If there is anything that is a “short” day at the 2014 World Series of Poker, then Wednesday was that day. Only one bracelet was handed out, but it was a big one as Justin Bonomo captured his elusive first WSOP bracelet in Event #11, the $1500 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament.
The 1587 player field had been whittled down to the final ten men by the start of play on Wednesday, but there was a bit of work for the men to do. That pack of players would have to be chopped by four to set the official final table. While everyone was sitting on a nice payday of $22,345, all (especially the large stacks of chip leader Mike Sowers, Bonomo and Taylor Paur) were looking at taking the majority of the prize pool and the WSOP bracelet.
Setup on two tables of five, the first elimination came on the very first hand of the day. Sowers was the beneficiary of that hand as, following Sowers’ raise, Frank Debus dumped around a half-million chips in the center of the pot. Sowers called with his pocket eights, holding the edge over Debus’ J-7, and an uneventful board sent Debus to the rail in tenth. On the very next hand, Sowers would do the same to Todd Anderson in ninth as his A-5 off suit found an unnecessary Ace on the flop against Anderson’s K-9 off suit.
Now Sowers sat back a bit, but the bust outs raged on. Niel Mittelman flopped a set of sixes to send Viet Vo and his K-J to the cashier’s cage in eighth and Daniel Strelitz nailed a set of Jacks on the flop against Sebastian Pauli’s pocket sixes to dump him from the tournament in seventh. In all, the four eliminations took only 20 minutes and the final table was determined with Sowers holding the lead over Bonomo, Strelitz, Paur, Mittelman and Lance Harris.
It might have been thought that the players now would slow down some and get used to the new table dynamics, but they instead would charge onward into the fray. Strelitz would take over the chip lead in knocking out Paur in sixth, his A-K rivering a King against Paur’s pocket Queens, then Mittelman would depart in fifth as Sowers’ rivered set of nines outdid Mittelman’s pocket Queens to retake the lead. Sowers was also responsible for the knockouts of Harris in fourth (his J-10 falling to Sowers’ Big Chick) and Strelitz in third as Sowers’ pocket Aces powered past Strelitz’ pocket Queens (guess it wasn’t the day to have pocket Queens in a showdown!).
Going to heads up play, Sowers had built a towering 5.532 million chip stack to go against Bonomo’s 1.611 million in around two hours of actual play. While it might have been assumed that Sowers would continue his rampage over the Event #11 field, the resulting battle turned out to be one of the best of the 2014 WSOP so far.
Sowers stretched his lead out over the first ten hands, adding 300K to his stack while Bonomo searched for a way to cut him down. By the start of Level 25 (15K/30K blinds, 5000 ante), Bonomo had cut into it a bit but there was still nearly three million chips separating the competitors. It would take nearly 20 hands for Bonomo to slowly chip up against Sowers and bring the match to almost even.
The pivotal hand in the tournament came on Hand 141. Sowers three-bet a Bonomo raise and, after Bonomo called, they saw a J-3-2 flop. Bonomo would call a continuation bet out of Sowers and, after a seven fell on the turn, Bonomo called a second bullet from Sowers. A four on the river lit the fuse as, after some deliberation, Sowers moved his stack to the center of the felt. Much to the dismay of Sowers, Bonomo didn’t think nearly as long as he did as Bonomo called immediately, tabling his A-5 for the miraculously rivered Wheel against Sowers’ flopped two pair of J-2. Sowers chip stack was decimated by the stunning turn, leaving him with only 25K in chips.
Sowers would not go quietly into the night, though. It would take 20 more hands for Bonomo to separate Sowers from those scraps of chips as, on the final hand, Sowers’ Q-10 off suit was caught by Bonomo’s 10♥ 3♥ on a 4♥ 7♥ 8♥ flop. Although the Queen in his hand was a heart and provided him some redraw outs to a better flush, Sowers instead saw a 9♦ and an 8♠ complete the board and the tournament, crowning Bonomo the champion of Event #11.
1. Justin Bonomo (United States), $449,980
2. Mike Sowers (United States), $278,518
3. Daniel Strelitz (United States), $180,587
4. Lance Harris (United States), $119,977
5. Niel Mittelman (United States), $80,341
6. Taylor Paur (United States), $55,703
Although the WSOP on his wrist would normally be enough, Bonomo can also declare his 2014 WSOP to be a success barely ten days into the schedule. He finished as the runner-up to Tuan Le in Event #5, the $10,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball tournament, and along with his bracelet winning effort in Event #11 can count tournament earnings of $669,945 from the first ten days of the 2014 WSOP. The win also puts him in prime position for a drive at the 2014 WSOP Player of the Year award, depending on how the rest of his stay in Las Vegas plays out.
