Jeff Carris told media members late Friday night that he didn’t normally play tournaments. He then followed that up with, “I should probably start.”
Carris won the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout at the World Series of Poker, besting a final table of 10 players to earn his first bracelet and a prize of $313,673. The 10 players had each won their first two rounds of one-table shootouts to advance to Friday’s final table.
It was one of the most rambunctious crowds we’ve seen gathered at the secondary featured table during this year’s WSOP as it seemed almost every player had some sort of cheering section. Carris had a large group of friends on the rail dressed in bright orange T-shirts that said, “The Wildcat Jeff Carris”, with a picture of Jeff’s head on the body of a lion.
He fed off that support system to eliminate five players from the final table. The first was Ralph Shannon, whose stack had suffered a big hit early in the day. Shannon moved all in for 117,000 preflop and was called by Carris with pocket Kings. Shannon’s K-Q couldn’t improve and he was sent to the rail in 10th place for $13,609.
After the eliminations of Josh Tieman and Mike McNeil, Carris took out Eugene Katchalov in seventh place. Sitting with just over three big blinds in his stack, Katchalov moved all in preflop and Carris called with K-9. Katchalov’s pocket queens were in great shape until he made a set on the river – which gave Carris the winning straight. The New York City native left the Rio with $29,195 for his three days of work.
Brandon Wong was eliminated in sixth place and Joseph Cutler in fifth. Chris Moore then moved his last 300,000 into the middle preflop with K-J and Carris called with A-9. The flop hit both players, as Carris made top pair and Moore picked up a flush draw, but the turn and river bricked for Moore and he was gone in fourth place.
Andrew Margolis, one of the more excitable players at the final table, was sent home in third place. With the blinds at 15,000/30,000 with a 4,000 ante, Carris raised to 80,000 from the button and Margolis reraised all in for around 600,000 from the small blind. Carris called with A-Q, which was in front of Margolis’ K-8. Neither player connected with the flop but an Ace hit on the turn, leaving Margolis drawing dead and out of the tournament with $124,158.
Somerville began heads up play with a 3-1 chip deficit and it didn’t take long for Carris to get the best of him. Just 20 minutes after Margolis’ elimination, a short-stacked Somerville moved his last chips in preflop with Q-6. Carris called with K-5 and after the dealer revealed the board his King-high was good enough to take down the pot and the title.
Here are the final results from Event #22:
1. Jeffrey Carris – $313,673
2. Jason Somerville – $194,004
3. Andrew Margolis – $124,158
4. Chris Moore – $82,322
5. Joseph Cutler – $56,440
6. Brandon Wong – $39,968
7. Eugene Katchalov – $29,195
8. Michael McNeil – $21,981
9. Joshua Tieman – $17,045
10. Ralph Shannon – $13,609
Two more bracelet winners will be crowned Saturday as play will conclude in the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud and $1,500 No Limit Hold’em events. Fourteen players will play down to a champion in the Omaha/Stud event. Jon “PearlJammer” Turner finished Day 2 as the chip leader with 465,000 chips; Carlos Mortensen is the next closest with 328,000. Other big names still alive include Phil Ivey, Dutch Boyd, and Chad Brown.
Andy “BKiCe” Seth is the chip leader heading into the final day of the $1,500 NLHE tournament. Seth, a well-known online tournament player, will attempt to outplay the other remaining 18 players and earn himself a payday of $607,256. Others still in the field are Alan Jaffrey, Michael Greco and 2008 WSOP Main Event 10th-place finisher Dean Hamrick.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for updates on all of today’s events at the World Series of Poker.
