Sometimes is better to be lucky than good. Not that Jared Hamby isn’t a good poker player. He is. It’s just saying…whatever, you know what I mean. Hamby showed off his poker skill for three days and used, yes, a little luck to earn his first gold bracelet, winning 2013 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #40: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em.
Hamby had done nicely at the World Series of Poker prior to this milestone achievement, cashing four times previously at this WSOP and fifteen times total since 2008. He had made to prior final tables, finishing eighth in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Event in 2010 and fourth in the $5,000 Eight-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Event this year. Counting the $525,000 he won for this tournament, Hamby has earned over $2.2 million in his live tournament career.
There were 21 players remaining in the field to begin Day 3 and Hamby didn’t look like he was going to be able to make a run at the bracelet, starting the day as the third shortest stack with just 204,000 chips. Nicolas Fierro led all with 965,000.
Hamby bided his time, waiting for the best spot to make a move. After four eliminations, he was able to double-up through Allen Cunningham to grow his stack to 440,000. His patience continued after that and he entered the final table with just 616,000 chips, the second shortest stack still in the tournament. On Hand 28 of the final table, he eliminated Richard Dubini in seventh place to boost his stack to 775,000, but he was still way off the pace.
A while later, he hit lucky hand number one. All-in with A-T versus Joao Dorneles Neto’s Q-Q, Hamby hit an Ace on the flop to double-up to 1.31 million. Shortly thereafter, he used K-J to knock out Matt Berkey, who was holding J-4.
Hamby doubled again on Hand 90, winning a race against Fierro (who was then crippled) with 8-8 against K-Q. After Peter Hengsakul eliminated Allan Vrooman in third place with those same hands reversed, it was time for heads-up play with Hngsakul having a huge lead over Hamby, 7.125 million to 2.600 million.
Hamby eventually found himself down to just a million chips when he hit lucky hand number two. He did get his chips in with the best of it – K-T versus 5-6, both suited diamonds – but Hengsakul paired on the flop to take the lead. The river, possibly Hamby’s last hand of the tournament, was a Ten, saving him and bringing him back to just over 2 million chips. A bit later was lucky hand number three, when he got his chips in on a Q-T-9 board with Q-3, good for top pair. He was up against Hengsakul’s T-9, though, which gave him two pair. Fortunately for Hamby, both the turn and river cards were 2’s, counterfeiting Hengsakul’s two pair and giving Hamby a huge double-up.
At that point, Hamby had a big lead, 7.5 million to 2 million, and never let it go. On the final hand, Hengsakul raised pre-flop and Hamby moved all-in with K-T. Hengsakul called with 5-5, taking a chance on a coin flip to stay alive. The flop was safe for Hengsakul, but a King landed on the turn, giving Hamby the lead. There was no two-outer in the offing for Hengsakul on the river and Hamby had his first bracelet.
2013 World Series of Poker Event #40: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Final Table Results
1. Jared Hamby – $525,272
2. Peter Hengsakul – $325,780
3. Allan Vrooman – $230,178
4. Nicolas Fierro – $165,501
5. Joao Dorneles Neto – $120,574
6. Matt Berkey – $89,008
7. Richard Dubini – $66,544
8. Fred Berger – $50,382
9. David Nicholson – $38,625
