WSOP history was made on Saturday as poker professional Matt Matros won his third bracelet in as many years in taking down Event #16, the $1500 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em championship, at the 2012 World Series of Poker.
Nine men returned to the tables yesterday to determine a victor in this tournament and there were plenty of challenges around the felt. At one table, fellow 2010 WSOP bracelet winner Mark Radoja joined Matros on a five handed table while the other four handed table saw Matt Glantz and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow squaring off. Leading the way at the start of the day was Robert Muzzatti’s 1.445 million chip stack, slightly edging out Mark Darner.
Muzzatti and Darner were the active players in the early action, with Darner getting some chips out of the stack of Matros and Muzzatti taking a few stacks from Glantz. Matros would get those chips back (and then some) by eliminating Jonathan Currie in ninth place almost two hours into the festivities.
On the other side of the equation was Matusow. Coming into the day third in chips, he took a tough beat against Ramey Shaio when Shaio’s A-K was able to outflop Matusow’s pocket queens. Down to only around 300K in chips, he would get his chips to the center against Muzzatti only to find himself behind with his A-10 against Muzzatti’s pocket Kings. A King on the flop virtually ended the day for Matusow and, once the turn came with a useless Ace, Matusow was out in eighth place, denied his fourth WSOP bracelet.
Shaio would also be responsible for getting the final table set for action. After the players had moved to the unofficial seven handed final table, Glantz pushed in his 600K stack and found a caller in Shaio. It was another race, as Shaio’s pocket Queens held the edge on Glantz’ Big Slick, and once again it pretty much ended on the flop. The Queen was in the window, putting a hammerlock on the hand for Shaio and after a blank on the turn Glantz was out in seventh place.
The players were comfortable shuffling chips for the first hour of the final table, but once the players got started, the knockouts came quickly. Matros slid into the lead after a battle with Shaio, only to see Radoja slip past him before the end of the level. As the blinds went up, so did the pace as Matros knocked off Darner in sixth place and then took care of Muzzatti in fifth on the very next hand. The back to back eliminations gave Matros nearly half the chips in play and it would be a lead he would never relinquish.
Radoja would take out Shaio in third place to draw within 100K in chips from Matros at the start of heads up play and wasted little time in announcing his assault on the WSOP bracelet. Within thirty minutes of heads up play, Radoja had Matros on the ropes, holding more than a 2.5:1 chip lead, before Matros began an offensive of his own. Using strategic all in moves, Matros was able to slowly grind his way back into the match over the next hour. After almost two hours of play, the players were back where they started – almost even.
After fending off the attack of Matros, Radoja once again began to extend his lead. What would be the penultimate hand of the match started with Radoja making a min-raise and being called by Matros. A 10-2-6 rainbow flop came, bringing a check-call from Matros of 100K. A five on the turn brought another check out of Matros and a bet of 250K from Radoja. This time, Matros went to the check-raise, pushing out 625K and Radoja made a puzzled call. On the river seven, Matros bet 725K, deepening the bewilderment of Radoja. Agonizing over his decision, Radoja eventually called and mucked upon seeing Matros reveal 10-5 for a turned two pair.
That hand would push Matros back into the lead and it wouldn’t change hands again. Fifteen minutes following that big hand, a 10-9-2 (two heart) flop and an eight on the turn got the chips to the center, Matros drawing to the flush with his 6-5 and Radoja ahead with his J-7 gutter straight draw. The ten of hearts came on the river, giving Matros the flush and the latest WSOP championship.
1. Matt Matros (Brooklyn, NY), $454,835
2. Mark Radoja (Guelph, Ontario), $281,502
3. Ramey Shaio (London, the United Kingdom), $182,521
4. Gordon Vayo (San Francisco, CA), $121,262
5. Robert Muzzatti (Toronto, Ontario), $81,201
6. Mark Darner (Winter Park, FL), $56,300
With this victory, not only does Matros enter into a rare pantheon of players who have won three or more bracelets (only 58 players have done that) but also becomes one of the rare competitors who has done it in consecutive years. Matros won the $1500 Limit Hold’em event in 2010 for his first ever bracelet and last year won the $2500 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No Limit) tournament for his second.