Tom Koral has cashed in more than 50 WSOP events over the course of 13 years, but a gold bracelet somehow eluded him until last night. The poker professional bested the 298-strong field of the $1,500 Seven Card Stud to win the piece of WSOP hardware and $96,907.
Being so well-aware of how difficult winning a gold bracelet might be, Koral was beside himself with joy. As mentioned above, the player has been a WSOP regular for over a decade now. He has made 53 cashes in the Series, five of which were final table ones.
Koral is savvy in different tournament formats and different poker variants. However, he told WSOP interviewers last night that of all H.O.R.S.E. games, Seven Card Stud was among the ones he felt less confident in his skills. As it can be seen, the player does not have much to worry about as he managed to defeat quite a field.
Koral ran extremely well during Day 1 of the event and for the greater part of Day 2. He maintained a good stack and responded adequately to each and every challenge posed by fellow players. However, he lost momentum during the later levels of Day 2 and by the time organizers called it a day, he was sixth in chips out of seven players left in contention.
Tsong Lin was the one to dominate action at that stage. The player bagged and tagged most of the chips in play on Day 2 and continued his rampage on Day 3. Four-handed play saw Lin get hold of 75% of the chips at the table. At that time, it really looked as if the player might win the game. However, unpredictability is one of poker’s sweetest traits and it manifested itself in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud.
Two-handed play began with Lin holding 17 times more chips than Koral, his final opponent. Despite the big disadvantage, the eventual winner was determined to put great pressure on Lin when possible. That plan worked out extremely well for Koral as after four hours of play, he was the chip leader and he was facing off Lin in an all-in confrontation that eventually secured him with the title and the coveted gold bracelet. Lin hit the rail with $59,894 for his deep run into the tournament and his terrific performance.
Koral did not miss the opportunity to praise his final opponent’s skills and strength. Here it is interesting to note that Lin, unlike the tournament’s winner, is a cash game player with very limited tournament poker experience.
