In what turned out to be another thrilling day at the 2014 World Series of Poker, Alex Bolotin was able to outlast the 12 survivors of the No Limit Shootout to claim his first bracelet while – in a meeting that brought the most WSOP bracelets to a heads up match in its 45-year history – Ted Forrest denied Phil Hellmuth his fourteenth bracelet in Seven Card Razz.
Event #6 – $1500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout – Final Day
After taking their 120 remaining players down to the final 12 on Saturday, the 12 men who would determine the champion of the Shootout gathered to determine a champion. Because of various table disparities in the number of players, the stacks weren’t quite even at the start of play, giving anyone a shot at the crown. Technically leading the way of the final dozen was Steven Loube and his 361K, but Douglas Foster and Josh Arieh were close behind with 358K in chips.
Three players would have to be eliminated before the official final table was set and the men didn’t dally in their work. Jared Jaffe was eliminated slightly more than an hour into the action, his pocket nines failing to catch up with Loube’s pocket Aces, and Jon Lane took over the chip lead in knocking off Steven Geralis when his Aces stood tall against Geralis’ K-Q off suit. After a quick break, Arieh ended the day for Colin York as Arieh’s Kings outlasted York’s Big Slick to bring the action to the official final table after only two hours of play.
Heading into the final table, Dimitar Danchev had eclipsed Lane for the lead while Bolotin lurked behind the duo in third place. Arieh immediately went on the attack as, on the very first hand of the final table, he eliminated Maxx Coleman in ninth and, in a double knockout, send Shawn Busse (eighth) and David Trager (seventh) to the rail after his A-Q found a Queen on the board to top Trager’s pocket sevens (Busse was a distant third with his A-J). With those three knockouts, Arieh rose to the chip lead, holding 1.207 million in chips.
On Hand 23, Danchev would take the lead back from Arieh when he flopped a Queen to go with his K-Q and rivered a King to top Arieh’s A-K. Undaunted, Arieh fought back in an interesting hand with Foster that, by the river, saw the chips hit the center. On a 6♠ 7♠ 3♠, Arieh check-called a bet from Foster to see an A♠ on the turn. Arieh once again checked the, after Foster moved all in, immediately made the call and tabled his K♣ Q♠ for the second best flush. Foster could only muster a K♦ J♠ for the third best flush and, already drawing dead, left the tournament floor in sixth place as Arieh reassumed the lead.
After Bolotin dumped Loube from the proceedings in fifth place, the pivotal hand of the tournament occurred. Arieh would raise the action to 27K and Bolotin, sitting in the big blind, pumped the action up to 85K. Arieh made the call and, following a Q-10-7 flop, Bolotin would fire a bet and Arieh responded with a raise to 225K. This brought Bolotin alive as he moved his remaining chips to the center and Arieh, without hesitation, made the call and tabled his pocket tens for the flopped set. Bolotin, ahead pre-flop with his pocket Aces, was going to need some help.
The “poker gods” cruelly put out that help on the turn. An Ace hit, completely flipping the hand into Bolotin’s favor as Arieh went from a prohibitive favorite to win the hand to a 5% underdog in one card. Looking for that case ten, Arieh instead saw a Jack on the river, shipping a million chip pot (and the chip lead) to Bolotin.
Arieh never recovered from that tough loss. He would double up Lane seven hands later and, on Hand #61, took on Bolotin again. On a 9♠ A♥ 7♥ 10♥ flop and turn, Bolotin would move all-in and, after some thought, Arieh made the call, tabling his A-7 off suit for a flopped two pair. Arieh had made the move one street too late, however (the action on the flop was checked down); Bolotin turned up a measly 5♥ 2♥ that, in this case, was mighty as it left Arieh drawing thin to the full house. That didn’t come as another heart instead hit the river, sending Arieh out in fourth place and sending Bolotin over the two million mark in chips.
The three remaining players – Bolotin, Danchev and Lane – battled for another 61 hands before heads up play was determined. On Hand 122, a family pot between the three developed as the flop came 5-6-2 rainbow. Bolotin would lead into the pot but, after Danchev popped it up again and Lane moved all in, he relinquished his claim to the pot. Danchev immediately called, though, showing pocket deuces for the flopped set. Lane could “only” muster pocket Aces and, unlike Bolotin earlier in the table, could not find another one to fall in third place.
Bolotin held about a 600K chip lead over Danchev heading into the two-man fight and he would never let Danchev get closer. On the final hand, a 3-K-9-6-5 board saw Danchev push his final chips to the center and, mulling the course of the play of the hand, Bolotin took his time before making the call. It turned out to be the right one as, after tabling his K-8 for a weak top pair, Bolotin was elated to see Danchev only show a Q-J for a bluff as Bolotin captured the title.
1. Alex Bolotin (United States), $259,211
2. Dimitar Danchev (Bulgaria), $160,410
3. Jon Lane (United States), $100,239
4. Josh Arieh (United States), $72,846
5. Steven Loube (United States), $53,777
6. Douglas Foster (United States), $40,314
7. David Trager (United States), $30,644
8. Shawn Busse (United States), $23,638
9. Maxx Coleman (United States), $18,468
Event #7 – $1500 Seven Card Razz – Final Day
By far the most attention in the Rio’s Amazon Room fell on what would normally be a sedate game of Razz and not No Limit. Event #7 had brought together a stellar field but one player in particular was the focus of attention. Phil Hellmuth, making his 50th career final table at the WSOP (by far the record), was in second place behind Greg Pappas in seeking his 14th bracelet victory. Besides Pappas, Hellmuth would also have to contend with former Poker Players’ Championship victory David Bach, Kevin Iacofano, Brock Parker, Ted Forrest and a player who enjoys putting the needle to Hellmuth, Brandon Cantu.
Cantu, coming to the final table in the middle of the pack with 175K in chips, yo-yoed through the early battles. He was by far one of the most active players, for bad (down to 90K at one point) and for good (up to 190K) after clashing three times with Hellmuth. The fourth time would be devastating for Cantu, though, as Hellmuth knocked him down to 67K after making an 8-6-5-3-A low that Cantu couldn’t counter. After Yuebin Guo was eliminated in seventh place, Pappas ended Cantu’s day in sixth place.
Pappas still held the lead at this mark in the race, but Hellmuth would soon surge to the lead. After Forrest eliminated Parker in fifth in a hand Hellmuth was involved in, the ‘Poker Brat’ still held 630K in chips. He would use those to take down Bach over a three-hand span, pushing him up to 735K in chips for a decent lead over Pappas (629K) and Forrest (211K). During three handed play, Hellmuth would extend that lead as he and Forrest whittled chips out of Pappas’ stack.
Hellmuth eventually would best Pappas, making a Queen-seven low that was good enough to top Pappas’ Queen-ten low to send Pappas to the rail in third place. Heading to heads-up against Forrest, that fourteenth bracelet was within reach for Hellmuth as he held a 2:1 lead (1.060 million to 515K) over Forrest with the matchup featuring the most WSOP bracelets ever between two final combatants (Hellmuth’s 13 versus Forrest’s 5).
Over the first hour and a half of their fight, Hellmuth and Forrest shuffled chips between each other before Forrest was able to pick up the lead. The two would swap the lead back and forth both prior to and following a dinner break but, gradually, Forrest would begin to put some distance between him and Hellmuth. With the blinds at 40K/80K and a 10K ante, Forrest was finally able to get Hellmuth close to the felt in making a second-nut 6-5-3-2-A low as Hellmuth could only come up with a ten-low; the very next hand, Forrest completed his denial of Hellmuth in making a nine-low against Hellmuth’s Queen-low after nearly a six hour heads up battle.
1. Ted Forrest (United States), $121,196
2. Phil Hellmuth (United States), $74,848
3. Greg Pappas (United States), $48,275
4. David Bach (United States), $34,979
5. Brock Parker (United States), $25,717
6. Brandon Cantu (United States), $19,183
7. Yuebin Guo (United States), $14,517
8. Kevin Iacofano (United States), $11,143