Ahead of a busy weekend at the 2014 World Series of Poker, two bracelets were awarded on Friday. In one event, Kevin Eyster had to come back for a fourth day of play before he could defeat Pierre Neuville and, in Event #26, Andrew Rennhack busted through a sizeable field to capture his first WSOP bracelet.
Event #24 – $5000 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em – Conclusion
After battling into the early morning hours on Friday, two men – Kevin Eyster (5.515 million) and Pierre Neuville (2.605 million) had to come back on Friday afternoon to complete Event #24. In rather rapid fashion, Eyster was able to add a WSOP bracelet to his collection of a WSOP Circuit ring and a World Poker Tour championship.
Over the first ten hands of the heads-up match, it appeared that Neuville was looking to get his chips in for a big double up while Eyster pounded away on his opponent. Over the first six hands, Eyster was able to add a few chips to his stack and, after another 15 hands, Eyster had stretched his lead out to nearly a 7:1 advantage. On Hand 173 (only an hour after the heads-up restart), Eyster would claim his prize.
Keeping the pressure on his opponent, Eyster would put out a pre-flop bet that was enough to put Neuville all in. After a quick glance at his cards, Neuville called off his stack and found that he was ahead of Eyster, his K-Q off suit up over Eyster’s K♣ 9♣. That changed quickly as, on the K-9-3 rainbow flop, Eyster rocketed into a commanding lead. Once another nine landed on the turn, all that Neuville could hope for was the case King coming on the river to split the pot. Instead, an Ace would hit, ending Neuville’s tournament in second place and earning Eyster the WSOP bracelet.
1. Kevin Eyster (United States), $622,998
2. Pierre Neuville (Belgium), $385,041
3. Andrew Lichtenberger (United States), $242,827
4. Bryn Kenney (United States), $160,927
5. Jeremy Kottler (United States), $109,844
6. David Borrat (France), $77,145
Event #26 – $1500 No Limit Hold’em – Championship Day
With only 12 players returning from the massive 1594 player field on Friday, the air was thick with the scent of another WSOP bracelet (and a massive pile of cash) being awarded to a fortunate individual. The person with the best chance at the first place prize was chip leader Ryan Welch, who entered the final day of play as the only player over the million chip mark (1.524 million, to be exact). Michael Katz, Dan Smith, Eric Rappaport and Will “The Thrill” Failla were amongst those who were looking to derail Welch’s run.
On the very first hand of play, Andrew Rennhack and Christopher Symesko clashed in a hand that would significantly affect the course of play for the day. Symesko raised from middle position and, on the button, Rennhack decided to take his shot at a double up by moving all in. He had to be a little concerned when Symesko immediately called and those concerns would have been correct; Symesko’s pocket Kings were a massive favorite over Rennhack’s pocket Queens. The board didn’t cooperate with Symesko, however, when a Queen landed on the turn to push Rennhack into the lead. After the board paired to give Rennhack an unnecessary full house, Symesko was knocked down to only 133K in chips and would depart soon afterwards at the hands of Heinz Kamutzki.
Failla would suffer a similar fate to Symesko in being out of the tournament quickly. Failla (holding A-J) would double up Tony Gargano (with A-Q) after the board ran 10-4-K-J-J to give Gargano Broadway over Failla’s trip Jacks, then would run his A-7 off suit into Rappaport’s pocket Aces to depart the tournament in 11th place. Only 30 minutes into the day, the unofficial final table was set.
Katz would make his move in ten-handed play, earning a double through Smith, before the final table would become official. In a blind versus blind battle, Jonas Wexler and Geremy Eiland saw an interesting 5♣ K♣ A♥ that saw all of Wexler’s chips hit the center after some frantic betting. When the cards were shown, Eiland’s 9♣ 8♣ (flush draw) was behind Wexler’s A-K (flopped two pair) and nothing changed on a Queen turn. The dagger was a pairing Queen – the Q♣ – which gave Eiland his flush and sent Wexler to the rail in tenth place.
Welch (1.53 million) still held the lead with the setting of the official final table, but he had been joined by Katz (1.116 million) and Eiland (1.017 million) in the million chip club and Rennhack (953,000) was lurking close behind. Following the table redraw, the players began to blast through each other in search of the title. Smith would fall at the hands of Kamutzki in ninth, Rappaport was dropped in eighth by Reed Goodmiller and Eiland would be eliminated by Welch in seventh in just the first hour of final table action. A huge hand a little further into the table would change the dynamics, however.
On Hand 32, Goodmiller opened the betting and Katz popped him up from the button. Out of the small blind, Welch three-bet the play and, following a Goodmiller fold, Katz fired his remaining chips to the center of the felt. After some deliberation, Welch made the call, tabling an A-Q against Katz’ pocket Jacks, and probably felt good about seeing a Queen in the window. The remainder of the flop would bring a Jack, though, keeping Katz in the lead and, after a nine and a King completed the board, Katz would rip in a humongous pot to sky over the two million chip threshold as Welch fell to 650K in chips.
Six would become five after another 35 hands of play when Gargano was able to eliminate Kamutzki in sixth and then become four once Rennhack eliminated Goodmiller in fifth place. Just before the players headed off to the dinner break, Welch’s tournament would come to a close after his bluff all in move (with K♦ 4♦) was looked up by Katz’ pocket Jacks, pushing Katz over three million chips for three-handed play following the dinner break.
Katz’ edge over Gargano was only about 500K and the two men held a sizeable advantage over Rennhack, who “only” held 1.2 million of the roughly 8.1 million chips in play. Over the span of 30 hands, Rennhack was able to grind his stack into the second place slot over Gargano and, once his pocket Queens eliminated Gargano’s A-6 off suit in third place, actually moved into the lead over Katz for heads-up action. After 24 hands of heads-up play, though, Katz was able to reverse the situation and regain the chip lead as the two men headed to Level 30 (50K/100K blinds, 10K ante).
Now it was Rennhack’s turn to make a surge as he doubled through Katz (his pocket Kings holding up over Katz’ suited J-10) and took back the lead. On the final hand, Rennhack limped from the button and Katz made his stand, pushing his still formidable stack to the center. Rennhack agonized over the decision before finally making the call and seeing he was correct. His pocket sixes held an edge over Katz’ two over cards (K♠ 10♠) and, although the flop and turn would add two more spades to the situation (2-7-2-Q), a five river wasn’t any of the 14 outs that Katz needed, giving the championship to Rennhack.
1. Andrew Rennhack (United States), $408,953
2. Michael Katz (United States), $252,826
3. Tony Gargano (United States), $166,384
4. Ryan Welch (United States), $119,946
5. Reed Goodmiller (United States), $87,797
6. Heinz Kamutzki (Austria), $65,202
7. Geremy Eiland (United States), $49,106
8. Eric Rappaport (United States), $37,486
9. Dan Smith (United States), $28,986
