On June 22 (Saturday), a British poker pro was able to snag his very first gold bracelet after winning Event #45 of the 2019 WSOP.
2019 WSOP Event #45: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller
Buy-in: $25,000
Date: June 19 to June 22, 2019
Entries: 278
Prize pool: $6,602,500
Stephen Chidwick outlasted a player field of 278 to take home the prize money worth $1,618,417.
Born in Deal, Kent, England, the 30-year-old Chidwick previously spent two weeks with his wife and 2-month-old daughter in Paris and then arrived in the eve of Day 1 of this event and entered at the very last minute in the first break of Day 2.
He said, "It is super ironic. Usually I play like every single tournament. I play a final table, bust and then register a $1,500 Stud immediately. Now I come here halfway through and haven't played any of the other tournaments, and win the first one I play. That's pretty funny."
Even though he had cashed in from different poker variants such as pot-limit Omaha, Chidwick does not regard it as the game he specializes in, "I don't think PLO is necessarily one of my stronger games, but I felt really happy how I played and everything went my way, I had a lot of fun."
Final Table Action
Chidwick began the final day with seven players left. He's already used to this, given that he had reached 13 final tables and had deep runs in the past, "I worked pretty hard to keep constantly getting better. I don't think that the success I had over the last couple of years is proportional to how much better I am playing. The cards are falling my way in some of the big spots and that's kind of what it takes to win tournaments."
Chidwick's golden opportunity was when he faced off against Alex Epstein and defeated him. Chidwick said, "That one propelled me to nearly half of the chips in play and that was an important pot for sure. I thought a flush draw was possible, he could have a hand kinda similar to mine like ace-jack-ten-nine type of thing. Obviously, he can have some strong hands that I am in bad shape against too, but I thought with all the money in the pot already I had the right price to call."
As Epstein exited the table in 5th place, Chidwick never let go of his chip lead position and it only took over an hour for him to finally make his dream of winning a golden bracelet come true.
Chidwick said, "I try really hard to detach the bracelet and everything around it. I have been here many times and I had a lot of heartbreak over the years, too. So I am just trying to put that as much out of my mind as possible. I guess I didn't really start to think that until the big aces hand that I won that left him [James Chen] with ten big blinds."
The final hand of the event was between Stephen Chidwick and James Chen.
Chen was actually on the quest for his maiden WSOP bracelet as well and he's seeking for the first for his home country of Taiwan. Chen would have to settle for the runner-up finish this time with still a hefty cash prize of over $1 million. He will try his luck next at the upcoming Event #52: $10,000 PLO Championship.
After Chidwick won, he said, "It means a lot, it feels great. It is obviously a great one to do it in and I am in shock, a little bit. I had so many people supporting me for the last 10 years since I have been grinding so hard to win a bracelet and I know I have a lot of people in my corner that are really happy for me and that means a lot."
He may not be focusing entirely on the usual grind this summer, "I kind of play it by ear, see how my wife and baby are doing and prioritize them. I love playing tournaments, so I am sure you will see me playing more but I have no plans to play everything."
This is Chidwick's very first golden bracelet in the WSOP and it's just his 53rd recorded cash in his poker career. He now has $24,749,230 in total live earnings and is currently ranked no. 1 in the All-Time Money List from England, according to The Hendon Mob.
2019 WSOP Event #45: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller - Final Table Results
|
|
Player
|
Country
|
Prize (USD)
|
|
1
|
Stephen Chidwick
|
UK
|
$1,618,417
|
|
2
|
James Chen
|
Taiwan
|
$1,000,253
|
|
3
|
Matthew Gonzales
|
USA
|
$699,364
|
|
4
|
Robert Mizrachi
|
USA
|
$497,112
|
|
5
|
Alex Epstein
|
USA
|
$359,320
|
|
6
|
Erik Seidel
|
USA
|
$264,186
|
|
7
|
Wasim Korkis
|
USA
|
$197,637
|
|
8
|
Ka Kwan Lau
|
Spain
|
$150,483
|
Source:
http://www.wsop.com/news/2019/Jun/11062/STEPHEN-CHIDWICK-WINS-FIRST-WSOP-GOLD-BRACELET-IN-25K-PLO.html
