Poker pro Michael Wang collected his first-ever WSOP bracelet late last night, after he topped the field of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em or Event #2 in this year’s edition of the most popular and prestigious poker festival. Apart from the coveted piece of jewelry, the player was also awarded the amount of $466,120.
Given the $5,000 buy-in, it was not a surprise that the event attracted a number of well-experienced entries. In fact, a total of 422 players entered the three-day event to create a prize pool of $1,983,400. Of those, only the top 45 were paid with the payouts starting from $9,381.
The nine-handed final table included several really prominent poker pros, with three-time bracelet winner Greg Merson and one-time bracelet winners Amir Lehovat and Bryn Kenney being among those.
Although Kenney started the final table second in chips, he quickly caught up and took the lead. He managed to widen his advantage over his opponents with each passing hour. The heads-up play against Wang started with Kenney holding nine times more chips. However, he lost everything he had acquired throughout the evening within the course of only three hands.
The final hand occurred with Kenney holding [6h][9h] against Wang’s [Jh][2h]. The latter raised 150,000 pre-flop and his opponent called. The board ran out [Kh][Qh][8c] on the flop and Wang bet 150,000. Kenney raised to 415,000 and Wang called. The turn showed [9d]. Kenney bet 765,000 and Wang called to see [10h] appearing on the river. Kenney bet 1,645,000 and his opponent moved all in almost instantly. The player took some time before taking any action, but eventually decided to call.
Kenney added $287,870 to his poker bankroll for his runner-up finish. As for the champion, he took home $466,120 and his first WSOP bracelet. This has been his biggest live cash so far. The player now has a total of $1,150,391 in live tournament winnings.
Arthur Koren from Austria finished 3rd in the event. He received the amount of $208,177. Greg Merson, who won the 2012 WSOP Main Event, finished 4th for $152,126. Jason Wheeler, who recently topped the field of the WPT Amsterdam €6,000 High Roller, was eliminated in 5th place. His portion of the entire prize pool amounted to $112,339.
Amir Lehavot, who won a WSOP bracelet back in 2011, finished 6th last night to be paid a total of $83,838. He was followed by Joe Ebanks, Long Nguyen, and Byron Kaverman. The three players took home $63,210, $48,137, and $37,030 for their 7th, 8th, and 9th places, respectively.
