If you didn’t know the name Jake Cody before now, it’s time to start paying attention. The 22-year-old from Rochdale, England accomplished an extraordinary feat late Friday evening, taking down the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship at the World Series of Poker to complete the last leg of poker’s Triple Crown. Cody has now won events at the WSOP, European Poker Tour (EPT), and World Poker Tour (WPT). And they all came within a 15 month period. Incredible.
Cody wiped out two world-class players Friday to earn the coveted gold bracelet and $851,192 in prize money. He first defeated Gus Hansen in the semifinals, a shock to many considering Hansen had won 12 straight WSOP heads up matches going back to his bracelet win in the WSOP Europe Heads Up event last year.
Cody advanced to play another young superstar, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, in the final. Timoshenko defeated two-time bracelet winner Eric “E-Fro” Froelich in the semis, and like Cody was eyeing his first bracelet. Both players had a rail of noisy supporters in their corner, setting up a ferocious bout at the ESPN feature stage.
After nearly three hours of play, both players were getting low on wiggle room and the match turned into a pre-flop shoving contest. Cody would get the best of it, as on the final hand of the match Timoshenko limped the button, Cody moved all in and Timoshenko called. Cody turned over Kc-9c, which trailed Timoshenko’s Ac-5s. But the Kh-Qd-4h-6h-4d board gave Cody a pair of Kings, securing the title and placing him in a class with the likes of Roland de Wolfe and Gavin Griffin.
His rail busted out into a chant of “Triple Crown, Triple Crown,” as Cody smiled proudly and took in what he had just accomplished. Timoshenko, meanwhile, collected $525,980 for his second-place finish. It was a disappointing result for the former WPT Championship winner, who told ESPN’s Kara Scott that it was the tournament he wanted to win most at this year’s WSOP.
Here’s a look at Top 8 finishers at the WSOP $25,000 Heads-Up Championship:
1. Jake Cody — $851,192
2. Yevgeniy Timoshenko — $525,980
3. Gus Hansen — $283,966
3. Eric Froehlich — $283,966
5. Matt Marafioti — $138,852
5. Anthony Guetti — $138,852
5. Nikolay Evdakov — $138,852
5. David Paredes — $138,852
Also picking up hardware on Friday was Francesco Barbaro, who defeated the biggest Omaha Hi-Low field in WSOP history to collect $262,283. Event #3 began with a whopping 925 players and Barbaro was the last man standing after defeating Kostas Kalathakis heads-up for the victory.
The final table began with three familiar pros, the most recognizable being Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes, who was the lone bracelet winner at the 10-handed final table. He was joined by Matt Waxman and last year’s Russian sensation, Vladimir Schemelev. Waxman survived to make the top three, but it was clearly Barbaro’s tournament from the beginning as he sent both Waxman and Kalathakis to the rail to secure his first WSOP bracelet.
WSOP $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better Results:
1. Francesco Barbaro — $262,283
2. Kostas Kalathakis — $161,675
3. Matt Waxman — $104,770
4. Bradley Helm — $76,673
5. Michael Deveronica — $56,943
6. Humberto Brenes — $42,857
7. Cam McKinley — $32,654
8. Vladimir Schemelev — $25,174
9. Travis Pearson — $19,617
10. Richard Monroe — $15,484
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily as we recap all the action from Saturday’s events at the Rio in Las Vegas.
