The Amazon Room at the Rio Las Vegas has been a hive of activity over the last few days, with three bracelets handed out in quick succession as Events 6, 7 & 8 came to an end.
Event #6, the $1,000 Limit Hold’em tournament, drew a medium sized field of 910 players, adding up to a modest first prize of $280,715. Perhaps due to the limit format or perhaps because of the relatively low buy-in there was not the concentration of pros we have seen recently in other events, and the final table was slightly lacking in start quality. Tthat won’t bother Gary Styczynski though, after the New Yorker held off Varouzhan Gumroyan to collect his first WSOP bracelet.
Next up was the final table of Event #9, the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo tournament. Again a relatively small field came together for their shot at the bracelet, with just 690 players ponying up the $1,500 buy-in. That meant a first prize of $228,466.
This one went the way of Alex Kravchenko, a Moscow-based Russian, who won the gold bracelet after a great heads-up battle with Bryan Devonshire. Devonshire was aggressive and always entertaining, and his obvious popularity amongst the Vegas pros was clear from the number of high-profile players such as Jeff Madsen and Layne Flack who turned up to sweat him. In the end however their support was not enough as the Russian’s calm and calculated style ensured he was able to keep Devonshire at bay and hold on for the bracelet.
Event #8 was the cracking $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em with rebuys tournament, which always sees some extraordinary play. Last year I recall Michael “TheGrinder” Mizrachi pushing all-in blind (and losing, and rebuying) for the first nine hands in a row. The record for rebuys by a single player stands at a staggering 33. This year was no different, with the 884 player field rebuying an astounding 1,814 times, creating a prize pool of $2.5 million and a first prize of $575,774.
The final table featured a couple of very successful pros at the top of the leaderboard, with Amir Vahedi at the top and Michael Gracz in second place. Between the two of them these players have accumulated well over $4 million in tournament earnings, but in the end all that experience was no use.
Both players fell victim to a horrid run of cards, finishing 6th and 7th respectively, while Shane “Shaniac” Schleger, the tables only other recognisable face, also fell victim to a cold deck to finish up in fifth place.
The four remaining players were relatively unknown, but one Tommy Vu decided to put on a show for the crowd, playing with unbridled aggression that very nearly won him the bracelet.
Heads-up against Michael Chu, Vu started with an outrageous bluff, re-raising to $700,000 preflop and then firing an $800,000 bet on the river when the board read: Qs-7d-4d-Ts-7s. Chu mucked and Vu turned over 8-2!
Vu was one card away from the bracelet a few hands later when he got Chu all-in on a straight draw. Vu held middle pair, but Chu hit his straight on the river for a huge double-up.
From one card away from the bracelet Vu was now facing a 4-1 chip defecit, and in an effort to get back into contention he open pushe preflop with Ks-8s. Chu called with A-3o and the 6s-5c-3s gave Vu a flush draw to go with his overcards, making him a slight favourite. In the end however he couldn’t catch his outs and Chu took down the bracelet and the $585,774 first prize.