Max Silver has come close to winning a WSOP gold bracelet on multiple occasions over the years. Last night, the London-born player eventually fulfilled a dream of his. He bested a field of poker experts and poker-savvy enthusiasts in the $3,000 Limit Hold’em 6-Max to claim the title.
Silver is a WSOP regular with 24 previous cashes in the Series and with several deep runs into major tournaments. For instance, he finished 33rd in the 2016 WSOP Main Event for a $216,211 payday. However, this was not his largest cash in the Series. In 2014, the Englishman took third place in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed Championship for $273,646 in prize money. Last night’s victory brought the player’s overall WSOP winnings to over $1.3 million.
The $3,000 Limit Hold’em 6-Max attracted 256 entries and there were only seven of them to have survived to the event’s final day. Day 3 action kicked off with Silver holding a commanding chip lead and stretching it even further by eliminating the first player for the day and thus setting the official final table of six.
Despite facing tough competition, Silver dominated action for the greater part of that final stage of play. By the time the final table was whittled down to just three players, the eventual winner had already accumulated half of all chips in play.
Heads-up match began with him holding three times more chips than his last opponent – California-based player Guowei Zhang. The two opponents battled it out for 29 hands before Zhang went all in in what turned out to be the final hand in play and busting with [8h][3h] against Silver’s [Ks][10d] on a [5c][8c][Jh][4c][Kc] board. Zhang left with a $106,694 payout.
Talking about his victory, Silver said that he was really happy to finally win a gold bracelet after coming very close to the deed on previous occasions. The player further dwelt that being the chip leader over the course of final table was certainly helpful but not as much as many would expect. According to Silver, “playing the cards each hand” was what really mattered.
The Englishman will be taking a five-day break from the Series to fly to New York to see his wife. Then he will go back to Las Vegas where he is planning to enter the $25,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha event and the Main Event. The world’s most prestigious No-Limit Hold’em tournament is set to kick off on July 8 at the poker rooms of Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
