2018 WSOP Event 53: Couden Tops Elezra, Matusow, Negreanu, and Fitoussi to win $1,500 PLO8
Joey Couden has been knocking on the door all summer, but he had never been allowed to enter the final table. Having a few narrow misses, Couden's summer was decent, but he kept falling just before the pay jumps started getting juicy.
"I felt pretty good all summer."
It wasn't the case in the Event #53: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, though. Couden came back for the final day second in chips with 20 players left, and he was able to close it out, banking $244,370 and his first WSOP bracelet.
"I felt pretty good all summer. [l] just wanted to stay focused. As long as I don't make any mistakes, I feel fine where I bust, it's variance," Couden said, knowing that the only way to break it led through a patient and precise grind.
Today was his day. He won, quite literally, at the eleventh hour as the heads-up match against Bruno Fitoussi was about to halt for the day with only 2 minutes and 30 seconds left in the extra level. But Couden was able to finally deny his last opponent in a preflop all-in situation. He hit an ace on the flop to crack kings and then held through the remaining streets to have his name engraved among the greats, beating a field of 935 entries.
Final table results:
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joey Couden | United States | $244,370 |
| 2 | Bruno Fitoussi | France | $150,990 |
| 3 | Eli Elezra | United States | $106,183 |
| 4 | Mike Matusow | United States | $75,708 |
| 5 | Christopher Conrad | United States | $54,738 |
| 6 | Kim Kallman | Finland | $40,141 |
| 7 | Dustin Pattinson | United States | $29,862 |
| 8 | Gregory Jamison | United States | $22,541 |
| 9 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | $17,268 |
What made Couden's first victory truly special was the company he had to prevail in. With decorated veterans such as Eli Elezra, Mike Matusow and Daniel Negreanu all making the final table, Couden may have been overlooked, but he left all seasoned heroes behind. Couden had previously made two final tables for bracelets but battling some of the most iconic players in history is a unique experience.
"It was just a lot of fun getting to hang out with Matusow, Eli, and Bruno. They're such great personalities. I had a great time."
Couden had the best imaginable start to the day. He busted another big stack Brad Albrinck in the first minutes when he flopped top two pair against top pair and both flush and low draws. The chips went in in a dramatic fashion, but Couden made a full house on the turn to leave Albrinck stone dead. That clash catapulted Coulden to a massive lead with 1.3 million out of 7 million in play.
"I checked, he bet, I potted it and he snap-jammed," Couden reconstructed what happened on the flop. While it was a tough situation with a lot on the line, he still pulled off a call after giving it only about 30 seconds.
"It's a pretty big tank for me," Couden laughed. "A lot of people think that he'd have three kings there, but I don't think he would snap-jam," he explained his thought-process during the hand.
Since then, Couden never really had a tough time regarding his chip stack, sitting near the top or at least in the top half virtually until the very end. When the final ten players took their seats on the final table, Couden was in fourth place. But he wasn't eyeing the title just yet, trying to focus on one hand at a time.
"You don't bust the tournament and lose the buy-in, you lose first place every time you play the tournament and bust."
"I tried to stop thinking like that years ago. You don't bust the tournament and lose the buy-in, you lose first place every time you play the tournament and bust," Couden explained.
Negreanu was the shortest player, bringing only 19,000 to the table with the blinds at 10,000/20,000. The all-time winningest player went on a rush and scored several doubles to bounce back to almost 20 big blinds at one point, but he couldn't eventually squeeze out more than ninth-place finish, following the elimination of defending champion Nathan Gamble in 10th.
They both fell to Elezra who was the most dominant player at the table, joining more pots than anybody. Elezra then extended his streak by busting Gregory Jamison in eighth place.
Meanwhile, Couden was still chilling with a solid stack. The only brief stint that saw him getting a little shorter was after a dinner break when he was down to 14 bigs for a moment. But he busted Dustin Pattinson in seventh and re-established his position.
Couden, Fitoussi, Elezra, and Matusow all held the lead at some point during four-handed play, but Matusow lost a big pot in a flush-under flush contest against Couden and soon fell in fourth. Elezra had to settle for bronze and Couden, and Fitoussi ended up competing for their respective first title.
Couden had a huge lead, and while Fitoussi had a tough skin and doubled several times, he wasn't meant to turn it around. Couden never relinquished his lead and took home the bracelet. Crowned PLO8 champion, Couden said he would probably appear in the $10k Championship event that starts today to pursue a back-to-back-victory. Couden will surely stick to his gameplan which has proved successful: "Stay focused on one hand at a time."
In this Series
- 1 2018 WSOP Event 1: Jordan Hufty Wins First WSOP Gold in $565 Casino Employees
- 2 2018 WSOP Event 2: Elio Fox Wins First Ever WSOP $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty for $393,693
- 3 2018 WSOP Event 3: Joe Cada Wins 2018 WSOP $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em SHOOTOUT for $226,218
- 4 2018 WSOP Event 4: Julien Martini Wins $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better ($239,771)
- 5 2018 WSOP Event 5: Nick Petrangelo Wins WSOP $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller ($2,910,227)
- 6 2018 WSOP Event 6: Jeremy Perrin Wins The GIANT Turning $365 Into $250,966
- 7 2018 WSOP Event 7: Roberly Felicio Wins the 2018 WSOP COLOSSUS for $1,000,000
- 8 2018 WSOP Event 8: Johannes Becker Wins $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball ($180,455)
- 9 2018 WSOP Event 9: Paul Volpe Wins Third WSOP Bracelet in Omaha Hi-Lo Championship
- 10 2018 WSOP Event 10: William ‘Twooopair’ Reymond Wins $365 WSOP.com ONLINE Event ($154,996)
- 11 2018 WSOP Event 11: Tim Andrew Triumphs in the $365 PLO GIANT for $116,015, Mizrachi Fifth
- 12 2018 WSOP Event 12: Jeremy Harkin Wins $1,500 Dealer's Choice for $129,882
- 13 2018 WSOP Event 13: Benjamin Moon Wins $1,500 Big Blind Antes for $315,346
- 14 2018 WSOP Event 14: Daniel Ospina Wins First Bracelet for Colombia in 2-7 Lowball Draw
- 15 2018 WSOP Event 15: Andrey Zhigalov Wins $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. for $202,787
- 16 2018 WSOP Event 16: Justin Bonomo Wins Second WSOP Bracelet in $10K Heads-Up Championship
- 17 2018 WSOP Event 17: Ognyan Dimov Wins Third Bracelet for Bulgaria in Event #17 ($378,743)
- 18 2018 WSOP Event 18: Adam Friedman Wins Second Bracelet in $10K Dealer's Choice
- 19 2018 WSOP Event 19: Craig Varnell Wins $565 Pot-Limit Omaha ($181,790)
- 20 2018 WSOP Event 20: Jeremy Wien Conquers $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $537,710
- 21 2018 WSOP Event 21: Arne Kern Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em MILLIONAIRE MAKER ($1,173,223)
- 22 2018 WSOP Event 22: Philip Long Wins $1,500 Eight Game Mix ($147,348)
- 23 2018 WSOP Event 23: Brian Rast Wins Fourth Bracelet in 2-7 Lowball Championship, Brunson 6th
- 24 2018 WSOP Event 24: Michael Addamo Wins Event #24: $2,620 MARATHON No-Limit Hold'em
- 25 2018 WSOP Event 25: Benjamin Dobson Wins First WSOP Gold in $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo
- 26 2018 WSOP Event 26: Filippos Stavrakis Dedicates WSOP PLO Bracelet ($169,842) to His Brother
- 27 2018 WSOP Event 27: John Hennigan Wins 2018 WSOP $10K HORSE for Fifth Bracelet and $415K
- 28 2018 WSOP Event 28: Fortunate River Gives Gal Yifrach First WSOP Bracelet & $461K Prize
- 29 2018 WSOP Event 29: Hanh Tran Wins First WSOP Bracelet in $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw ($117,282)
- 30 2018 WSOP Event 30: Ryan Bambrick Wins First Gold Bracelet in Dominating Fashion
- 31 2018 WSOP Event 31: Steven Albini Wins $1,500 Stud to Deny Jeff Lisandro 7th Bracelet
- 32 2018 WSOP Event 32: Matthew Davis Tops Biggest Seniors Event Ever to Win $662,983
- 33 2018 WSOP Event 33: Michael Mizrachi Wins His Third Poker Players Championship Title
- 34 2018 WSOP Event 34: Robert Peacock Wins First WSOP Gold in $1,000 DOUBLE STACK
- 35 2018 WSOP Event 35: Yueqi Zhu Claims First WSOP Gold in $1,500 Mixed Omaha
- 36 2018 WSOP Event 36: Farhintaj Bonyadi Wins Event $1,000 Super Seniors ($311,451)
- 37 2018 WSOP Event 37: Eric Baldwin Wins Second Bracelet, Dedicates it to His Father
- 38 2018 WSOP Event 38: Yaniv Birman Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet in $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship ($236,238)
- 39 2018 WSOP Event 39: Preston Lee Captures $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout Bracelet ($236,498)
- 40 2018 WSOP Event 40: Scott Bohlman Wins WSOP $2,500 Mixed Big Bet ($122,138)
- 41 2018 WSOP Event 41: Robert Nehorayan Wins $1,500 Limit Hold'em for $173,568
- 42 2018 WSOP Event 42: Shaun Deeb Gets Revenge on Ben Yu to Win $25K PLO for $1,402,683
- 43 2018 WSOP Event 43: Timur Margolin Takes Down $2,500 NLHE for $507,274
- 44 2018 WSOP Event 44: Nicholas Seiken Wins $10k 2-7 Triple Draw Championship for $287,987
- 45 2018 WSOP Event 45: Mario Prats Garcia Wins $1,000 Big Blind NLH For $258,255
- 46 2018 WSOP Event 46: David Brookshire Wins WSOP $2,500 Mixed Omaha/Stud Hi-Lo 8 ($214,291)
- 47 2018 WSOP Event 47: Matthew 'mendey' Mendez Wins First WSOP Online PLO Bracelet ($135,077)
- 48 2018 WSOP Event 48: Tommy Nguyen Wins Monster Stack for $1,037,451
- 49 2018 WSOP Event 49: Loren Klein Wins $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for $1,018,336
- 50 2018 WSOP Event 50: Jay Kwon Wins $1,500 Razz ($125,431)
- 51 2018 WSOP Event 51: Ryan Leng Ships First WSOP Gold in $1,500 BOUNTY ($272,504)
- 52 2018 WSOP Event 52: Scott Seiver Wins $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship ($296,222)
- 53 2018 WSOP Event 53: Couden Tops Elezra, Matusow, Negreanu, and Fitoussi to win $1,500 PLO8
- 54 2018 WSOP Event 54: Portugal's Diogo Veiga Wins $3K Big Blind Antes ($522,715)
- 55 2018 WSOP Event 55: Giuseppe Pantaleo and Nikita Luther Win the $1K Tag Team for $175,805!
- 56 2018 WSOP Event 56: Calvin Anderson Wins His Second Bracelet in the $10K Razz ($309,220)!
- 57 2018 WSOP Event 57: Jessica Dawley Wins the WSOP Ladies Championship for $130,230!
- 58 2018 WSOP Event 58: Tribe Has Spoken: Jean-Robert Bellande Wins First Bracelet for $616K
- 59 2018 WSOP Event 59: Mike Takayama Makes History as the First Filipino to Win a WSOP Bracelet
- 60 2018 WSOP Event 60: Galfond Wins 3rd Bracelet in $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship
- 61 2018 WSOP Event 61: Ryan 'Toosick' Tosoc Wins WSOP.com $1,000 Championship ($238,778)
- 62 2018 WSOP Event 62: Galen Hall Wins $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em for $888,888
- 63 2018 WSOP Event 63: Chance 'BingShui' Kornuth Wins Second Bracelet in WSOP.com Online High Roller for $341,598
- 64 2018 WSOP Event 64: Matsuzuki Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet in $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo
- 65 John Cynn Wins the 2018 WSOP Main Event for $8,800,000!
- 66 2018 WSOP Event 66: Longsheng Tan Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em for $323,472
- 67 2018 WSOP Event 67: Anderson Ireland Wins $1,500 PLO Bounty for First Bracelet and $141K
- 68 2018 WSOP Event 68: Guoliang Wei Wins Fourth Chinese Bracelet in The Little One for One Drop ($559,332)
- 69 2018 WSOP Event 69: Ronald Keijzer Wins $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed for $475,033
- 70 2018 WSOP Event 70: Yaser Al-Keliddar Wins Event #70: $3K Limit Hold'em 6-Handed for $154K
- 71 2018 WSOP Event 71: Phil Hellmuth Wins 15th Career Bracelet in $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em!
- 72 2018 WSOP Event 72: Jordan Polk Wins $1,500 Mixed NLH/PLO for $197,461
- 73 2018 WSOP Event 73: Denis Timofeev Bests Leo Margets to Win the $1,000 Double Stack Turbo
- 74 2018 WSOP Event 74: Shaun Deeb Wins Second Bracelet of the Summer in $10,000 6-Max ($814,179)
- 75 2018 WSOP Event 75: Joe Cada Wins His Fourth Career Bracelet in The Closer ($612,886)
- 76 2018 WSOP Event 76: Brian Hastings Wins the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E and 4th Bracelet
- 77 2018 WSOP Event 77: Ben Yu Wins Third Bracelet in $50,000 High Roller $1,650,773
