Joe McKeehen Wins WSOP Bracelet No. 2 in Limit Hold'em Championship
Former WSOP Main Event Champion Joe McKeehen captured his second gold bracelet in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship on Wednesday night. He entered the day as the second shortest stack, just in front of Ian Johns, the defending champion in this event. He also came from behind as the short stack three-handed to take home the bracelet and the $311,817 first prize.
"I just won all the hands early," he said after the win.
It was a huge hand against Sorel Mizzi that propelled him to victory, and eventually, he would get runner-up Jared Talarico very short. The final hand Talarico was all in in the blinds and McKeehen had ten-high. He paired a five on the river and that would wrap up his second WSOP bracelet victory.
"It's limit hold'em. You can get really short but if you win some hands you'll have all the chips," said McKeehen. "I had a great run."
Event #38 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joe McKeehen | 311,817 |
| 2 | Jared Talarico | 192,717 |
| 3 | Sorel Mizzi | 135,985 |
| 4 | Ben Yu | 97,904 |
| 5 | JC Tran | 71,949 |
| 6 | Robert Campbell | 53,995 |
| 7 | Ray Henson | 41,399 |
| 8 | Terrence Chan | 32,443 |
| 9 | Aaron Sacks | 26,000 |
Mizzi might have won the tournament had his set of jacks been able to hold against McKeehen. He had McKeehen all in and at risk holding only two pair against Mizzi’s set. The river filled both players up, but McKeehen swung ahead to double up. That would spark McKeehen’s crazy run, and only about 40 minutes later, Mizzi was eliminated by Talarico when Talarico made a flush on the turn to send Mizzi home in third place.
Ben Yu finished in fourth place. Yu was one of many players who held or competed for the chip lead throughout the day, but eventually he hit a downswing which culminated in him losing all his chips to Mizzi. Mizzi won a few hands in a row and eventually would turn a pair and hold to eliminate Yu.
The chip leader entering Day 3 was two-time bracelet winner JC Tran. He fell in fifth place to Mizzi during Mizzi’s huge upswing. Tran had king-high against Mizzi’s ace-high and neither player could connect with the board.
Robert Campbell was the sixth place finisher. He was never able to build up too much of a stack, but managed to parlay an extremely short stack approaching the money bubble into a final table and a $53,995 payday. He was knocked out by Yu when Yu hit an ace on the river to beat Campbell’s flopped pair of kings.
In his second limit hold’em final table of the series, Ray Henson came into today looking to improve on his third place finish in the $1,500 Limit Hold’em event. He was unable to make it happen and eventually busted when he got couldn’t find an ace to beat Campbell’s pair of kings.
Mizzi flopped top pair on his way to eliminating Terrence Chan in seventh place. Chan lost a series of hands before his eventual bust.
Aaron Sacks was the ninth place finisher and he took home $26,000. Chan turned broadway against Sacks’ pocket kings and sent him to the rail.
