Canadian student Pascal LeFrancois collected his first bracelet and $568,974 by winning the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Event #8 on Friday evening. The Montreal, Quebec native took a massive chip lead to the final table and breezed through to add his name to the list of Canadian bracelet winners, joining the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Nenad Medic, and Greg “FBT” Mueller.
Day 3 of Event #8 began with 25 players, the most notable of which was UB.com’s Phil Hellmuth, who captured the attention of poker enthusiasts by amassing 565,000 chips entering the final day, the fifth most in the tournament. His bid for bracelet #12 was cut short, however, as Hellmuth was eliminated in 15th place, earning $25,472 and his all-time best 76th WSOP cash. Hellmuth winning a 12th bracelet would have potentially brought the roof down at the Rio.
Six different countries were represented at the final table, making for a unique rail and exciting atmosphere inside the Amazon Room. Israel’s Saar Wilf, who held the chip lead at the end of Day 2, and American Josh Brikis were the first two to exit the final table and it happened in the same hand. Both players got their remaining chips in pre-flop with A-K against the pocket jacks of Max Steinberg and when the pair held up, Wilf and Brikis were sent to the rail in ninth and eighth place, respectively (Brikis had more chips when the hand began).
Kurt Disessa was eliminated in seventh place and was followed by Aussie James Anderson in sixth. Collecting fifth place money was David Aue, who suffered a nasty beat to send him out of the tournament. Aue moved all-in preflop with [Td][Ts] and was called by Kevin Howe, who turned over [9h][9c]. The [7h][6c][4d] flop was harmless for Aue, but the [Tc] turn made things interesting, giving Aue a set and Howe more outs with a gutshot straight draw. Amazingly enough, the [8d] fell on the river to give Howe his straight and eliminate Aue.
The next player sent packing was Daniel Wjuniski, whose pocket sevens couldn’t outdraw Steinberg’s jacks after all of the chips went in pre-flop. The Brazilian earned $179,286 for his first ever WSOP cash. LeFrancois handled the dirty work on the next elimination when his pocked kings bested the [As][Ts] of Howe, who went home with $249,351 for third place.
When heads-up play began, LeFrancois had more than nine million chips to Steinberg’s 1.4 million and it took less than 20 minutes for the Canadian to dispose of the American. On the final hand, the two players saw a flop of [Kh][Jc][4c]. Steinberg bet 140,000 and LeFrancois called. Steinberg fired again when the [5h] hit the turn for 340,000 and LeFrancois called. When the [Td] came on the river, Steinberg fired a third bullet by moving all-in. LeFrancois elected to call with [Js][6c] and rushed over to his rail when he saw the [3h][4s] of Steinberg, who finished as the runner-up for $352,916.
Following his victory, LeFrancois ripped off his shirt and posed bare-skinned in the traditional winner’s photo shot. It was the first time any player in the history of the WSOP had gone bare-chested for the champion’s portrait. “It was an inside joke with my friends,” said LeFrancois, who said he and his friends routinely wear v-neck t-shirts. “We always laugh about our v-necks. We are ‘Team V-Neck‘ because we wear those kinds of shirts. They were all cheering for me to take off my shirt. I was excited, so I did it.”
Event #8 results:
1. Pascal LeFrancois – $568,974
2. Max Steinberg – $352,916
3. Kevin Howe – $249,351
4. Daniel Wjuniski – $179,286
5. David Aue – $130,617
6. James Andersen – $96,422
7. Kurt Disessa – $72,087
8. Joshua Brikis – $54,579
9. Saar Wilf – $41,843
On Saturday, two more bracelets will be handed out at the Rio Hotel and Casino, as the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em (Event #9) and $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship (Event #10) will play down to a winner. Leading Event #9 with nine players left is Steve Chanthabouasy with 533,000 in chips. The lone woman left standing is J.J. Liu, who is third in chips with 479,000. The final table kicks off at 2:30pm PT, with the winner taking home $197,470.
The $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship will start up at 3:30pm PT and the remaining 12 players will duke it out for the celebrated bracelet and $394,800 in first place prize money. Vladimir Schmelev is the chip leader and Michael Mizrachi is third going into the final day. Mizrachi beat Schmelev heads-up to win the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship earlier this week, creating an exciting side story for the tournament.
Here’s a look at the top nine stacks in Event #10:
1. Vladimir Schmelev – 921,000
2. Sirious Jamshidi – 638,000
3. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi – 544,000
4. Nikolay Evdakov – 543,000
5. Steve “MrSmokey1” Billirakis – 448,000
6. Joe Cassidy – 410,000
7. Men “The Master” Nguyen – 302,000
8. Dan Heimiller – 222,000
9. Eric Buchman – 142,000
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest 2010 WSOP news.