqualmie, Washington with three deuces against the latter’s top pair of jacks. Farnsworth took the amount of $116,663 for his second-place finish.
Interestingly enough, the event’s runner-up said that he had entered it by mistake, thinking that he was actually registering for a No-Limit Hold’em tournament. He even had to read how Limit Hold’em was played during Day 1.
Canadian Tyler Bonkowski, the only former gold bracelet winner at the official nine-handed final table, took 3rd place for $80,706. Dave Tobin from Roswell, New Mexico collected $56,740 for taking 4th place in the tournament. Dale Eberle from Tega Kay, South Carolina finished 5th, good for $40,550.
Dustin Bush from Valencia, California scooped $29,466 of the entire prize pool for taking 6th place. Andrew Beversdorf from Madison, Wisconsin was the player to take 7th place. His share of the money totaled $21,778. Daniel Huseman from Alameda, California pocketed $16,376 for finishing 8th. Rounding out the official final table, Esmeralda Villafuerte from Elmhurst, New York cashed in the WSOP for the very first time, taking home $12,532 for her 9th place.
