Another tournament, another extra day. Event #53: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em at the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was the latest tourney this summer to go into overtime, extending into a fourth day to determine a winner. Day 3 ended with just two players – Neil Willerson and Vladimir Mefodichev – remaining because tournament officials had to stop the proceedings after ten levels had been played. The combatants returned to the table at 2:00pm PST Tuesday to finish what they started, needing almost another two hours on top of the one on Monday to determine the champ. That champion: San Antonio’s Neil Willerson, winner of both a gold bracelet and $737,248.
This was Willerson’s first ever victory at the World Series of Poker and by far his largest cash. Prior to Tuesday, Willerson’s live tournament winnings had amounted to just $68,112, less than one-tenth of what he just earned. That’s not to say he has done particularly poorly of late. He cashed four times at last year’s WSOP (granted, they were small cashes, but cashes nonetheless) and finished 12th in an earlier $1,500 No-Limit event at this year’s festival, winning $29,923.
Willerson had a large chip deficit to overcome going into heads-up play, as Mefodichev had a 10.5 million to 4.2 million chip lead on him after Hugh Henderson was eliminated in 3rd place yesterday. He turned the tables immediately, though, and entered the bonus Day 4 with an edge of 8.92 million to 5.335 million.
Like Monday, though, the player with the smaller stack started out strong and took the chip leader in short order. Though the chip stacks had almost exactly reversed, Willerson was undeterred, ripping away the chip lead just a few minutes later, forcing Mefodichev to fold on a 9♣-T♠-8♥-T♥-7♣ board and give up a 3.5 million chip pot.
After that, Willerson never gave up the lead. It still took him around an hour to seal the deal and his opponent made one more brief surge, but seal the deal he most definitely did. On the final hand, the two players saw the 4♥-3♠-8♠ flop for the minimum, after which Willerson bet 300,000 and Mefodichev three-bet to 800,000. Smelling blood, Willerson moved all-in and Mefodichev called, putting his tournament life at risk.
Both players flipped over spades: Mefodichev’s K♠-5♠ gave him an advantage of Willerson’s J♠-6♠. His flush draw no good, Willerson needed to find a 6, Jack, or running straight cards to win the tournament. The dealer presented him one of those – the 6♣ – on the turn to give him the lead. Mefodichev still had a fighter’s chance, though, needing a spade or King to double-up. The T♥ was not what the doctor ordered, though, and he had to settle for a second place finish and $456,217.
Congratulations go out to Neil Willerson for winning his first bracelet in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event.
2012 WSOP Event #53: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Final Table Results
1. Neil Willerson – $737,248
2. Vladimir Mefodichev – $456,217
3. Hugh Henderson – $322,866
4. Zachary Humphrey – $233,708
5. Matthew Graham – $171,135
6. Hai Chu – $126,770
7. Bryan Piccioli – $94,971
8. Randy Ashe – $71,933
9. Ryan Hughes – $55,093
