Californian businessman and enthusiastic amateur poker player Danny Le (49) is wealthier by $188,815 after claiming the first prize in the $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em tournament at the World Series of Poker.
And he has earned his first gold winner’s bracelet, motivating him to further improve his game.
The win was the biggest Le has experienced, although it was his third WSOP career cash and his second WSOP final table appearance.
Playing like a pro, Le survived the entry field of 665 to enter the final day with the chip lead and managed to retain it through to the final table. He then kept building his advantage through disciplined aggression and some good cards into a position where he commanded most of the chips in play.
Eliminating Canadian WSOP bracelet-holder Tyler Bonkowski at third for $80,706, Le entered the heads up against Washington State amateur player Scott Farnsworth and dominated the action to at last send Farnsworth to the cashier and a second placing cash of $116,663.
Remarkably, Farnsworth revealed after the match that he had entered the event by mistake, thinking it was a no limit game and, realising that he was unfamiliar with the Limit rules, he had had to do some fast first day reading and learning!
Other final table cashes included:
Dave Tobin $56,740
Dale Eberle $40,550.
Dustin Bush $29,466.
Andrew Beversdorf $21,778.
Daniel Huseman $16,376.
Esmeralda Villafuerte $12,532.
Notable names in the original entry field included Mark Gregorich, Daniel Idema, Ryan Laplante, Michael Mizrachi, Ronnie Bardah, Todd Witteles, Last years main event champ Joe McKeehan, Jay Heimowitz, a six-time gold bracelet winner, Josh Beckley, who finished second in last year’s WSOP Main Event, and Ylon Schwartz.