High Roller Joao Vieira Wins First Bracelet and $758,011 in $5,000 6-Max
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Joao Vieira has come through a record-breaking 815 entrant field in Event #70: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed at the 2019 World Series of Poker to win his first piece of WSOP jewelry and the impressive first-place prize of $758,011. Vieira beat none other than 2009 Main Event champion and four-time bracelet winner Joe Cada heads-up to claim the title and only the fourth bracelet for Portugal.
"On a crucial moment, in a crucial hand of the biggest tournament, on the biggest day of my professional career; I found a call based on all the hard work I have done over the past four years."
Vieira ended Day 2 with the chip lead, and he was still on top of the leaderboard at the start of the final table. A hero call with pocket kings on an ace-high board against Ankush Mandavia on Day 3 was partly to thank for that.
Vieira commented that it felt like the turning point in his tournament. "I have been trying to develop my live reads for such a long time. On a crucial moment, in a crucial hand of the biggest tournament, on the biggest day of my professional career; I found a call based on all the hard work I have done over the past four years."
A friend and teammate of Vieira joined him on the final table. Pierre Calamusa, who ultimately busted in fourth place, was eliminated by Vieira himself. Vieira told PokerNews after the tournament: "If I sit at the poker table; he's just another opponent. Whether the board is favorable or unfavorable, I have to play a hand when it's over. I love the guy, he is a great guy, but when you sit down, it's just business, and you try to do the best you can and compete to your full abilities."
Event #70: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Final Table Results
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joao Vieira | Portugal | $758,011 |
| 2 | Joe Cada | United States | $468,488 |
| 3 | Jamie O'Connor | United Kingdom | $317,956 |
| 4 | Pierre Calamusa | France | $219,468 |
| 5 | Olivier Busquet | United States | $154,112 |
| 6 | Barry Hutter | United States | $110,127 |
Event #70: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Final Day Action
The day started in the highest gear possible as it only took two hands for the first elimination to take place. Barry Hutter started the day as the short stack, and he was the first player eliminated only a couple of minutes into the day. He got his chips in the middle with second pair against the top pair of Jamie O'Connor. Hutter hit two pair on the turn but was counterfeited when the board paired on the river to award O'Connor with a better two pair. Hutter played two hands on day four and was eliminated in sixth place for $110,127.
"I don't believe in justice, but I believe in hard work."
The action did not slow down right away because three hands after that, it was Calamusa who was at risk of elimination and it didn't look good for the Frenchman. Calamusa had to come from behind with pocket jacks against the pocket queens of O'Connor. The flop brought a jack right away, and he managed to double up.
Vieira's chip lead was in no danger in the beginning, but when Cada doubled through him, the former Main Event champion took over the chip lead.
Olivier Busquet then busted out. After a series of unfortunate hands, he ended up jamming king-four from the small blind, and he was called by O'Connor in the big blind with king-queen. Busquet busted out in fifth place as he wasn't able to come from behind. He was sent to the cashier to collect his $154,112.
Eventual champion Vieira busted his teammate Calamusa in fourth place. Vieira had the better hand with ace-king against the ace-seven of Calamusa, but the Frenchman managed to hit a seven on the flop. Vieira hit a king on the river to eliminate Calamusa as the latter collected $219,468.
"Winning five bracelets is one of my main goals. This is the first one, and it's a huge burden off my back."
The three-handed battle went on for a little while, and stacks evened out. Cada at one point had the shortest stack with seven million, but Vieira only had a marginal chip lead with 8.3 million himself. Cada then took over the chip lead by winning a big pot off of O'Connor and Vieira delivered the knock-out punch. O'Connor wasn't able to fade a king or queen on the board when he was at risk of elimination with ace-four against Vieira's king-queen. A queen hit the river, and O'Connor busted in third place, missing the heads-up match. He cashed for $317,956.
Cada started the heads-up match with the lead, but it was the fourth hand of the heads-up where it all switched. Cada faced a river raise from Vieira on a board that read five-four-deuce-king-ace. Cada called after a couple of minutes but mucked when Vieira showed him four-trey for a wheel.
They got their chips in the middle another four hands later, and Cada finished in second place when his ace-queen couldn't win against the king-queen of Vieira. Cada had to settle for $468,488 while Vieira won his first WSOP gold bracelet and $758,011.
When asked about his victory, Vieira answered the following: "I'm very happy. I don't think it has settled in yet. I've been having a lot of patience, and the road hasn't been easy. I don't believe in justice, but I believe in hard work. Winning five bracelets is one of my main goals. This is the first one, and it's a huge burden off my back."
Vieira joins the club of bracelet winners while Cada has to wait a little longer for number five. Joao Vieira now has $3,370,037 in live tournament earnings and sits in first place on the Portuguese All-Time Money List. If you want to read the full reporting from this event, check out the Event #70: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Live Reporting page.
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In this Series
- 1 Aria Dealer Nicholas Haynes Wins WSOP $500 Casino Employees Event
- 2 Brian Green Cracks Kings, Beats Imsirovic, Wins First WSOP Bracelet
- 3 Derek McMaster Wins 2019 WSOP Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better for $228,228
- 4 Yong 'LuckySpewy1' Kwon Wins WSOP Online Bracelet, Hellmuth Fifth for First Summer Cash
- 5 Dan Zack Claims First Bracelet After Fantastic Comeback in WSOP $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw
- 6 Ben Heath Wins His First Bracelet - Conquers WSOP $50,000 High Roller for $1.48 Million
- 7 Yuval Bronshtein Wins First Bracelet After 10 WSOP Final Table Apperances
- 8 Daniel Strelitz Claims First WSOP Bracelet and $442,385 in Event #11: $5,000 NLHE
- 9 Scott Clements Wins Event #10: $1,500 Dealers Choice ($144,957)
- 10 Jeremy Pekarek Wins Event #9: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack for First Gold Bracelet
- 11 Daniel Park Wins Event #12: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Bounty for $226,243
- 12 Alex Epstein Wins Event #8: $10,000 Short Deck for $296,277
- 13 Femi Fashakin Wins Largest-Ever Poker Tournament; BIG 50 Triumph Earns Him $1,147,449
- 14 Isaac Baron Captures Long-Awaited WSOP Bracelet in Event #16: $1,500 NLH 6-Handed
- 15 Backed by Insane Rail, Murilo Souza Wins $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. ($207,003)
- 16 Sean Swingruber Defeats Ben Yu, Wins First WSOP Bracelet in $10,000 Heads-Up
- 17 Brett Apter Wins First Bracelet in Event #17: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout
- 18 Frankie O'Dell Wins His Third WSOP Omaha Hi-Lo in $10K Championship Event
- 19 Galfond, Bleznick, Zamani Fall Short as Josh "loofa" Pollock Wins Second Bracelet in $600 Online PLO Event
- 20 Eli Elezra Wins Fourth WSOP Bracelet and $93,766 in Event #20: $1,500 Seven Card Stud
- 21 Expecting Father Jorden Fox Conquers Event #22: $1,000 Double Stack to Win $420,693
- 22 Former Main Event Champ Jim Bechtel Wins $10K 2-7 Single-Draw for $253,817
- 23 Rami Boukai Wins 2019 WSOP Event #23: $1,500 8-Game Mix for $177,294
- 24 John Gorsuch Rebounds from 2 Bigs to Win 2019 WSOP Millionaire Maker for $1,344,930
- 25 Andrew Donabedian Turns $600 Into $205,605 Payday at 2019 WSOP
- 26 Michael Mizrachi Wins His Fifth Bracelet!
- 27 Stephen Song Battles To Capture First Bracelet and $341,854 in Event #28: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em
- 28 "Silent Assassin" Thomas Cazayous Wins the WSOP $3K Six-Max for $414,766
- 29 Greg Mueller Wins His Third Bracelet, Takes Down WSOP $10,000 H.O.R.S.E.
- 30 Luis Zedan Wins 2019 WSOP Event #30: $1K PLO for $236,673; Will Donate 35% to Charity
- 31 Roman Korenev Wins 2019 WSOP Event #26 for $477,401 After "Marathon" Battle
- 32 Australian Robert Campbell Wins Maiden WSOP Bracelet in $1,500 Limit 2-7
- 33 Upeshka "gomezhamburg" De Silva Wins His Third Bracelet in WSOP Online Event
- 34 Howard Mash Wins First Bracelet and $662,594 in WSOP Seniors Championship
- 35 Adam Friedman Goes Back-to-Back in WSOP $10,000 Dealer's Choice Championship
- 36 David Lambard Claims First WSOP Bracelet in Event #36: $3,000 NLH Shootout
- 37 Salt Lake's Robert Mitchell Wins Event #37: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack ($297,537)
- 38 Joseph Cheong Breaks Through, Wins $1K Double Stack for $687,782
- 39 Ismael Bojang Wins WSOP Gold Bracelet and $298,507 in 10th 2019 WSOP Cash
- 40 Hennigan Wins Sixth Bracelet in $10,000 Seven Card Stud, Negreanu Second
- 41 Dan 'centrfieldr' Lupo Wins $500 WSOP.com ONLINE No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack for $145,274
- 42 Aristeidis Moschonas Turns Chip-and-a-Chair into Event #42: $600 Mixed NLH/PLO Deepstack Win
- 43 Michael Blake Wins Event #39: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em, Shulman Second
- 44 Loren Klein Wins 4th Bracelet in 4 Years; Claims $127,808 in Event #43: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet
- 45 Asi Moshe Captures Third WSOP Bracelet in $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Bounty
- 46 Stephen Chidwick Captures First WSOP Bracelet in Event #45: $25K PLO High Roller for $1,618,417
- 47 Ari Engel Wins His First WSOP Bracelet and $427,399 in Event #48: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em
- 48 Luke Schwartz Latest To Win First Bracelet, Triumphs in $10K 2-7 Championship
- 49 South Korea's Jiyoung Kim Wins 2019 WSOP Ladies Championship for $167,308
- 50 Jason "TheBigGift" Gooch Does It; Wins $1,000 WSOP.com Online Event!
- 51 Brazil's Yuri Martins Dzivielevski Captures First Bracelet and $213,750!
- 52 WCOOP Winner Jonas Lauck Secures First WSOP Bracelet and $260,335 in $1,500 Turbo Bounty
- 53 Santiago Soriano Wins $371,203 and First Bracelet in the WSOP $800 Deepstack
- 54 Dash Dudley Wins Event #52: $10,000 PLO Championship ($1,086,967)
- 55 Kevin Gerhart Dominates $1,500 Razz Final Table to Win First WSOP Bracelet and $119,054
- 56 Another Day, Another Millionaire; Kainalu McCue-Unciano Wins the WSOP Monster Stack
- 57 Israel's Team Geiger Wins WSOP $1,000 Tag Team Event
- 58 Joe Foresman Wins 2019 WSOP $600 Deepstack Championship for Nearly $400K
- 59 Anthony Zinno Wins 2019 WSOP $1,500 PLO Hi-Lo for 2nd Career Bracelet; Aims for POY
- 60 Phil Hui's Dream Comes True as He Conquers $50K Poker Players Championship for $1,099,311
- 61 Scott Seiver Wins $10,000 Razz Championship for Third WSOP Bracelet
- 62 Anatolii Zyrin Denies Yueqi Zhu Title Defense to Win WSOP $1,500 Omaha Mix Title
- 63 Sejin Park Claims First-Ever Open Event Bracelet for South Korea; Wins 2019 WSOP Colossus for $451,272
- 64 Nicholas "Illari" Baris Wins $303,739 in Massive WSOP.com ONLINE Championship
- 65 Nick Schulman Wins Third Bracelet in Event #65: $10,000 PLO8 or Better Championship
- 66 David “ODB” Baker Steamrolls $1,500 Limit Hold’em to Capture 2nd WSOP Gold Bracelet
- 67 Robert Campbell Wins His Second Bracelet of the Summer in $10K Stud Hi-Lo, Grabs POY Lead
- 68 French Pro Jeremy Saderne Wins 2019 WSOP Mini Main Event ($628,654)
- 69 From Working at In-N-Out Burger to Crushing Poker; Rick Alvarado Triumphs in WSOP Crazy Eights for $888,888
- 70 Brandon "DrOctagon" Adams Wins WSOP.com ONLINE High Roller for $411,560
- 71 High Roller Joao Vieira Wins First Bracelet and $758,011 in $5,000 6-Max
- 72 Juha Helppi Finally Does It: Finnish Poker Hero Claims First Bracelet in $10K Limit!
- 73 Susan Faber Wins First Bracelet in Event #71: $500 Salute to Warriors No-Limit Hold'em
- 74 Shawn "bucky21" Buchanan Wins His First Bracelets, Takes Down $800 WSOP.com ONLINE 6-Max ($223,119)
- 75 Danny Tang Wins $50,000 Final Fifty for $1,608,406: "I Want to go Down in the History Books"
- 76 Tu Dao Wins WSOP $3,000 Limit Hold'em 6-Max for $133,189
- 77 James Anderson Wins 2019 WSOP Little One for One Drop for $690,686
- 78 Denmark's Maximilian Klostermeier Wins First Bracelet in Event #78: $1,500 PLO Bounty
- 79 Shankar Pillai Takes Down 2019 WSOP $1,500 Bracelet Winners Only Event
- 80 Ivan Deyra's Dream Comes True; Wins Event #79: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em ($380,090)
- 81 Boyhood Dream Achieved: Jerry Odeen Wins WSOP Bracelet for $304,793
- 82 Keith Tilston Wins 2019 WSOP $100K High Roller; Negreanu Finishes as Runner-Up
- 83 Tom Koral Wins Second Bracelet in Event #82: $1,500 NLH Double Stack ($530,164)
- 84 Taylor "Galactar" Paur Wins his Second Bracelet in $500 WSOP.com ONLINE Summer Saver
- 85 Abhinav Iyer Takes Down The Closer to Win His First Bracelet and $565,346
- 86 Alan Sternberg Wins $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed for First WSOP Bracelet
- 87 Carl Shaw Defeats Tony Dunst to Claim First Bracelet & $606,562, Hellmuth Sixth
- 88 Anuj Agarwal Wins $10K 6-Max on Last Day of 2019 WSOP ($630,747)
- 89 Denis Strebkov Wins His First Bracelet and $206,173 Top-Prize in $3k H.O.R.S.E.
- 90 Hossein Ensan Wins the 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event for $10,000,000
