Tom “lultaxpayers” Hall Emerges Victorious to Claim Maiden WSOP Bracelet ($176,920)
After the dust settled following twelve and a half hours of play, Tom “lultaxpayers” Hall came out on top in WSOP Online Event #12: $500 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack to net the first-place prize of $176,920 along with a coveted gold WSOP bracelet. He defeated Daniel "DurdyDan512" Marin in about a level and a half of heads-up play with "ckraiseblff" rounding out the top three.
A total of 1,754 players entered this tournament with 937 re-entries to generate a prize pool of $1,210,950 that was split amongst the top 371 finishers, each of whom secured a minimum of $848.00. David "lotsoffish" Lee was the last individual not to see a return on their investment after getting knocked out in 372nd place.
Play increased in pace as the day wore on, and the blinds became more and more expensive. As a result, it did not take long for the final table of eight to be set with the elimination of "NickLeeson" in 9th place when their king-queen fell to Marin’s pocket tens.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas "lultaxpayers" Hall | United Kingdom | $176,920 |
| 2 | Daniel "DurdyDan512" Marin | United States | $109,349 |
| 3 | "ckraiseblff" | United States | $80,286 |
| 4 | Steven "rAiseAhippie" Touitou | France | $59,458 |
| 5 | NeverGambol | United States | $44,442 |
| 6 | Brock "ohmyguan" Wilson | United States | $33,422 |
| 7 | Tyler "Tslate21" Hirschfeld | United States | $25,309 |
| 8 | Brandon "hawkheaven" Forbes | United States | $19,375 |
Final Table Action
Brandon "HawkHeaven" Forbes was the first out the door at the final table when his king-queen suited could not stand up to Hall’s king-deuce offsuit when he hit a deuce on the river.
Next to go was Tyler "Tslate21" Hirschfeld, who was eliminated by “ckraiseblff” when his ace-eight was out-kicked by his opponent’s ace-ten.
Brock "ohmyguan" Wilson and “NeverGambol” were sent to the rail in sixth and fifth, respectively, followed closely by Steven "rAiseAhippie" Touitou in fourth when he lost a flip with ace-jack versus “ckraiseblff”’s pocket sevens.
Even after busting Touitou, “ckraiseblff” was still a short stack and was next to go when his king-deuce was stomped by Marin’s superior ace-nine on a jack-high board.
That elimination set up a heads-up match between Hall and Marin, with the former starting with a 2-to-1 chip lead over Marin. After about a level and a half (around 20 minutes) of heads-up play, Hall had dwindled Marin’s stack to gain a 5-to-1 chip lead over him until they got the rest of it in the middle, where Hall scooped with a flopped pair of aces to leave Marin with the runner-up consolation prize of $109,349.
With this knockout, Hall was awarded the first-place prize of $176,920, along with his first WSOP gold bracelet! Congratulations to him on his victory! This latest win will further improve his already-impressive poker resume as it will be his fourth-largest score, although it is his largest score since 2018 when he placed fourth in a $5,300 PartyPoker Millions Event for $394,965.
This concludes coverage of WSOP Online Event #6: $500 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo. Be sure to stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team continues to provide comprehensive coverage of all events at the 2023 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.