Online poker guru Jeffrey “jpapola” Papola came out on top in the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max event (#32) at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Papola became the first person ever to finish 1-2 in Six-Max events at the WSOP, having also taken second in Event #26, a $2,500 No Limit Hold’em Short-Handed event. Papola is a sponsored pro of the USA-friendly site RPM Poker.
Papola has run well at the WSOP in the last two years. In 2008, he took 90th in the Main Event for $64,000 and finished 249th in the same tournament last year for $33,000. Papola already owns over $1 million in WSOP earnings in 2010 and, following his bracelet win, hopped on a plane and headed home to New York. Papola is in his third year of law school at Pace University and told WSOP officials following Saturday’s play, “I’m not exactly sure what I want to do with [law school]. I have learned a lot of things. But as far as practicing law, I do not see myself being able to do that, because I really do not like the 9 to 5 thing.”
Papola denied Men “The Master” Nguyen his second WSOP bracelet of 2010 and eighth overall. Nguyen took down this year’s Seven Card Stud World Championship for $394,000 and banked $360,000 on Saturday night. Nguyen leads the 2010 WSOP Player of the Year standings entering Sunday’s play in Las Vegas with three cashes and one bracelet. He’s part of a three-way logjam for first place with 2010 WSOP bracelet winners Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and James “Flushy” Dempsey.
After sparring for four hours heads-up, Papola came out on top when his pocket jacks outlasted Nguyen’s K-10 of spades. Coverage found on WSOP.com details Nguyen’s final moments: “He shook Papola’s hand before collecting his things and stepping away from the table. Nguyen’s smile disappeared quickly, though, and he had a few unkind words for one of the dealers.” Nguyen is one of the more controversial characters in the industry, but was nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2009.
The first casualty of the six-handed final table went to Full Tilt pro Erick Lindgren. He ran pocket queens into Nguyen’s pocket kings on his final hand and the board came 4-5-2-6-8. Lindgren cashed for $82,000 in his ninth WSOP final table. Lindgren’s bracelet came in 2008 in a $5,000 Mixed Hold’em event, when he bested an extremely talented final table that included Justin Bonomo, Victory Poker pro Andrew “good2cu” Robl, Roland de Wolfe, Chino Rheem, Howard Lederer, reigning World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship winner David Williams, PokerStars pro Pat Pezzin, and Isaac Haxton.
Here’s how the final table cashed out in Event #32:
1. Jeffrey Papola – $667,433
2. Men “The Master” Nguyen – $412,746
3. Mark Radoja – $262,902
4. Bruno Launais – $173,123
5. Orlando Delacruz – $117,595
6. Erick Lindgren – $82,303
Also wrapping up on Saturday was Event #33, $2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Omaha. Jose-Luis Velador has only made it to the final table of a WSOP tournament twice; both times, he’s emerged as the champion. Velador outlasted former WPT Championship winner David Chiu heads-up. In the pair’s final hand, Chiu called all-in with A-10 on a flop of 6-3-2 for ace-high and Velador showed 7-6 for top pair. A running 9-J secured the second bracelet win and $260,000 payday for Velador, while Chiu was denied his fifth WSOP title.
On his second piece of hardware, Velador told tournament officials, “It means a lot to me. I mean, any bracelet is always going to mean a lot – especially beating so many tough players. This was a very tough final table.” In fact, the finale had three gold bracelet winners: Velador, Rob Hollink, and Chiu. Hollink, who won the 2005 European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final in Monaco, took third on Saturday and banked $116,000.
Hollink’s exit occurred during Omaha play. He was all-in before the flop with Qh-10d-8h-4d against Velador’s Kh-Kd-9d-7h. The flop came Q-8-3 rainbow, giving Hollink some hope with two pair. However, a running 6-3 improved him to kings-up, giving him a commanding chip lead entering heads-up play against Chiu. Here were the final results:
1. Jose-Luis Velador – $260,517
2. David Chiu – $160,902
3. Rob Hollink – $116,359
4. Craig Gray – $85,030
5. Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee – $62,791
6. Victor Ramdin – $46,861
7. James Mitchell – $35,331
8. Gavin Cochrane – $26,906
9. Matt Sterling – $20,698
The final three rounds of the $10,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em World Championship will play out today from the Rio featuring Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, Alexander Kostritsyn, Lucovic Lacay, Ayaz Mahmood, Vanessa Rousso, Ernst Schmejkal, Jason Somerville, and Kido Pham. None of the eight survivors has won a bracelet.
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