Ron Ware joined the club of WSOP gold bracelet winners after claiming the victory in this year’s $1,500 8-Game Mix 6-Handed event. The player collected a first-place prize of $145,577 alongside the shiny gold piece.
The tournament attracted 472 entries who generated $637,200 for the prize pool. The winner was determined within three days of play, during which players demonstrated proficiency in eight different poker variants.
The final day saw 12 hopefuls return to play down to a champion. Action unfolded quite quickly with five players leaving the tables in an hour-and-a-half timespan. However, speed was then reduced and it took quite a while before the official six-handed final table was set, as everyone wanted a seat and no one was ready to give up without a good fight.
Shortly after the names of the final six became known and final table play began, Ware was presented with a great opportunity to improve his stack and the player grabbed that opportunity to break the one-million chip mark and to position himself at the top of the chip counts chart. He won a three-way Stud Hi-Lo confrontation to secure himself with a comfortable lead at this closing stage of the tournament.
From that point on, the player only waited patiently for the best hands to come and for his fellow players to eliminate one another until the heads-up match was set. Ware eventually found himself against Mike Ross in a two-handed duel for the gold.
The heads-up battle lasted for two hours, during which the eventual winner slowly built his path to the title. He held the chip lead at the time two-handed match began, but Ross was not far behind him. However, Ware managed to extend his advantage steadily reducing his opponent’s stack bit by bit. He also dragged Ross into several all-in confrontations, which the latter luckily survived from.
The sweet moment of victory came after a lengthy final day of play. The last hand of the tournament was a No-Limit Hold’em one. Ross opened action by raising to 105,000 pre-flop. Ware called and the two players saw the board run out [7h][Jh][Kh] on the flop. Ross bet 175,000 and his opponent called again. The [3c] appeared on the turn and Ware shoved.
Ross at that point admitted to having a big draw and eventually decided to make the call, turning over [Qc][10h] to confront with his opponent’s [Kc][6c]. The [Jd] arrived on the river, calling it a day for the two players. Ross left in second place with a sizable payout of $89,948.
Ware added his gold bracelet, the first one in his career, to his WSOP Circuit gold ring. The player won the Circuit gold piece back in 2009, when he topped the field of a Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better tournament at Harveys Lake Tahoe casino.
