After a day of rest to celebrate July 4th, American Independence Day, it’s finally time for Event #71: $500 SALUTE TO WARRIORS No-Limit Hold'em final table with eight players remaining.
The tournament was one of 19 new WSOP events, encouraging military members to join the action and giving away $40 of each buy-in to benefits of the United Services Organization (USO) and other military-related charities.
For his first year, the event gathered a total of 1,723 entries to create a prize pool of $723,660. The final eights are all assured of a minimum payday worth $12,323 but all have their eyes on the $121,161 first prize and a gold bracelet.
The big story in the field today is Taylor Carroll, a former air force member, retired in 2015, who leads the way with a hefty 13,525,000. Taylor cashed the Millionaire Maker earlier during the Series and is already achieving his biggest live poker performance.
He is followed by Susan Faber (7,280,000), Dean Yoon (6,845,000) and Chris Canan (6,105,000), Kulwant Singh (3,300,00), the most experienced tournament player of the table with $202,680 of live earnings, Uriah Grossglauser (2,200,000), Jose Annaloro (1,900,000) and Jordan Knackstedt (1,700,000).
Below you will see the seating chart for the remaining eight players today. The action will be picking up at noon and play until a winner is decided, with a 15-minute break every three levels.
Final Table Draw
Seat
Name
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Jose Annaloro
Venezuela
1,265,000
6
2
Susan Faber
United States
7,280,000
36
3
Rob Stark
United States
3,655,000
18
4
Taylor Carroll
United States
13,525,000
68
5
Dean Yoon
United States
6,845,000
34
6
Kulwant Singh
United States
2,225,000
11
7
Chris Canan
United States
6,105,000
31
8
Jordan Knackstsedt
Canada
2,050,000
10
PokerNews will be at the heart of the action from beginning to the very end, bringing you live updates of each and every hand that is played at the final table.
Hand #9: Chris Canan opened under the gun for 500,000, Susan Faber called from middle position and Kulwant Singh jammed for 2,550,000 from the big blind. Canan folded and Faber called.
Susan Faber:
Kulwant Singh:
Singh was in bad shape and couldn't catch a ten as the board ran out and he was eliminated in 8th place.
Hand #29: Chris Canan raised his small blind for 2,05,000, putting Jordan Knackstedt at risk for his tournament and the latter moved his last 1,800,000 in the middle to call.
Chris Canan:
Jordan Knackstedt:
Knackstedt had the dominating hand and the flop first fell . However, the showed up on the turn to give a pair of jacks to Canan and Knackstedt made his way to the exit after the came on the river.
Hand #37: Susan Faber limped on the button and Rob Stark raised to 850,000 in the small blind. Tayler Carroll shoved for 7,730,000 and Faber called after Stark folded.
Taylor Carroll:
Susan Faber:
Carroll was in desperate shape to win the hand and the board brought him no help. Carroll, a veteran of the air force, ended up in 5th place for $28,897.
Hand #62: Chris Canan opened under the gun for 800,000 and Susan Faber three-bet to 1,600,000 on the button. Action folded back around to Canan who four-bet to 4,800,000 and Faber called.
Canan jammed after the flop and Faber snapped called.
Susan Faber:
Chris Canan:
Canan was ahead with his cowboys but the turn gave open-ended straight outs to Faber's hand.
Faber would get there with the river and Canan was eliminated from the tournament.
Hands #80: Dean Yoon open-jammed for 1,680,000 from the small blind and Susan Faber called from the big blind.
Susan Faber:
Dean Yoon:
The flop was a complete miss for both players along with the turn and Yoon was looking good until the dealer peeled off the on the river crushing Yoon's hopes and he was eliminated in 3rd place.
Hand #86: Rob Stark open-jammed for 6,050,000 and was snapped off by Susan Faber.
Susan Faber:
Rob Stark:
Faber's made hand was ahead but Stark had an overcard with his seven but didn't get any help from the flop.
The and fell on turn and river and Stark was eliminated in 2nd place, taking home $74,785 for his efforts. The 2019 World Series of Poker has its first female open event winner!
The 2019 World Series of Poker has finally crowned its first woman's champion outside of the ladies event this summer as Susan Faber outlasted 1723 players to win her first bracelet in Event #71: $500 SALUTE TO WARRIORS No-Limit Hold'em.
"I am so excited and so thrilled to be a bracelet winner! This was definitely on my bucket list."
Faber has been playing poker for the last 10 years but has taken it more competitively these last five. "I play the circuit events in Cherokee and I was planning on playing the Main Event this year but some of my family members talked me out of it, probably because of the money, but I'm sure glad they did because I wouldn't have played this event, and I wouldn't have won my first bracelet."
Faber has a career total of $55,799 with the majority of it coming from the WSOP circuit. Today's victory only marks her second career WSOP cash with her first coming this summer when she finished in 1089th place for $1,500 in Event #64: $888 No-Limit Hold'em - Crazy Eights
Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
Susan Faber
United States
$ 121,161
2
Rob Stark
United States
$74,785
3
Dean Yoon
United States
$53,887
4
Chris Canan
United States
$34,248
5
Taylor Carroll
United States
$28,897
6
Jordan Knackstedt
Canada
$21,510
7
Jose Annaloro
Venezuela
$16,190
8
Kulwant Singh
United States
12,323
9
Taehyung Kim
South Korea
$9,486
Final Table Action
Faber came into the final day second in chips and instantly got to work when she hooked Kulwant Singh with her pocket jacks after he jammed for 2,550,000 holding pocket tens and he was eliminated in 8th place. Next to fall was Jose Annaloro who was unable to pair his king-jack offsuit against Dean Yoon's pocket tens. The next casualty was Jordan Knackstedt who looked to be in great shape to double up after pairing his king-eight on an eight-five-nine board but the dealer had different plans as Chris Canan turned two-pair with his jack-eight and that was "all she wrote" for Knackstedt as he was eliminated in sixth place.
"I ran really well, I got a lot of pocket pairs. I had jacks two maybe three times, I had pocket aces to take out the chip leader, and of course, at the end, I had my pocket fives."
Faber claimed her second victim at the final table in what would be the turning point for her, as it was Taylor Carroll who came into the day as the chip leader. Faber limped in on the button expecting her opponents to raise, and she was right. Rob Stark raised to 850,000 from the small blind and Carroll jammed for 7,730,000. Faber called while Stark folded and unfortunately for the Day 2 chip leader, he ran his pocket sevens into Faber's rockets and the retired Air Force vet took his exit in fifth place.
Thirty hands later Faber claimed another victim as she and Chris Canan got into a three and four-bet exchange preflop before all the chips found their way in the middle after a seven-three-ten flop. Canan was ahead holding pocket kings and was looking good until Faber hit running cards for a rivered straight and Canan rolled out in fourth place.
Three-handed action saw Dean Yoon double up a few times but it came to an end when he jammed his remaining 1,650,000 chips in from the small blind holding king-eight off and was called by Faber from the big blind who held six-two suited. Yoon held strong with his king-high hand until Faber found a pair on the river and Yoon took his exit in third place.
Heads up battle only lasted five hands when Rob Stark open-jammed for 6,050,000 holding seven-three offsuit and was snapped off by Faber holding pocket fives. Stark picked up a gutter ball straight draw on the turn but was unable to connect on the river and was eliminated in second place.
"I am so excited that I could do this at my age. I played this event because my husband is a Veteran and it was wonderful that I could support the Veterans."
That brings an end to this tournament! Tune in for updates on every WSOP event here on PokerNews throughout the rest of the summer.