The 2013 World Series of Poker is set for another exciting weekend of action, yet it was the performance of two popular poker professionals that has captured the attention of the poker world over the last two days in Las Vegas.
Event #32 – $5000 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em
Coming into the day on Thursday, there were 14 players still vying for the championship of this tournament from the original 516 runners who came to the line. At the top of the heap to start play on Thursday was Jonathan Little, who held 1.29 million in chips. Behind him, however, were a host of powerful pros that included 2011 WSOP bracelet winner Allen Bari, Andrew Robl, Lee Markholt and Erick Lindgren and were looking to take him down.
Right off the start, Little would find some difficulty. He doubled up Lindgren after losing a race to Lindgren’s A♣ K♣ with pocket sevens after Lindgren turned the nut flush against him. Meanwhile, Vasile Buboi headed in the other direction, knocking out Harry Bienenfeld in 14th place to move over the 1.3 million mark. Little would not wait long to get some of those chips lost to Lindgren back in taking down Jonathan Aguiar in 13th place to get back over the million chip plateau.
Buboi wouldn’t slow down, eliminating Kyle White in 12th place and Dan Smith in 11th place after the remaining players had moved to two tables. With the two knockouts, Buboi seemed to be poised for a run at the WSOP bracelet with 2.25 million in chips, but there would be some other players who had set their sights on that prize also.
Lindgren would join Buboi at the top of the leaderboard in chopping some chips from the stack of Bari to move up to 1.7 million and eliminating Dario Sammartino in tenth place to crack the 1.8 million barrier. It was Markholt who made the most serious charge, however, as he got a key double through Buboi before knocking off Bari in ninth place to amass a stack of 1.75 million. This wasn’t enough to take over the lead, though, as Lindgren continued to charge towards the unofficial final table with over two million in chips after eliminating Craig Fishman in eighth place.
Robl would end up as the final table bubble boy, taken down after his J-3 hit on a J-9-6 flop against Little but were no good against Little’s pocket Kings. As the official six handed final table began, Lindgren held a 500K chip lead over Markholt, Buboi and Little were over the million chip mark and Connor Drinan and Ryan D’Angelo were looking for some help.
Drinan and D’Angelo would have a “short stack fight” to see who would move on between the two. After D’Angelo three bet the action all in pre-flop, Drinan called and showed Big Slick to go to battle against D’Angelo’s K-10 move. An Ace on the flop helped Drinan but, along with a Jack, gave D’Angelo some outs to the Broadway straight. Two blanks on the turn and river didn’t bring either of those cards, sending D’Angelo out in sixth place.
Drinan would continue on his roll, taking down Buboi in fifth place, to suddenly find himself in second behind Lindgren with four players remaining. The players would then take the next 70 hands shuffling chips between each other, with Lindgren remaining on top, Drinan losing his second place slot after a couple of doubles of Markholt and Little maintaining his stack as the dinner break came and went.
Following dinner, Little came out on the attack. He would take out Drinan in fourth place, his A♠ J♠ finding an unnecessary flush on the river to defeat Drinan’s K-8 off suit. But Lindgren was the dominant player overall, moving out to a 4.6 million stack as Little and Markholt looked to try to catch him. Lindgren would end the day for Little in third place when his pocket Jacks stood to Little’s A-5 and, at the start of heads up play, held a huge advantage over Markholt.
Over the next 70 hands, Markholt would be able to draw to almost even with Lindgren, but he never was able to take over the lead. On the final hand, Lindgren limped in and Markholt checked his option to see a 9-J-A flop. Markholt bet out, but Lindgren moved a reraise to 275K into the center of the felt. After a moment of thought, Markholt announced an all-in bet and Lindgren nearly beat him to the center with the call.
Both men thought they had made the excellent trap play. Lindgren tabled his pocket Aces for the flopped set, while Markholt unveiled a J-9 for the bottom two pair with the board. Looking for runner-runner to make quads, the seven on the turn ended his tournament in second place and earned Lindgren the WSOP bracelet.
1. Erick Lindgren (Las Vegas, NV), $606,317
2. Lee Markholt (Eatonville, WA), $374,960
3. Jonathan Little (Las Vegas, NV), $238,833
4. Connor Drinan (Arlington Heights, IL), $157,274
5. Vasile Buboi (Anaheim, CA), $106,830
6. Ryan D’Angelo (Brooklyn, NY), $74,768
The victory for Lindgren marks his second ever WSOP bracelet win and comes on the heels of his runner-up performance in the World Poker Tour Championship in May. Following what has been a difficult year for Lindgren, the victory is potentially one of the sweetest of his career.
Event #35 – $3000 Pot Limit Omaha
On Friday, the final 19 survivors from the 640-player Event #35 came to the tables to determine a champion. Two-time WSOP bracelet winner and former WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen was on the pole position with a huge stack of 922,000, but a host of top pros – Jason DeWitt, Christian Harder, Mike Sexton, Scott Clements and Ashton Griffin – were arranged in the pack behind him.
From the start, Madsen never let anyone back into the game. He cracked the million chip plateau after a skirmish with Clements and lengthened his advantage after taking out Sexton in 16th place and Brian Alioa in 15th place. When the final table was reached after the elimination of Isaac Hagerling in tenth place, Madsen had a 450K chip lead over Ryan Chapman and kept his foot on the gas.
Madsen would eliminate three of the players at the final table, eventually moving his stack up to three million chips, and would be even with Douglas Corning (who eliminated Michal Maryska in third) when heads up play began. Over a 37 hand matchup, Madsen never let Corning see the chip lead and, on the final hand, held control for most of the way.
After a Corning pre-flop raise, Madsen three bet the action to 330K and Corning called. The 10-2-K flop set off the fireworks, with Madsen betting the pot and Corning moving all in, which Madsen called. Unveiling his A-K-J-9 for a top pair of Kings and a world of draws, Madsen was surprised to see Corning turn up A-K-9-2 for Kings up to have the lead. A seven on the turn gave Madsen some more outs to a straight, but a Jack on the river would give Madsen a bigger two pair over Corning and earn him the WSOP bracelet.
1. Jeff Madsen (Las Vegas, NV), $384,420
2. Doug Corning (Portland, OR), $237,374
3. Michal Maryska (Prague, the Czech Republic), $154,312
4. Danny Hannawa (Farmington Hills, MI), $113,340
5. Scott Clements (Mount Vernon, WA), $84,424
6. Ryan Chapman (Germantown, MA), $63,702
7. William Black (Lafayette, LA), $48,624
8. Joni Jouhkimainen, $37,529
9. Jason DeWitt (Decatur, GA), $29,265
The victory by Madsen returns him to the Winners’ Circle at the WSOP, marking his third bracelet win. In 2006, Madsen won two bracelets (at the tender age of 21) and earned the WSOP Player of the Year award. Since that time, he had 25 cashes at the WSOP, but had never tasted the WSOP gold…until Friday.
