Nearly-Man No More
With a schedule as congested as the Paris parking lot, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a difficult thing to encapsulate. $50m in registration fees fuel the mammoth machine at which, on any given day, warriors are saluted, seniors are sated, grinders are gratified, and high rollers are humored.
In the wee hours of July 17, the hundredth and last bracelet will be awarded and it will all seem like a bit of a blur; a nebulous haze of hand histories and winner’s photos, a fuzzy muddle of moments remembered and half-remembered. The sharpest recollections will come from the biggest events. The Main Event will, of course, be at the forefront of everyone’s mind, but some gigabytes of storage will be reserved for tournaments like the one that finished last night.
a remarkable twelve months have resulted in an extraordinary $19m in cashes
The $250,000 buy-in was the largest of the Series and it brought together an elite field, the cream of the poker crop. Rising to the top on this occasion was a man who has been enjoying the hottest of heaters of late. One year ago, Seth Davies was the nearly-man of the nosebleed tournament scene, but a remarkable twelve months have resulted in an extraordinary $19m in cashes, including marquee victories in the Super High Roller Bowl, the Triton Series, and now at the WSOP.
Setting the table
Daniel Negreanu made a dubious re-shove to bust out in ninth, setting the table for the final day, but the viral moment of the tournament came from a sublime and savagely executed check-jam from one of the game’s all-time greats, David Peters. With A♣J♣, he had the perfect candidate with which to check-raise bluff on 8♦8♠J♠3♠9♣, but fearlessly doing so on the direct bubble versus the wily Martin Kabrhel demonstrated god-like composure.
Bringing a commanding chip lead to the final table was Thomas Boivin, who finished Day 2 with almost twice as many chips as anyone else in the field. Buoyed by his third place in the $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller event just last week, the Belgian had his sights set firmly on beating that career best $1,212,020 result.
Seemingly an unstoppable force on the penultimate day, Boivin would have to deal with some of poker’s most immovable objects if he were to win the bracelet. The in-form Ben Tollerene and defending champion Alex Foxen led the chasing group while Bryn Kenney, Davies, and Peters were tightly bunched in the middle of the pack. Kabrhel and Chris Brewer were also still in contention, hoping to spin their short stacks in pursuit of ladders and possible glory.
The dealer chose violence
The dealer chose violence early at the final table, delivering cold decks aplenty. On the very first hand of televised action, Kabrhel ran Ace-King into Kenney’s Aces but survived after an unlikely straight hit the desk.
“Is anyone surprised?” yelled the triumphant Czech as the river six fell. The very next hand, Foxen was catered pocket Aces and he would get a virtual double-up when Tollerene succumbed with pocket Kings.
Kabrhel would bow out moments later in seventh when he shoved his suited connectors into fellow short stack Brewer, who found Ace-Jack to make the call. Less than an orbit later, Peters fell in sixth, his suited King no match for a rampant Foxen who peeked down at an Ace. With that hold, Foxen was level with Boivin at the top and the two were pulling away from the field.
The next hand of significance was a sick one if your name is Chris Brewer. With Queen-Jack on a Queen-high board, he was in a great spot, looking to extract value across three streets from Foxen’s pocket nines. A nine on the river both blindsided and perturbed him in equal measure as he hit the rail in fifth. For the next hour, there would be no bust outs, but plenty of intriguing poker as Kenney and Davies scrapped to stay alive versus the deft maneuverings of Boivin and an ascendant Foxen.
Davies on the charge
After some back and forth among the quartet, Kenney decided that the dynamics were such that he could open Ace-Queen and five-bet ship it versus two raises. On this occasion, he ran into it as Davies’ pocket Kings did a crucial hold.
Davies made further headway, taking big bites out of his opponents, setting up a fascinating deep-stacked trio. He made some judiciously timed bluffs and woke up with some hands too, putting Boivin in the blender on more than one occasion. When the Belgian finally made a stand with some suited paint, it would be his last as Foxen once again played the role of executioner. Boivin had achieved a new personal high score, but he would ultimately have to settle for another bronze medal.
it took precisely one hand to see the chips go flying
Heads-up looked as though it could be a war of attrition between two titans of the game, virtually deadlocked with 60 big blinds apiece. However, it took precisely one hand to see the chips go flying. Foxen raised and Davies unceremoniously lamped his stack with Ace-Jack. Once again, it looked as though Foxen had the panacea with Ace-Queen, but on this occasion, his immunity was impaired, as Davies paired his Jack on the flop. A clean run out left Foxen with fumes and his hopes for a back-to-back were extinguished the next hand when his King-Five was no match for Davies’ pocket Aces.
Purple patch
When the dust settled on a dramatic night of high caliber poker, Davies reflected on the biggest result of his career – a $4,752,551 payday – just reward for outlasting 62 of the world’s top No Limit Hold’em opponents. It’s been a purple patch for sure since the Super High Roller Bowl victory last August and Davies was keen to acknowledge the luck factor and how it is intertwined with his mental game:
“In the end, it’s mostly that I’m just running really good. But I have kind of come full circle on a couple of mindset things where I do feel a little bit more satisfied, more content, even before I was winning.”
WSOP Event #46: $250,000 Super High Roller Final Table Results
- Seth Davies $4,752,551
- Alex Foxen $3,060,314
- Thomas Boivin $2,057,430
- Bryn Kenney $1,446,929
- Chris Brewer $ 1,066,731
- David Peters $826,348
- Martin Kabrhel $674,359
- Ben Tollerene $581,411
