It began on Saturday with 6,343 entrants across two starting flights, creating the largest single-day starting field in World Series of Poker history. Fast forward four days, 35 one-hour levels, 6,432 eliminations, and only one player remains standing. Benny Chen is the sole survivor, earning $1,198,780 for his historic achievement.
Place | Player | Prize |
---|---|---|
1 | Benny Chen | $1,198,780 |
2 | Michael Bennington | $741,903 |
3 | Jonathan Gray | $534,506 |
4 | Justin Liberto | $400,408 |
5 | Dan Kelly | $302,104 |
6 | Chris Hunichen | $229,575 |
7 | Upeshka Desilva | $175,714 |
8 | Robert McVeigh | $135,467 |
9 | Theron Eichenberger | $105,154 |
Day 4 began with 10 players remaining and Chen was atop the leaderboard, but that position would change countless times over the course of the 195-hand final table. Bracelet-winner Dan Kelly notched the first two eliminations, sending Joe Kuether to the rail in tenth place and eliminating Theron Eichenberger in ninth place, to take the lead from Chen. Following Robert McVeigh's elimination in eighth place, Chen was in sixth place out of the seven remaining players.
When Upeshka Desilva exited in in seventh place, Chen was back to second in chips. Chris Hunichen fell in sixth place and seven hands later, Kelly met his demise as well.
Chen was second in chips with four players remaining, despite not having any eliminations under his belt thus far. Four-handed play lasted 95 hands with each player exchanging turns as both the chip leader and the short stack. Finally, on Hand #175, Justin Liberto fell at the hands of Chen. Three-handed play only lasted 12 hands before Chen dispatched of Jonathan Gray in third place.
With a roughly 3:1 chip lead to begin heads-up play, Chen sealed the deal on the eighth hand of the duel. After Michael Bennington limped on the button, Chen raised from the big blind. Bennington clicked it back before Chen re-raised all in. Bennington called for his tournament life with , well behind Chen's . The board rolled out , locking up the victory for Chen.
Congratulations to Chen for his historic accomplishment! We hope you enjoyed our hand-for-hand coverage of this final table, and urge you to follow our coverage for the remainder of the summer as more bracelets are awarded. For now, good night from Las Vegas!