Matthew Schreiber earns his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet against formidable opposition.
Event 44 at the 2017 World Series of Poker provided some surprises over the weekend as a formidable array of top international players signed up for the $3,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. competition; one of the biggest surprises – the elimination at 11 of favourite Mike Matusow.
The final table for the event took a mere three hours, and Schreiber started the final day low in the chip counts. Initially taking an unassuming approach, he was all the while building a stack ready for the moment when he unleashed a lethal and aggressive strategy that blew away the opposition and left him with his first WSOP gold bracelet and $256,226 in prize money.
By the time the action reached four-handed stage he had a massive stack that enabled him to finish off his last three opponents in under an hour.
His final opposition was fellow-American Phil Hui, who really had no answer to Schreiber’s 3 to 1 chip advantage and aggressive finish, and was dismissed with the runner up prize of $158,361.
Post-game, Schreiber admitted that his experience extended to knowing three of the game-styles well, but that he was less experienced in Stud and Hi-Lo; spectators of his tour de force at the final table would never have known it – the young pro appeared cool and confident throughout.
Other final table pay-outs included:
David Steicke – $107,458
Tom Koral – $74,382
Ryan Himes – $52,542
Hanks Honig – $37,892
Ryan Hughes – $27,910
Brendan Taylor – $21,007
Valentin Vornicu – $16,165
In other WSOP news, Israeli realtor, Ben Baruch Maya took down Event 43, the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’Em Shootout for a $257,764 payday and his first WSOP Gold bracelet. Maya outplayed a field of 1,024 to defeat Belgian Thomas Boivin in heads-up play.
Final Table Payouts:
1 Ben Baruch Maya, $257,764
2 Thomas Boivin, $159,273
3 Tim West, $115,297
4 Phachara Wongwichit, $84,453
5 Alex Rocha, $62,602
6 Steve Foutty, $49,969
7 Joe Cook, $35,673
8 Paul Michaelis, $27,431
9 Jonathan Little, $21,360
Event 45, the fast-paced $5,000 No-Limit Hold’Em, was won by Chris Brammer who emerged victorious from a field of 505 to win his first gold bracelet and a tidy $527,555 first prize, his largest WSOP cash to date.
Brammer despatched Jett Schencker in just one hand after eliminating Yevgeniy Timoshenko in third.
Final Table Payouts were:
1 Chris Brammer, $527,555
2 Jett Schencker, $326,051
3 Yevgeniy Timoshenko, $223,574
4 Rui Ye, $156,022
5 Tobias Ziegler, $110,845
6 Oliver Weis, $80,196
7 Michael Brinkenhoff, $59,107
8 Alex Foxen, $44,395
9 Diego Sanchez, $33,933