Jesse Martin Defeats David "Bakes" Baker to Earn First WSOP Bracelet
Two new bracelet winners emerged on Day 28 of the 2013 World Series of Poker. It turned out to be a relatively early night inside the Amazon Room on Tuesday as Norbert Szecsi (Event #42) and Jesse Martin (Event #43) each quickly won his respective final table.
Also taking place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Tuesday were Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em, Event #45: $1,500 Ante-Only No-Limit Hold'em and Event #46: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low 8-or-Better.
Event #42: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em
On Tuesday, poker pro Norbert Szecsi, 22, became the first Hungarian to win a bracelet at the 2013 World Series of Poker. He did so in impressive fashion, winning one of the quickest final tables of the summer to claim his first bracelet and top prize of $345,037.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norbert Szecsi | $345,037 |
| 2 | Denis Gnidash | $214,760 |
| 3 | Chris DeMaci | $149,281 |
| 4 | Kirby Martin | $107,512 |
| 5 | Rory Mathews | $78,576 |
| 6 | Bryce Landier | $58,126 |
| 7 | Ariel Celestino | $43,564 |
| 8 | Dana Buck | $33,065 |
| 9 | Jonathan Bennett | $25,392 |
Szecsi entered Day 3 third in chips but was the shortest stack with six players remaining. A run of good fortune vaulted him to the top of the counts, starting with a huge coinflip against Rory Mathews. A short while later, he was all in with pocket nines and made quads to crack pocket aces. His rush continued when he rivered a flush to eliminate Kirby Martin in fourth place.
Chris DeMaci, who had the most accomplished WSOP résumé at the final table, busted in third place when he ran ace-ten into Szecsi's pocket kings. Szecsi entered heads-up play with about a three-to-two lead and secured the title in just seven hands against Denis Gnidash. Szecsi flopped two pair and his hand held up against top pair and a flush draw to put an end to the tournament.
Event #43: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball
It took some time for Jesse Martin to find his groove at the final table of Event #43 on Tuesday. But once he did, there was no stopping him.
Martin, a well-known high-stakes player known as "MazeOrBowie" online, bested a tough field of 87 to win the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball event. Martin maneuvered his way to survival with a short stack for the early stage of the final table, but slowly climbed into the lead before putting on a dominating performance that ended with a victory over the red-hot David "Bakes" Baker heads-up. Martin earned $253,524 for the title, but the bracelet itself was the crowning achievement for Martin, who got very emotional during his postgame interview.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jesse Martin | $253,524 |
| 2 | David "Bakes" Baker | $156,674 |
| 3 | Konstantin Puchkov | $99,313 |
| 4 | Jeff Lisandro | $67,264 |
| 5 | Jon Turner | $47,792 |
| 6 | Layne Flack | $35,549 |
| 7 | John Hennigan | $27,644 |
The final day began with seven players in contention and six-time WSOP bracelet winner Layne Flack leading the way, but the lead was traded several times throughout the day. One player who failed to gain any traction was John Hennigan, who became the first player to hit the rail when he moved all in and stood pat against Konstantin Puchkov. The Russian pro also stood pat but held a better hand and Hennigan was eliminated in seventh place.
Six-handed play lasted for more than four hours, and during that time, Martin began making up ground. He was the shortest stack when Hennigan hit the rail, but by the time he eliminated Flack in sixth place, he was the overwhelming chip leader. Flack's hopes of winning a seventh bracelet were dashed when he and Martin both drew one card during a heads-up confrontation. Both paired up, but Martin's pair was smaller and Flack was eliminated.
After Flack's exit, the eliminations went quickly. Jon Turner fell at the hands of Puchkov for a fifth place finish and Jeff Lisandro was later eliminated by Baker.
Martin had a massive chip lead coming back from the dinner break for continued dominance when he sent Puchkov packing in third place. Martin suddenly found himself heads-up with Baker, who was at his fourth final table of the series and seeking his first bracelet of the summer. Baker also happened to be the 2010 champion of this event, but he was unable to overcome Martin's massive lead. Nine hands into the match, Martin opened with a raise from the button and Baker moved all in over the top. Martin called and both players drew one card. Baker picked up a king to give him a king-low while Martin was able to pull a winning ten for a ten-low. Baker graciously congratulated Martin as the winner of one of the biggest buy-ins of the 2013 WSOP.
Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em
A field of 1,072 entrants has been trimmed down to 22 after two days of play in Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Leading the way heading into Day 3 is Niall Farrell, who bagged 792,000 chips to end the night. Close behind are battle-tested pros Michael Rocco (780,000) and Mark Teltscher (719,999).
Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier also survived the day and advanced to his first Day 3 of the 2013 WSOP, as he will be coming back with 566,000. Other notables in contention for the $592,684 top prize are Will Jaffe (425,000), Nam Le (327,000), Justin Zaki (221,000), Pedro Rios (186,000), and Marco Johnson (124,000).
The final 22 players will return Wednesday at 1 p.m. to play down to a winner. Keep your browser locked to PokerNews.com for up-to-the-minute coverage of the final table.
Event #45: $1,500 Ante-Only No-Limit Hold'em
For the second straight year the WSOP offered an Ante-Only tournament to players as part of the bracelet schedule. After 939 players entered last year's inaugural event, 678 put up the $1,500 buy-in on Tuesday, and top 72 finishers would lock up a payday. The eventual winner will take home a bracelet and $201,399.
After 10 levels of play, British online poker legend Chris Moorman was the comfortable chip leader with 143,900. His next closest competitor was Sam Panzica, who bagged 118,000. Others taking big stacks into Day 2 include Aaron Massey (99,200), Gabriel Nassif (89,500), and Allen Cunningham (83,400).
Following the eliminations of players like Jennifer Tilly, Phil Hellmuth, Rex Clinkscales, Vince Van Patten, Jake Schwartz, Brent Hanks, and defending champion Greg Hobson during the day, the evening closed with the bursting of the money bubble. The remaining 71 players will return Wednesday with hopes of reaching the final table.
Stay tuned to PokerNews.com as we bring you continuing coverage of Event #45.
Event #46: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low 8-or-Better
The $3,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha Hi-low 8-or Better tournament kicked off Tuesday with 435 players taking their seat inside the Amazon Room. After eight levels of action, only 144 were left vying for the $279,094 payday at the end of the road.
Matt Woodward is the tournament's overnight chip leader, having bagged 99,700 chips when play ended. Trailing Woodward at the top of the leaderboard are are Zhen Cai (95,300), Michael Sanders (79,500) and Paul Tedeschi (70,800). Most of Tedeschi's stack used to belong to Owais Ahmed, but the two created a huge pot that resulted in Ahmed's exit. Ahmed will not be too upset, though, because he won a seat to the One Drop tournament in the WSOP.com random draw worth $111,111.
Other notables advancing to Wednesday's Day 2 include Gavin Smith (60,500), Ireland's John O'Shea (50,500), Leif Force (43,300), Stephen Chidwick (29,900), Eric Baldwin (28,900), Antoine Saout (27,300), Joe Hachem (25,600), Mike Matusow (22,000) and Jeff Madsen (17,200).
Day 2 will kick off at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, so check out the PokerNews live reporting page for full coverage of the event.
On Tap
Only one event is scheduled to play down to a winner on Wednesday: Event #44: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Meanwhile, Event #45: $1,500 Ante-Only No-Limit Hold'em and Event #46: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low 8-or-Better are scheduled to reach a final table. All eyes, however, will be fixed on Event #47: $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold'em, which kicks off at noon. That will be followed by the start of Event #48: $2,500 Limit Hold'em (Six Handed) at 5 p.m. PST.
Video of the Day
It's always great to see a longtime poker grinder get the monkey off his back by winning a WSOP bracelet. On Monday, Jared Hamby and Steve Gross won gold for the first time. On Tuesday, it was Jesse Martin, who truly showed how much the achievement mean to him during his interview with PokerNews' Lynn Gilmartin.
Be sure to follow our Live Reporting page for continuing coverage of every event at the 2013 World Series of Poker, and follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
