2014 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em entered Day 3 with just 12 players of the original 2,086 remaining, and even though it took a few hours to get down to the official final table, we knew we would see a champion crowned Monday. That man was former United States Marine Ted Gillis, who won the first WSOP bracelet of his live tournament career and scored by far his largest cash.
To illustrate how significant this payday was compared to the rest of his cashes, Gillis had previously won just $10,538 before claiming yesterday’s WSOP title. At $514,027 for first place, he multiplied his lifetime earnings many, many times. In his previous three cashes, he did have one at the World Series of Poker: a 172nd place finish in a similar $1,500 event last year.
Gillis began the day third in chips with 1,118,000, just behind Mustapha Kanit (1,183,000) and well behind chip leader Hiren “Sunny” Patel, who had 1,873,000 thanks to a double knockout at the end of Day 2. By the time there were ten players remaining, Gillis had seen his stack fall to less than half what it was at the start. And then, after having his Jacks cracked by Edison Shield’s Eights, he was down to just 375,000 chips. He recovered, though (obviously), getting a suckout of his own when his K-8 suited bested Patel’s Aces in an all-in pre-flop situation.
Once the final table started, Gillis got aggressive, quickly chipping up to 1,760,000 after only 19 hands. Though he fell hard once again, he bounced back to grow his chip stack to over 2,000,000 by the dinner break. After eliminating Dejan Divkovic in third place, Gillis took a solid lead into heads-up against John “Johnny World” Hennigan, 5,600,000 to 3,800,000.
The one-on-one match was a quick one. On the 19th hand, Gillis crippled Hennigan and seven hands later, it was all over. Hennigan moved all-in pre-flop with Q-9 and Gillis made the call with A-6. An Ace landed on the flop, giving Hennigan little hope. The miracle did not present itself on either the turn or the river, giving Ted Gillis the WSOP bracelet and over a half million dollars.
In an interview with WSOP.com’s Jessica Welman after his victory, Gillis summed up his feelings succinctly, saying, “It means a lot. Kind of making a mark on history.”
2014 World Series of Poker Event #19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Final Table Results
1. Ted Gillis- $514,027
2. John Hennigan – $319,993
3. Dejan Divkovic- $222,429
4. Jacobo Fernandez – $160,193
5. Mustapha Kanit – $117,079
6. Jaime Kaplan – $86,609
7. Hiren Patel – $64,911
8. Edison Shields – $49,267
9. Dylan Thomassie – $37,834
* Photo and tournament information courtesy WSOP.com.