If there is a bad time to win a World Series of Poker (WSOP) event, it is smack dab in between the million dollar Big One for One Drop and the crown jewel of the WSOP, the $10,000 Main Event. I mean, no time is really a bad time to win a WSOP tournament, what with all the riches bestowed upon the victor, not to mention the wonderful bracelet, but still, if someone is looking for fame, don’t use your “one time” while people are still giddy about one ESPN televised event and building up the excitement for the only other.
What I’m saying is this: forgive me if this past weekend’s finale of the $1,111 Little One for One Drop got lost in my shuffle. Heck, I don’t even work weekends. But now that I’m back to it, let’s talk about the Ukraine’s Igor Dubinskyy, winner of the Little One for One Drop and its $637,539 first prize.
This was not the first live tournament cash of Dubinskyy’s career, but it was most certainly the largest. Prior to this, the most he had ever won was $42,990, accomplished in last year’s WSOP Main Event, where he finished 192nd. He had less than $140,000 in career earnings going into the Little One for One Drop, so this was obviously a resume booster.
After the win, Dubinskyy told the WSOP’s Nolan Dalla, “I do not have the right words to express my feelings about winning. I want to thank the organizers of this event and the charity for making it all possible, plus all of my friends who are here.”
Like in the Big One for One Drop, a portion of the buy-in for this event goes to the One Drop charity, an organization founded by Cirque du Soleil head man Guy Laliberte and dedicated to bringing clean drinking water to every person on the planet. $111 went to the charity from each player, bringing the total donation for the tournament to half a million dollars.
It was a heck of a run at the final table for Dubinskyy, as he started with just 770,000 chips, the second shortest stack at the table. For comparison, the chip leader had 3,180,000 and six players had at least 1,960,000. It took him a while to really get going and he survived an early all-in with the worst of it when the board gave both players a straight, but when he made his move, he really made his move. By the time heads-up rolled around, he was had increased his original final table stack by a factor of ten, though he was still behind Ted Driscoll, 10,100,000 to 7,900,000.
Within three hands Dubinskyy had taken the lead and within eight he was up 13,000,000 to 5,000,000. And just like that, six hands later, it was over. Both players limped pre-flop to see a flop of 4♥-3♣-3♥. They checked the flop, but Dubinskyy woke up with a 500,000 chip bet when the K♦ was dealt on the turn. Driscoll called and the two saw the 7♣ on the river. Dubinskyy checked this time, prompting Driscoll to bet 1,000,000. Dubinskyy then check-raised to 2,400,000 and Driscoll moved all-in for 3,315,000. Excited, Dubinskyy asked how much the bet was and when he was told, he made the call. Driscoll showed J♠-3♦ for flopped trips, but Dubinskyy had 5♥-6♥ – he had rivered a straight, giving him his first WSOP bracelet.
2014 World Series of Poker $1,111 Little One for One Drop – Final Table Results
1. Igor Dubinskyy – $637,539
2. Theodore Driscoll – $394,281
3. Brandon Eisen – $283,895
4. Shai Zurr – $209,805
5. Eric Baldwin – $156,352
6. Jackduyph Duong – $117,507
7. Matthew Lapossie – $89,020
8. Vimy Ha – $68,019
9. Bao Nguyen – $52,400
*Tournament information courtesy WSOP.com