The $1,500 buy-in “Millionaire Maker” No-limit Hold ’em event at the World Series of Poker turned out to be a popular competition this week, attracting 7,190 professional and amateur players.
Pro player Jason DeWitt – a 32-year-old from San Diego – won the event, and his second WSOP bracelet, after a strongly contested one-hour heads up against fellow professional Garrett Greer that saw both highly skilled players taking home seven-figure pay checks.
It was Greer’s third career WSOP second placing experience, prompting him to joke that his name was Mr. Runner Up..
DeWitt’s lion’s share of the prize pool was worth $1,065,403, whilst Greer earned a million dollars.
The winner’s previous victories include his first WSOP bracelet in 2010 in the $3,000 buy-in No-limit Hold ’em event, and seven other top-10 finishes at the World Series of Poker which have earned him almost $3 million in career live prizes.
Greer is respected as a player despite horrific injuries after he suffered a broken neck in a swimming pool accident in 2010 that paralysed him from the chest down…he is a single WSOP bracelet holder, and the Millionaire Maker was the second biggest pay day of his career.
DeWitt opened the nine-handed final table with the chip lead and went on to retain the advantage, taking a small lead into the heads up against Greer. However, after about 45 minutes of the one-hour heads up he was able to extend his lead in the biggest pot of the night, and that enabled him to shut Greer down within the next three hands.
Both professionals applauded the skill and style of kindergarten teacher Lisa Meredith from Vancouver, who finished third and earned $500,000.
“She laddered up perfectly just playing tight,” DeWitt said after the game. “It was really perfect for her how the cards set out and she played tight.”
Meredith has been playing poker for six years and one of her great ambitions – now realised – was to play at the World Series of Poker.
That was made possible by a win in a $100 tournament with 529 players for $10,733, which she used to travel with her husband to Las Vegas and enter The Millionaire Maker. It was her first and certainly memorable WSOP appearance.