Event #52: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em (six handed) is one of the most prestigious events at the 44th annual World Series of Poker. The tournament attracted a field of 175 players, of which many were well-known poker pros!
The third and final day saw 18 players return to their seats and Germany's Max Lehmanski had the lead. Lehmanski eventually finished in 5th place and, after Stephen Chidwich and Dani Stern had been eliminated in 4th and 5th place, the heads-up battle for the coveted gold bracelet and the $1,205,324 first-place prize was between Phil Galfond and Steve Sung (both from the U.S. and 1 career WSOP bracelet each on the resume).
Sung had the chip lead when the battle began, but it didn't take long before Galfond overtook it. The two exhanged a few smaller pots before an epic pot at the end of Level 28. On a queen-high, rainbow board, after check-raising to over a million on the flop, Galfond bet 2.5 million. Sung responded with a raise of 5 million, and Galfond was very close to moving all in with four-high. But he didn't call and Sung showed a ten for a pair of tens and scooped the huge pot.
The battle came to an end only 8 hands after that. Galfond moved all in with K
Q
, Sung snap-called with J
10
.
The flop came down K10J and Sung had two-pair versus Galfond's top pair, open-ended straight draw and backdoor flush draw. The turn card was the 6 and a backdoor flush was no longer possible for Galfond. The 5 completed the board and Galfond received $744,841 for his second place finish, while Sung received his second bracelet and an incredible $1,205,324 first prize!
