It took three long and gruelling days of poker and a six hour final table to crown Mike Eise the champion of Event 28 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em!
Eise battled through 2,641 of the world's best players from the seasoned pro of JC Tran, to the veteran Amarillo Slim, to the up-and-coming youngster of Jason Mercier.
However when play returned for the final day everyone had a chance of claiming their first WSOP victory with Joe Simmons, Jason Potter and Rico Ramirez placed well on top. Simmons would fall short, but both Potter and Ramirez would fight it right out eventually finishing in fourth and third spot respectively.
Entering heads-up play against Jeff Chang with a commanding nine-to-two chip lead, play would swing back and forth until Chang made a great call for his tournament life holding just Ace-high. Eise would outdraw Chang on the turn when he made a pair of sevens; but behind the luck on the final hand Eise displayed patience, aggression, skill and timing to capture the gold bracelet, title of champion and $639,331 first prize.
Congratulations to Mike Eise for capturing the Event 28 Gold Bracelet and make sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for the remainder of what is to be a very exciting 2009 World Series of Poker!
Mike Eise min-raised from the button and Jeff Chang made the call from the big blind.
The flop fell down and Chang checked to Eise who moved all in. Chang insta-called for his tournament life and the cards were tabled.
Eise:
Chang:
With Chang making a great call, both players sat there emotionless waiting to see how their poker fate played out at the hands of the dealer.
The crowd leaned in, and for once it was fairly quiet around the secondary feature table . . . until the dealer burned and turned the to cause and eruption from both the railbirds, random onlookers and most importantly Eise.
Dejected, but still with outs, Chang would need one of the remaining Aces or Jacks in the deck; but seeing the land on the river, all hope was lost.
Eise was rushed by his family and friends, and the ever-calm Chang walked over and shook his hand while on his way to collecting $392,494 for his runner-up finish.
Mike Eise took the option of a min-raise and made it 200,000 from the button.
Jeff Chang made the call and then check-called 225,000 when the flop dropped. The turn landed the and Chang again checked to see Eise fire 500,000 into the pot.
Chang check-raised all in to prompt a fold from Eise as he moves up to 2,900,000 in chips.
Mike Eise raised to 300,000 from the button and Rico Ramirez made the call from the big blind.
The flop fell down and both players checked the see the fall on the turn. Ramirez lead out for 725,000 only to have Eise move all in. Ramirez called and the cards were tabled.
Ramirez:
Eise:
With Ramirez needing to improve to a full house to stay alive, the on the river would be not what he was looking for, and consequently headed to the rail in 3rd place for a $261,963 payday.
With the action on Rico Ramirez in the small blind, he bumped it up to 500,000. Mike Eise then reraised all in for an additional 2,070,000 more to put Ramirez in the tank.
After nearly three minutes in the tank, Ramirez made the call putting Eise's tournament life on the line.
Eise:
Ramirez:
The board ran out to see Eise double through to 5,100,000, while Ramirez slips to 4,500,000 in chips.