Heather Alcorn raised from the small blind, Alexander Wilkinson three-bet from the big blind, Alcorn four-bet all-in for 440,000, and Wilkinson called.
Alcorn drew one and Wilkinson drew two.
On the second draw, Alcorn stood pat and Wilkinson took one.
Wilkinson drew one on the final draw.
Heather Alcorn: 8x6x5x3x2x
Alexander Wilkinson: 8x5x4x2xXx
Wilkinson had outs to improve and one of those came in as he peeled the 3♠ on the final draw to eliminate Alcorn in 4th place.
Action was picked up on the second drawing round in a hand between, Alexander Wilkinson in the small blind and Aaron Cummings in the big blind.
Wilkinson stood pat while Cummings drew one and called the bet from Wilkinson.
On the final draw, Wilkinson stood pat once more and Cummings drew one. Wilkinson bet once more and Cummings went into the tank. After some consideration he put in some chips for the call.
Wilkinson turned over K♠8♦8♥8♠Xx for three eights and Cummings turned over K♥8♣5♠3♣2♠ for a king-eight to take the massive chip lead.
Yuichi Kanai opened the button and Aaron Cummings defended his big blind.
Both drew two and Cummings led with a bet, which Kanai called.
On the second draw, both drew one again and Kanai called another bet from Cummings.
On the final draw, Cummings stood pat while Kanai took one. Cummings bet and Kanai raised, which sent Cummings deep into the tank. After a few minutes of deliberation, he decided to lay it down. Kanai slammed 3x3x on the table as he bluff-raised after pairing his three on the end. Kanai has also taken the chip lead.
Alexander Wilkinson opened the button and Aaron Cummings called from the small blind.
Cummings drew one and Wilkinson drew two. Wilkinson bet all-in for 75,000 and Cummings called.
Cummings took two and Wilkinson drew one.
Both players drew one on the final draw.
Alexander Wilkinson: 6x5x4x3xXx
Aaron Cummings: 7x4x3x2xXx
Cummings flipped his card first, and he caught the 7♦ to pair his hand. Wilkinson however, caught the 7♣ to make a straight and he was eliminated in 3rd place.
Aaron Cummings raised on the button and Yuichi Kanai called in the big blind.
Kanai drew three which saw Cummings draw one and bet once Kanai checked over to him, which Kanai called.
Kanai drew one and Cummings stood pat, Kanai check-called a bet again from Cummings.
Kanai stood pat and much to his amusement, Cummings drew two.
"What? You snow?" he asked with a smile creeping across his face. Both players checked the final betting round and Kanai turned over 10♣8♦7♠5♦2♣ for a ten-eight.
Yuichi Kanai raised on the button and in the big blind, Aaron Cummings called.
Both players drew two cards and Cummings check-called a bet from Kanai.
On the second draw, Cummings drew two and Kanai drew one, leading to the same betting action.
The final draw saw Cummings and Kanai both draw one and Cummings bet enough to be Kanai all in and Kanai contemplated his decision for a while. After some time he put in the chips to call and put himself at risk.
Kanai drew to make a ten, but it was Cummings with the perfect eight-six who drew best. Cummings and Kanai shoot hands while Cummings' rail shouted and cheered.
Both players achieved a career best score with this finish.
After three long days of play, it is Aaron "AJ" Cummings who reigns victorious in Event #22: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw.
After a 90-minute heads-up duel with Yuichi Kanai, Cummings won his first bracelet along with $146,516 in prize money for his efforts. None of the final six players were bracelet holders, so everyone at that table was starving for WSOP gold.
Cummings only has a handful of previous WSOP cashes and this cash is bigger than all of his career earnings combined.
Final Table Results
Rank
Player
Country
Prize (USD)
1
Aaron Cummings
United States
$146,516
2
Yuichi Kanai
Japan
$95,981
3
Alexander Wilkinson
United States
$64,256
4
Heather Alcorn
United States
$43,984
5
Sean Yu
United States
$30,800
6
Anthony Lazar
United States
$22,075
7
Danny Wong
United States
$16,204
There was an upbeat and cordial atmosphere at the final table. As Cummings described it, “We had a blast, and I just ran the best.” Aside from running well, Cummings played extremely well throughout the day, with well-timed bluffs paving the way for getting value with his strong hands.
“There’s not a whole lot of poker [in Montana], so I just sneak down here every once in a while for fun.”
If winning a bracelet qualifies as fun, then it was a mission accomplished for Cummings.
Aaron Cummings
The Day’s Action
13 players started the day, including bracelet winners Ilija Savevski and Danny Wong. Yuichi Kanai entered the day with the chip lead, but it was a close race with many contenders right on his heels. Eventually, champion AJ Cummings came into the day tied for third in chips.
The first casualty was Amir Nematinia, who got his short stack in against Kanai and was drawing dead on the final draw as Kanai had made an eight-six low.
Draw game crusher Jon Turner came in 12th, followed by James "AR" Williams in 11th and Alex Ferrari in 10th, who entered the day second in chips.
After the elimination of bracelet winner Ilija Savevski and Steven Gray, the final table of seven was reached, and play moved to a feature table.
Final Table Action
Shortly after combining tables, bracelet winner Wong exited in seventh place. He patted out of position with a jack after Heather Alcorn drew one. He soon got the bad news as Alcorn patted behind after making a seven-six low.
Alcorn was also responsible for the next knockout of Anthony Lazar in sixth place. Alcorn was drawing to an eight-seven, whereas Lazar was drawing to a nine-eight. Alcorn peeled a four on the final draw, which left Lazar drawing dead and heading to the payout cage.
The next bustout came almost 90 minutes later when Sean Yu was eliminated in fifth place. Yu has had plenty of success in mixed games at the World Series and was chip-leader at the start of the final table. However, his day ended when he peeled a queen on his final draw against the made jack of Wilkinson.
Alcorn was the next casualty, coming in fourth place. With her performance throughout the tournament, the former WSOP Dealer of the Year proved she can be just as successful outside the box. She fell at the hands of Wilkinson, who spiked a three-outer on the final draw to eliminate Alcorn.
Heather Alcorn
The remaining three players then took a short dinner break.
The first post-dinner bust out was Alexander Wilkinson. He showed bravery and skill during the entire tournament, but his luck eventually ran out. On the final draw, Cummings had paired his seven, and Wilkinson needed to fade a two or seven to avoid making a straight. Unfortunately for him, he peeled one of the five outs as he rolled over a seven and was eliminated after making a straight.
Cummings and Kanai played heads-up for around 90 minutes, trading blows to one another as the chip lead switched back and forth. Eventually, Cummings gained a chip advantage and continued his aggression as he built his lead.
Yuichi Kanai
On the final hand, both players were drawing one on the final draw. Cummings bet enough to put Kanai all-in. Kanai was put to a tough decision after making a ten-eight low. After about a minute in the tank, Kanai sent the remainder of his chips into the middle, to which Cummings exclaimed, “We got ‘em!” to his rail, and he threw his hands into the air in celebration.
Cummings will go back to Montana with an extra $146,516 and the coveted WSOP gold bracelet for his fantastic performance in Event #22: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball.
This concludes our coverage of this event, but stay close to PokerNews for continuing coverage throughout the rest of the 55th World Series of Poker from here at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
