Bharat Shetty Cracks Aces Repeatedly to Win Event #6: $800 Mystery Bounty
Event #6: $800 Mystery Bounty has come to a close after 8 hours of play here at the World Series of Poker Circuit at Playground. In the end Bharat Shetty was the final player remaining, last defeating David Burnard heads up to take home his first WSOPC ring and the top prize of $20,000.
Shetty also claimed twelve bounties en route to victory to add $8,500 atop his winnings. Burnard was the lucky player who claimed the $50,000 bounty, the largest one of the field.
Although this is the biggest cash of his career, Shetty came down to the series in hopes of a deep run in the main. He even told PokerNews about an agreement where “whoever makes the final table has to go skydiving with me. I’m looking forward to make some plans to skydive.”
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | City | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bharat Shetty | Petty Harbour | $20,000 |
| 2 | David Burnard | London | $13,000 |
| 3 | Brandon Wammes | Ottawa | $9,240 |
| 4 | John Clifford | Salem | $5,900 |
| 5 | Steeve Brown | Rimouski | $4,600 |
| 6 | Pablo Mariz | Boucherville | $3,600 |
| 7 | Jonathan Petit-Levesque | Quebec | $3,000 |
| 8 | Jean Gariepy | Quebec | $2,500 |
| 9 | Johnson Phanyaseng | Montreal | $2,000 |
Final Day Action
The sixth of 15 circuit events featured 262 entrants, eclipsing the $100,000 guarantee to generate a total prize pool of $182,090. The action was fast and furious to start the day with players ready to gamble it up in an attempt to win the top two bounty prizes of $50,000 and $10,000 respectively.
Rami Hammoud began the day as chip leader and was able to ride that momentum to a 19th place finish. Shetty chose an aggressive style as the big stack to maximize the bounties he collected. Shortly after the three table redraw, he would crack aces to send Colossus winner Maxime Jutras out in 24th place.
This trend would continue later into the tournament as aces seemed to be destined to be cracked by whatever two cards Shetty held. When talking about his luck during the tournament, Setty revealed that “Just before the stone bubble we got it in ace-king against the villain's aces for 30 big blinds and we got there. We made a straight on the turn. That’s when I decided this is it. This is my tournament.” During the entire tournament, Shetty only ended up on the losing side of an all-in twice.
When the field had dwindled down to the final table, Shetty had seven bounties collected. Unfortunately, the largest bounty he was able to pull at the time were a few for $1,000. Eliminations were rapid on the final table as players gambled knowing that the $50,000 and two $10,000 bounties were still in play. Finally with five players left, the $50,000 bounty was pulled by Burnard to secure him a hefty payout regardless of his placement.
With three players left within the tournament, Shetty found a two-outer against aces to prove that sevens are in fact lucky. The heads-up match began and Burnard was able to win some chips back by snuffing out Shetty’s bluff attempts.
Unfortunately, it would all come crumbling down when Burnard picked up aces against Shetty’s flopped flush draw. He improved to a set on the turn, but Shetty’s track record against the best starting hand stuck. He rivered a flush to end the tournament and win his first ring.
When asked how he felt, Shetty shared that he felt “Spectacular. It’s like a dream come true. I ran as pure as a poker player can run. I don’t drink or smoke, so it’s mostly gonna be poker (to celebrate).”
That concludes our coverage for this event, but stay tuned for action from the remainder of the WSOP-C Playground series to follow.