Jared Jaffee Wins WSOPC Bike Main Event After WPT Five Diamond Success
A familiar face on the tournament circuit grind, Jared Jaffee bested a field of 687 to win the $1,675 WSOPC Main Event at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles on Tuesday night for a payday of $211,220. Jaffee adds the Circuit title to his list of poker accomplishments that includes a WSOP bracelet and a WPT title.
Jaffee told WSOPC live reporters that he attributed the win to a lucky Buddha trinket that his friend and four-time ring winner Sam Panzica gave Jaffee from his recent WPT trip in Asia.
Apparently, Jaffee told Panzica he had to bring him “a lucky souvenir,” and if he forgot, Panzica owed him a bitcoin. Panzica complied and according to Jaffee, since receiving the new card protector while in line for the six-max at the WPT Five Diamond series at the Bellagio a couple weeks ago, what was a bad 2017 for him in terms of poker has turned around drastically.
Jaffee immediately took down the $1,620 six-max event at WPT Five Diamond for $84K and then one week later, made a deep run in the $10,400 WPT Five Diamond Main Event, finishing in 28th for $38K. Now, one week later, an even bigger score and a ring to go with it. All this right after receiving the lucky Buddha. Coincidence?
Setting the Stage
After two starting flights and 687 entries in the Bike Main Event, Kelly Minkin, who made a deep run in the 2015 WSOP Main Event, held the overall chip lead heading into Day 2 and still had the lead going into the final day of play.
Minkin and Jaffee are friends in poker and Jaffee said Minkin actually took a lot of his chips on Day 2, leaving him quite short.
“It was nice that I was able to rebuild and get to the final table with her, but it was close and you don’t usually get to go that deep with someone you are friends with. So, I’m thankful for that. It was a lot of fun.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Jared Jaffee | $211,220 |
| 2nd | Brendan Baksh | $130,270 |
| 3rd | Kelly Minkin | $95,880 |
| 4th | Aaron Frei | $71,300 |
| 5th | Edward Liu | $53,740 |
| 6th | Mike Eskandari | $41,045 |
| 7th | Chahn Jung | $31,760 |
| 8th | Brian Small | $24,895 |
| 9th | Tuan Phan | $19,765 |
Final Table Action
According to the WSOP live updates, after Frank Stepuchin busted in tenth place, the final table was set and Chahn Jung, Brendan Baksh and Minkin were the three big stacks over two million chips while Jaffee started the table in the middle of the pack with just over one million.
Tuan Phan was the first elimination at the official final table when he shoved his small stack with king-jack over Edward Liu’s open. Phan was flipping against Liu’s pocket sixes but he couldn’t make a pair and Liu filled up on the river to ensure Phan’s ninth-place finish.
Then, the momentum started to shift in Jaffee’s direction, starting with a key double up. Jaffee raised under the gun with A♣J♣ and then chip leader Jung defended his big blind with 9♣8♣. Jung check-called the K♣10♣4♦ flop and led out on the 5♣ turn when both players made a flush. Jaffee just called with the nuts and Jung shoved on the 4♠ river. Jaffee called to take the chip lead and Chahn slipped down the counts. For Jaffee, from there “it was pretty smooth sailing.”
Brian Small was out soon after in eighth place when he shoved his short stack with eight-nine offsuit and went unimproved. Baksh had pocket jacks in the small blind and Minkin’s king-eight in the big blind was best on a king-high board.
In a blind versus blind confrontation, Minkin limped the small blind with ace-deuce and Jung shoved from the big blind. Minkin tanked for around five minutes and eventually called, seeing she was behind Chahn’s ace-jack. However, Minkin found a deuce on the flop and another on the river to send Chahn packing in seventh place, while Minkin joined Jaffee at the top of the counts.
LA grinder Mike Eskandari busted in sixth after losing a flip with king-queen to Jaffee’s pocket sixes on an ace-high runout, and Jaffee had nearly half the chips in play with five left.
Liu became the fifth-place finisher after losing a big flip with ace-king to the pocket queens of Baksh, and then got in the rest with jack-nine against Jaffee’s ace-queen and Jaffee made a full house. Next out was Aaron Frei in fourth when he got his short stack in with king-four and couldn’t find help against the pocket sevens of Baksh.
Shortly after taking a dinner break, Minkin got her remaining stack of 12 big blinds in with pocket tens against the A♣J♥ of Baksh. She lost the flip when the board came ace-high with four hearts. Although she had a heart in her hand, making a flush, Baksh’s jack of hearts won him the pot and sent Minkin out in third place.
After Minkin’s elimination, Jaffee went into heads-up with nearly a two-to-one chip lead which he quickly extended. Baksh then doubled his short stack, flopping trip sevens with jack-seven against Jaffee’s ace-four, and pretty soon took over the chip lead.
Heads Up
But then, the tides turned again. Jaffee three-bet and called a jam with ace-queen and was in good shape against Baksh’s ace-eight. Jaffee flopped a queen and he sprung into a ten-to-one chip advantage. A little while later, they got in the rest, Jaffee in a dominating position with pocket kings against jack-ten offsuit. The kings held and Jaffee had himself his first circuit hardware to add to his new trinket collection.
The win also put Jaffee’s career live tournament earnings over $3.4 million as he hopes to carry his newfound momentum and good fortune into 2018.
Photo courtesy of WSOPC live coverage
