Players have just bagged for the final day of Event #13: $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw. Six players will return for a shot at the WSOP gold bracelet and $89,151.
Leading the way is Bernard Lee who has 17 World Series of Poker cashes and is seeking his first WSOP bracelet. He bagged 571,000 after surging in the final levels and winning a big pot of Benny Glaser (7th place). Both Lee and Glaser made eights, but Lee’s was the best possible eight and he won a 250,000 pot.
There are plenty of great storylines at the final table, including Jared Bleznick (97,500). Early on Day 1, after Bleznick tripling his starting stack through the opening levels, he guaranteed he would make the final table. He even tried to book some action on the bet. Some people made light of the fact that it was only level four, but that didn’t phase Bleznick. He has stated that he did receive some action on the bet. Unfortunately for Bleznick, he hit a few bumps on the final few levels after entering the unofficial final table as the chip leader. He still has chips and a chance to win his first WSOP bracelet.
Matt Waxman has a pretty good story to tell as well. He arrived late to the WSOP this year and this is his first event of the summer. He came into Day 2 with a little more than 5,000 chips, which was good for five big blinds. On the first few hands of the day, he tripled up getting all in after four players had entered the pot. He made a king to win over the pair of fives of Steven Tabb.
Former 2010 WSOP Player of the Year and two-time bracelet winner Frank Kassela brings a world-class resume to this already stacked final table. He finished the day with 365,500 and will enter the final day in third place.
Tim McGougin (299,500) is making his first WSOP final table appearance. This is his first WSOP tournament cash and his guaranteed five-figure score will be by far the biggest of his career. He won a massive hand and eliminated Adam Crawford when he got dealt a pat eight and called a three-bet from Alex Foxen (9th place). Crawford shoved all in, Foxen folded, and McGuigan called and earned the elimination and took the chip lead at that point.
The final member of the final table is Stuart Rutter. He has 29 WSOP cashes and is also seeking his first WSOP bracelet. He finished with 268,000 and got a nice boost to his chip stack by eliminating Benny Glaser (7th place) on the second to last hand of the night. Rutter's pat ten held against Glaser's nine draw.
The final table resumes at 2 p.m. local time. Follow all the updates right here on PokerNews.
Jared Bleznick opened to 21,000 and Benny Glazer moved all-in for a bit less than 100,000. Stuart Rutter re-shoved over top and Bleznick folded.
Rutter stood pat and Glaser was forced to draw one, throwing a ten. For the sweat, Rutter tabled a ten-seven so Glaser was live. Glaser slowly peeled but instantly saw paint and knew his run was over. A cash of $9,477 awaited him at the payout desk for his 7th place finish.
Samuel Spiwak couldn't find a hand to go all in with and was eventually left with only a few blinds behind. Matt Waxman and Jared Bleznick joined Spiwak in his final hand, giving him an opportunity to triple up.
Spiwak was in the small blind and Waxman opened to 16,000. Spiwak went all in for less and Bleznick also called. Spiwak drew two, Bleznick stood pat, and Waxman drew one.
The action was on Bleznick and he checked. Waxman checked behind. Bleznick called out a jack and Waxman looked at his hand.
"I have a jack. Jack nine," he said.
Bleznick had a jack-ten and mucked his hand. Spiwak said he threw away a jack and a ten and turned over his three card hand for a sweat. He showed . Unfortunately for Spiwak, there wasn't much of a sweat as he pulled a on his first card. He was eliminated in eighth place and took home $7,150.
Bernard Lee and Benny Glaser headed into the draw phase, each already in for 16,500.
Each player drew one. Glaser led for 35,000 and Lee raised to 96,000 leaving 139,000 behind. Glaser tanked for a while. He asked Lee how many chips he had behind and then thought some more. At this point, Glaser had Lee covered. Eventually, Glaser called.4
Lee rolled over a smooth eight, and Glaser tossed out a single eight, to signify he also had an eight. He mucked the rest of his hand and Lee took down the 240,000 pot.
Alex Foxen has been eliminated in ninth place. Foxen was the Day 1 chipleader and held a large stack for most of the tournament. When the players returned from dinner break, Foxen doubled up Matt Waxman two times and lost a third pot to him, bringing his stack down to average.
Eventually, Jared Bleznick opened to 15,000 and Foxen shoved all in for 105,000. Bleznick called.
Foxen was drawing to a nine and hit it, making a . Bleznick had and was drawing very thin, but hit an eight to make an and eliminate Foxen.
"Really well played," Bleznick said, "I'm serious, you got a phenomenal future."
Bleznick has been talking a lot, so it is sometimes difficult to gauge his level of sincerity, but he congratulated Foxen on a well-played tournament and got up to shake his hand and give him a one-armed hug.
Foxen earned his tenth World Series of Poker cash with his ninth place finish. He took home $5,530 for his effort. Bleznick will now carry the chip lead into the unofficial final table.
Former WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro has just been eliminated by Matt Waxman. Waxman raised pre-draw and Lisandro called with less than a big blind behind. Waxman drew one, Lisandro drew two and Waxman bet, forcing Lisandro all-in. Lisandro called off and was behind as Waxman held a ten-low to take the pot.
Matt Waxman and Alex Foxen played another big hand and Waxman doubled through Foxen once again.
The hand started when Waxman opened to 12,000 from the small blind and Foxen reraised to 33,500 from the big blind. Waxman went all in for roughly 92,000 and Foxen wanted a count. He got the count and called.
Both players drew one. Waxman showed . A five would give him a straight, but he drew an eight to make .
Foxen showed a draw to a seven but drew a queen to end up with .
"Sometimes I would actually fold that, but that was like the sixth time he three-bet me since we came back from dinner," Waxman said as he collected the pot.
Matt Waxman's Cinderella story is still alive. For now. If you've been following this event today, you may have seen that Waxman began the day with five big blinds, the shortest stack of the 50 to resume play.
Waxman has recently slid down the counts but has just picked up a double from Alex Foxen. Waxman moved all-in pre-draw and Foxen called. Waxman stood pat while Foxen drew one. Waxman tabled a ten-eight and needed to fade Foxen's live draw.
Fortunately, Foxen paired and Waxman scored the double up.
JC Tran opened the action with a raise to 12,000, and Frank Kassela reraised to 25,000 in position. Tran went all in, and Kassela snap-called.
Both players stood pat, and Kassela was the first to show. He had .
Tran flipped over , then grabbed the card he would have drawn. It was a , which would have given him the winning hand. Instead, Tran received $4,387 for his 12th-place finish.