It is on rare occasion when a poker player registers for their his or her WSOP event ever and eventually wins it. However, this is exactly what happened to Shane Buchwald several hours ago. The player traveled 25 hours to visit friends in Las Vegas, was encouraged to enter the $1,500 Limit Hold’em by his cronies, and eventually topped its field for a shiny gold bracelet and $177,985 in prize money.
Catching a flight from Southern Brazil, where he currently resides, Buchwald was not planning to play poker during his stay in Las Vegas, let alone to enter a WSOP tournament. It was a friend of his, a Limit Hold’em regular, who bought into the $1,500 Limit Hold’em and persuaded him to join the action.
Buchwald left the states after Black Friday in 2011 and set up a new home in Brazil, where he has been playing online poker actively over the past several years. The player has devoted his poker time almost exclusively to playing Pot-Limit Omaha cash games. Buchwald actually revealed that he had very little actual Limit Hold’em experience. And here is how he got to win a format that he had almost not played before.
Buchwald entered the event as one of the 616 entries who participated. The tournament’s final day was played on Wednesday, kicking off with 15 survivors. Buchwald was in the precise middle of the chip counts chart at that point.
Eyes were mostly set on Barry Greenstein who was going for his fourth WSOP title and gold bracelet. However, his hopes were broken not long after Day 3 began, as the player was eliminated in 11th place.
The unofficial final table of ten players was headed by Buchwald. The player then lost the lead only to regain it permanently during five-handed play. He never looked back from that point on. Venkata Tayi was Buchwald’s final obstacle to overcome before claiming the gold bracelet as his own.
Two-handed play began with the eventual winner holding a substantial chip leader over his last opponent. Tayi was never given a single chance to improve and was eliminated within eight hands of play. What turned out to be the final hand unfolded with Buchwald forcing Tayi all-in pre-flop. The latter tabled [Jh][5s] against Buchwald’s [Ac][5c]. A blank board put an end to the tournament, with Buchwald scooping the title. His runner-up collected $109,968 for his efforts.
Tayi, originally from India, used the opportunity to comment on the growing popularity of poker in his homeland. The player entered the event, aiming for the gold and said that was very happy with the fact that he almost got it.
As for Buchwald, despite last night’s victory, he said that he would not be playing more WSOP events this year.
