When Day 3 of the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #31: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em rolled around Monday, nobody was talking about the eventual winner. It was 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada that was the talk of the Rio. After all, he was the chip leader with just 19 players remaining and was aiming to become the first Main Event winner since Carlos Mortensen to earn a second bracelet. It was not to be for Cada, though. Rather, it was 23-year old North Carolinian Carter Phillips who won the jewelry along with $664,130.
Back to that Main Event tidbit for a moment. The World Series of Poker has seen a full decade of champions return and return again, all of them failing to win another bracelet. Not Greg Raymer, not Joe Hachem, not Jonathan Duhamel. Carlos Mortensen, who won the grand prize back in 2001, is the last Main Event champ to do so, winning the $5,000 Limit Hold’em event in 2003.
Cada’s chances going into the final table didn’t look as good as they did at the start of the day, as he was dead last in chips with 720,000. Phillips, at just over a million, wasn’t doing much better, and both were way behind Tom Chambers, who led his eight opponents with 2.575 million chips.
Despite their deficits, both men forged ahead. Within the first hour, Phillips had increased his stack to over 1.8 million, vaulting himself up the leader board. Cada was able to double near the end of the second hour to earn some breathing room and then after around three hours, he eliminated Jonathan Poche in 8th place to also rocket his stack over 1.8 million. At the dinner break, the two were almost tied for third with just over 1.9 million chips a piece.
Shortly after dinner, Cada took off, knocking out Michael Aron to grow his stack to 3.35 million, and then taking another 650,000 off Chambers to reach 4 million chips. Phillips’ first couple hours after dinner were a rollercoaster; he lost big chunks than won big chunks repeatedly. He then took command and flew up the charts, eventually accumulating 5 million chips. Once that run was over, it was Cada’s turn again. He eliminated Cherish Andrews in 4th place and then Tom Chambers in 3rd place to give himself a healthy 8.9 million to 3.7 million chip leader over Phillips to begin heads-up play.
It was a crazy one-on-one confrontation, with the lead changing five times during the two and a half hour match. Phillips was finally able to stay in the lead for good after doubling through Cada when the stacks were close to even. Crippled, Cada received a bit of courtesy double-up, but that was all he could muster.
On the final hand, Cada moved all-in pre-flop for 1.35 million with 7♦-9♥, obviously hoping for a live card situation. He got it, as Phillips made the call with Q♣-J♦. None of the five community cards improved either player’s hand and Carter Phillips earned his first WSOP title of 2012.
This is Phillips’ second WSOP bracelet of his career. The first was in $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em in 2010. He also won the European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Main Event in 2009.
2012 WSOP Event #31: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Final Table Results
1. Carter Phillips – $664,130
2. Joe Cada – $412,424
3. Tom Chambers – $290,875
4. Cherish Andrews – $210,083
5. Najib Kamand – $153,578
6. Maximilian Lehmanski – $113,618
7. Michael Aron – $85,043
8. Jonathan Poche – $64,399
9. Huy Quach – $49,333
