JUNE 3, 2019 (Las Vegas) - The first of nine online WSOP gold bracelet events is over and Yong Keun "LuckySpewy1" Kwon is the winner. Kwon defeated a field of 1,965 players to earn $165,263 and his first WSOP gold bracelet.
Kwon defeated Gabor "MeatisMurder" Szabo heads up to claim the title. Szabo ran his open-ended straight draw into Kwon's trips and couldn't catch up.
It took 11 hours and 57 minutes for Kwon to navigate the field and take his piece of the $1,017,000 prize pool. The top 333 players made the money and Steven "Resilient85" Watson was the first to get paid the $813.60 min-cash. One of the many WSOP bracelet holders in the field, Brandon "ThaGoodPlaya" Wittmeyer was the bubble boy. Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler made the money, finishing 253rd place for $813.60 as well. James "ImARocketMan" Obst finished 167th for $915.30. Alex Foxen, the reigning GPI player of the year, and a contender for the WSOP POY over the last few years, finished in 74th for $1,728.90.
Shannon "Aulophobia" Shorr finished in 12th place for $10,170, making this his second deep run of the 2019 WSOP. He also final tabled the $1,500 Omaha Eight or Better, which Derek McMaster won.
The final table was a mix of well-known players and solid players. It began when Samuel "Roopert" Uhlmann was eliminated in ninth place. He got all in with pocket eights for his tournament life against the pocket jacks of Kwon, the eventual winner, and was eliminated when he couldn't catch up. He collected $13,119.
Steve "FlatcallSPC" Cicak followed him quickly after in eighth place for $17,086 and Dan "MeatJustice" O'Brien fell in seventh when he got picked off by the ace-high of Frederic "LeakStain" Roetker. O'Brien cashed for $22,374.
Phillip "DjPhiLWill" Raetz was bounced in sixth place, leaving Kwon aka LuckySpewy1 in commanding position with five remaining.
The legend himself, Phil "lumestackin" Hellmuth, winner of 15 WSOP bracelets, was eliminated in fifth place. He had the chip lead with 32 remaining and he managed to parlay that into a top-five finish. He was eventually eliminated by Kwon. Kwon had threes against Hellmuth's two overs and held onto eliminated the 15-time champion.
Roetker was the first of the remaining short stacks to fall to Kwon and take home $53,494. Then it was Scott "merrick" Eskenazi who fell at Kwon's hand. Both players had trips on the flop, but Kwon held the better kicker and held on to eliminate Eskenazi, sending him home with $73,021.
After a short heads up battle, Kwon finished off his opponent Szabo to claim the bracelet and the $165,263 first prize.
Here is a look at the final table payouts.
1) Yong "LuckySpewy1" Kwon ($165,263)
2) Gabor "MeatisMurder" Szabo ($99,361)
3) Scott "merrick" Eskenazi ($73,021)
4) Frederic "LeakStain" Roetker ($53,494)
5) Phil "lumestackin" Hellmuth ($39,460)
6) Phillip "DjPhiLWiLL" Raetz ($29,493)
7) Dan "MeatJustice" O'Brien ($22,374)
8) Steve "FlatcallSPC" Cicak ($17,086)
9) Samuel "Roopert" Uhlmann ($13,199)