Daniel Alaei Wins Fourth WSOP Bracelet, and Second Woman Wins Open Event in 2013
Three World Series of Poker bracelets were awarded on Sunday, headlined by Daniel Alaei’s victory in Event #61: $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha, the same event he won in 2010. Loni Harwood finally won a bracelet in her third final table of the Series, and Brian Yoon bested over 4,000 players in the 2013 WSOP’s second charity event.
No more bracelets will be awarded this summer. The only remaining tournament is the Main Event, which will play down to a final table over the next week, and a winner will be determined in November.
Event #58: $1,111 Little One for One Drop No-Limit Hold'em
The first ever Little One for One Drop is in the books, and after four days at the tables, Brian Yoon outlasted a field of 4756 players to win $663,727 and his first WSOP gold bracelet.
FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS
| Place | Name | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Yoon | $663,727 |
| 2 | Cuong Van Nguyen | $408,264 |
| 3 | Roland Israelashvili | $295,433 |
| 4 | Justin Zaki | $218,771 |
| 5 | Nghi Tran | $163,340 |
| 6 | Joseph Morneau | $122,933 |
| 7 | Kevin O'Donnell | $93,269 |
| 8 | Alexander Case | $71,311 |
| 9 | Adriano Santa Ana | $54,960 |
This was the second charity event of the 2013 World Series, following on the heels of Event #47: $111,111 One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold'em. From every entry in the Little One for One Drop, $111 was donated to the One Drop Foundation, a charity dedicated to improving global access to clean water. In total, this massive field contributed $527,916 to the cause. The One Drop High Roller event produced $553,278, and combined the World Series generated over $1 million for the foundation.
So many people turned out for this new event that an unplanned fourth day of play was added to the schedule. The final table officially began Saturday evening, and play was halted for the night not long after Adriano Santa Ana was eliminated in ninth place. The remaining eight resumed play on Sunday.
Play jumped off to a furious start, as the first bustout occurred on only the second hand of the day, when Joe Morneau knocked out Alex Case. On the very next hand, Kevin O’Donnell shoved with K♥Q♠, and was called by Nghi "Henry" Tran’s A♣3♠. Tran ended up making a full house, knocking O’Donnell out in seventh place. Just three hands later, Morneau was eliminated when he was outkicked by eventual winner Brian Yoon.
After three bustouts in the first six hands, the action calmed down a bit, and the next elimination didn’t occur for another hour and a half. Henry Tran ended up in an all-in confrontation holding pocket sevens against Yoon’s 9♥7♣, and Yoon spiked a nine on the turn to send Tran to the rail in fifth place.
Four-handed play lasted about an hour, and it ended when Justin Zaki lost a flip against Yoon. Three-handed play, however, lasted only a single hand. Roland Israelashvili pushed all in with K♦Q♠, but was dominated by Yoon’s A♠Q♦. Heads-up play went quickly as well, as Cuong Van Nguyen busted on his 11th hand against Yoon. After defeating Van Nguyen heads up, Yoon added his name to the list of WSOP bracelet winners, and walked away $663,727 richer.
Event #60: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em
Loni Harwood had already made two final tables in this year’s WSOP. On Sunday, she finally closed the deal and won her first career World Series bracelet. Combined with her previous cashes, the victory catapults Harwood into third place on the WSOP Player of the Year leader board.
Harwood is now the second woman to win a bracelet in an open event at the 2013 World Series, following Dana Castaneda’s win last week in Event #54: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Since 2008, only three women have emerged victorious in open events: Harwood, Castaneda, and Vanessa Selbst.
FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS
| Place | Name | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Loni Harwood | $609,017 |
| 2 | Yongshuo Zheng | $378,607 |
| 3 | Mika Paasonen | $267,978 |
| 4 | Yngve Steen | $193,265 |
| 5 | Asi Moshe | $141,124 |
| 6 | Daniel Cascado | $104,282 |
| 7 | Cy Williams | $78,006 |
| 8 | Bijon Notash | $59,036 |
| 9 | Hiren Patel | $45,212 |
Fifteen players returned for the third and final day of Event #60, the last low buy-in tournament of the 2013 WSOP. It took about an hour and a half of play for six players to bust out, and then the official final table was set. Loni Harwood started the final table with the fewest chips, but she went from short-stack to chip leader in a momentous hand that helped propel her to the winner’s circle
The first final table elimination occurred about 10 minutes later, when Hiren “Sunny” Patel lost a flip against Yongshuo Zheng. Bijon Notash was the next to exit. In a wild hand, Notash, Zheng, and Daniel Cascado were all in preflop, all with high pocket pairs. Cascado had a covering stack and was the only player not at risk, but Zheng’s pocket aces held up, making a dent in Cascado’s stack and sending Notash to the rail.
About half an hour later, Harwood benefitted from another double up. This time her A♠K♥ ended up beating Yngve Steen’s pocket aces. She regained the chip lead on this hand, and never looked back. Harwood immediately put her new chips to good use. Cy Williams was eliminated when his pocket tens ran into Harwood’s pocket queens. Harwood scored the next elimination as well, knocking Daniel Cascado to the rail after winning a flip.
Asi Moshe was the next player out. He busted in fifth place when Mika Paasonen’s pocket nines held up against his preflop shove with A♣7♥. Yngve Steen followed him to the rail in fourth after losing a confrontation with Harwood. Harwood soon felted Paasonen as well, and she took a monster chip lead into her heads up contest with Yongshuo Zheng. She had 8,800,000 in chips to Zheng’s 2,600,000.
Despite the chip deficit, Zheng made matters extremely difficult for Harwood, and heads-up play lasted over 90 minutes. The players battled back and forth, and Zheng won a few big pots, including one double up. Eventually, though, an action card on the river gave Zheng a Broadway straight, but also gave Harwood a full house. Zheng was eliminated, and Harwood won the pot, the bracelet, and $609,017.
Event #61: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
Daniel Alaei won the fourth World Series bracelet of his career, pocketing $852,692 in the process. He won this prestigious event in 2010 as well, and has now firmly established himself as one of the best tournament pot-limit Omaha players in the world.
FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS
| Place | Name | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Alaei | $852,692 |
| 2 | Jared Bleznick | $526,625 |
| 3 | James Weise | $380,836 |
| 4 | Tom Marchese | $278,298 |
| 5 | Numit Agrawal | $205,512 |
| 6 | Gjergj Sinishtaj | $153,372 |
| 7 | Sean Dempsey | $115,637 |
| 8 | Rory Rees Brennan | $88,061 |
| 9 | Alex Kravchenko | $67,742 |
Day 3 began with 32 players remaining, and they were scheduled to play either eleven full levels or until a winner had been declared. Six and a half hours after play began, Oleksii Kovalchuk was eliminated in 10th place, and the remaining nine players formed the official final table.
It took 34 hands before the first final table elimination. Alex Kravchenko put the last of his chips in the middle preflop against Sean Dempsey. Dempsey flopped a straight, and Kravchenko failed to improve.
While there were a number of significant hands, the slow pace of eliminations continued, and the eight-handed play lasted 40 hands. Eventually, though, Rory Rees Brennan pushed all in with pocket tens and ran into Jared Bleznick’s pocket kings. Brennan was eliminated in eighth place.
Sean Dempsey was the next player to make his exit. He held the lead for two streets in his confrontation with Numit Agrawal, but Agrawal had several outs. He hit one on the river to make a straight, sending Dempsey to the payout cage in seventh place. Daniel Alaei then busted Gjergj Sinishtaj when he flopped two pair and improved to a straight.
Numit Agrawal got the last of his chips in the middle with pocket aces, but James Wiese held a good hand to crack aces K♠Q♥10♠9♠. Wiese made a straight, and Agrawal was out in fifth place. About half an hour later, Tom Marchese busted in fourth place.
After Marchese’s elimination, action picked up, and the rest of the tournament moved pretty quickly. Wiese got his chips all in with top pair, but Bleznick had a wrap and ended up hitting a straight. Then Alaei and Bleznick got involved in an all-in confrontation on the very first hand of heads-up play. The chips went in on the turn, when Bleznick had an open-ended straight draw, but Alaei had a set. The river was a brick, and Alaei earned his fourth piece of WSOP hardware.
On Tap
On Monday, the only event in action will be Day 1c of the Main Event. This is the final starting day, and players will begin Day 2 on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Video of the Day
Loni Harwood became just the third woman to win an open event since 2008. Lynn Gilmartin spoke with the first-time bracelet winner after her victory.
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