Besides the Marathon H.O.R.S.E. event, there were two other final tables on Tuesday that didn’t take twenty hours to complete. One was the $3,000 buy-in Triple Chance tournament. Sixteen players returned Tuesday to play down to the final table and, of course, the bracelet. It didn’t take too long before the final nine were set, with players like An “The Boss” Tran and Eric “Rizen” Lynch busting out early in the day. The final nine may not be household names, but several of the players at the table were young poker pros, including 22-year old online pro Jason “JCarver” Somerville, who finished second in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout earlier this month. Somerville was unable to match his success from his previous final table and busted out in 5th place.
The final two players left standing were another online pro, Jason DeWitt, and Jorg Peisert, a recreational poker player from Dusseldorf, Germany. This was DeWitt’s third career WSOP final table and second one this year. He finished in 3rd place in Event #20, a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em event. While DeWitt was able to best his previous finish, he fell just short of the bracelet once again, taking second place and the $313,227 prize that went with it. Peisert, who works full time as an investment banker, emerged victorious, defeating 853 competitors in what is only his second WSOP tournament ever. He earned $506,800 for his impressive victory.
The third final table to wrap up yesterday came in Event #53, a $1,500 buy-in Stud Hi/Lo event. The buzz going into the final day of play was whether or not Poker Stars Pro Chad Brown could capture his first bracelet and join the ranks of James Van Alstyne and Greg “FBT” Mueller, who both managed to nab their first career bracelets this year. Joining Brown at the final table were 3-time bracelet winner Dr. Max Stern and noted tournament director Matt Savage. Savage finished in 5th place, Brown was the next player to fall in fourth and Stern was eliminated in third. This was Brown’s second final table this Series. He previously finished in third place during the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship Event.
Heads-up play came down to New Orleans attorney David Halpert and William Kohler of Cincinnati, Ohio. Halpert held the chip lead at the start of the final table, but relinquished that title to Kohler late in the event. Halpert was able to rally back from a 2 to 1 chip disadvantage to regain the lead and eventually win the bracelet and the $159,048 prize.
The final preliminary event of the WSOP kicked off Tuesday. Event #56, a $5,000 buy-in Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em event drew 940 runners to start the day, but by the end of play only 160 were left standing. Lars Bonding, Eugene Katchelov and online pro Faraz “The-Toliet” Jaka are some of the big stacks who will be returning at 2PM Wednesday to play down to the final table.
The final $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event and the $2,500 Limit Deuce to Seven events also played Tuesday. Neither event was able to narrow the field to the final table by the 3AM deadline, so nine players, including Kill Phil author Blair Rodman, will return tomorrow in the Deuce to Seven event, while 28 players, including WPT Borgata winner Vivek “psyduck” Rajkumar, remain in the No Limit Hold’em tournament.