Cheered by Raucous Rail, David Peters Wins First Bracelet
Longtime high roller David Peters finally got his bracelet at the World Series of Poker after years of close calls, and it came in the everyman's event, a $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em. He bested a field of 1,860 for a $412,557 first-place prize.
That sum pales in comparison to some of the scores in Peters' past, ranking behind two seven-figure scores and four other cashes, but this one carried plenty of significance for the man from Toledo, Ohio.
"I'm definitely surprised," he said when asked if he imagined it would take this long for a player with so much success to finally find WSOP gold. "Lot of close calls, almost every place at the final table except first. I knew it was coming so it definitely feels amazing to finally get it."
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Peters | Toledo, OH | $412,557 |
| 2 | Cathal Shine | Ireland | $254,890 |
| 3 | Matt Affleck | Mill Creek, WA | $184,456 |
| 4 | Muhammad Abdel Rahim | Derry, NH | $134,845 |
| 5 | Zachary Okin | Queens Village, NY | $99,592 |
| 6 | Brendan Sheehan | Woodbury, NY | $74,321 |
| 7 | Takuya Suzuki | Minatoku, Japan | $56,044 |
| 8 | [Removed:172] | Vienna, Austria | $42,711 |
| 9 | David Patterson | Wilmington, NC | $32,900 |
Peters, who won the latest $25,000 High Roller at Aria on July 2 for $393,120, pushed past the $12 million mark in tournament cashes with the win, doing so in front of one of the rowdiest rails the WSOP has seen all summer.
"It was an amazing rail, so much support, made it feel so much better when I won," Peters said. "Everyone was going nuts, so much great energy, I love it."
His crowd saw Peters, who came into the unofficial final table second in chips, catch fire early on and score two quick eliminations to seize control of the table.
At that point, with the chip lead and a slew of less-experienced opponents in front of him — though Matt Affleck was still in contention — it would have been easy for Peters to figure it was his time. After all, he had paid his dues with finishes of second, third, two fourths, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth in bracelet events across 38 total WSOP cashes.
He didn't allow that thought to cross his mind, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand even as his rail grew to about 20 extremely vocal supporters.
"I try not to let myself think like that," Peters said. "Everything was feeling good, and I was continuing to ride the good vibes and stay focused and not think about all that stuff. Just try to play my game, and it worked out."
His momentum continued to build, as player after player fell and Peters refused to relinquish his chip lead. When it was three-handed and Affleck shoved for 1.95 million at blinds of 60,000/120,000/20,000 in the small blind, Peters woke up with A♦5♠ and called. Affleck had 10♠8♠ and a board of A♠J♣4♠5♣K♥ allowed Peters to flop top pair and fade the spades, taking a lead of more than 3-1 into heads-up play with Irishman Cathal Shine.
At that point, Peters' rail could feel victory in their grasp. Peters, who typically stays stone-faced and stoic while doing his work at the felt, admitted it was tough to keep up his usual mask. He could be seen cracking a slight smile a time or two even with cards in front of him.
"I definitely hear them," he said with a laugh when asked if he's able to tune out the noise and focus. "It's definitely a different environment than normal when all my friends here are going nuts, having a great time. It made the whole experience much more enjoyable."
Enjoy it everyone on team Peters did, as it only took about a dozen hands before Peters raised it up and Shine shoved his last 10 big blinds on the button with A♠5♦. Peters snap-called with the 10♥10♣, and a board of K♠K♣8♥5♣Q♠ later, he finally had his first bracelet win.
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