While in the early stages it was poker legend Phil Ivey leading the pack, on Day 4 the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner suddenly lost his grip on the goal as he took a beat after beat, which made his stack plummet down to zero, thus making way for another hopeful to take the ultimate prize.
On June 29 (Saturday) a former pro golfer from Texas was able to snag his second gold bracelet after winning Event #58 of the 2019 WSOP.
2019 WSOP Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship
Buy-in: $50,000
Date: June 24 to 28, 2019
Entries: 74
Prize pool: $3,552,000
Phillip Hui outlasted a player field of 74 to take home the prize money worth $1,099,311. Also, his name will be engraved on the Chip Reese Trophy.
Born in Texas and now living in Hollywood, Florida, Phillip ‘KungPhui' Hui was grinding $150 tourneys in August last year. Ten months later, his hard work paid off as he snagged the top prize at this year's $50,000 PPC event.
Hui's game plan for this event was to play low-variance lines in big bet games and then to gain chips in the H.O.R.S.E. games. He prepared for the event watching replays and playing low buy-in mixed game tourneys back home in Florida. "I'm still gonna play those, I love to play mixed games."
He said that last year was his first time to lose at the prestigious poker festival and he spent the past year improving to make sure it won't happen again this summer. For his main goal this summer, he says, "I want to win player of the year this year. That was my main goal going into the series this year. I was going to play everything I could and try to make deep runs. So POY is first on my list."
He thanked all the people who helped him improve his game. He said, "This is my dream. I'd rather win this over the main. This is incredible, you have to be well versed in every game. It's a dream come true. Definitely this is the one tournament I want to win and play. This is only the second time I played it. Just to be lucky enough to play it, it's incredible."
Final Table Action
The fifth and final day of play began with 6 players remaining, with Josh Arieh in the lead.
Dan ‘Jungleman' Cates was the shortest stack and as far as short stacks go, he got eliminated a few hands after play resumed. Arieh mercilessly sent him to the rail, adding a million more chips to his stack and increasing his lead even further. Cates finished 6th with a $168,305 payday.
Next that became the short stack after Cates exited was Shaun Deeb, who suffered the same fate as Cates, finishing 5th place for $232,058.
Four-handed play took a while, then Bryce Yockey got eliminated in 4th place for $325,989.
Three-handed play saw Arieh still in the lead, and after some more hands John Esposito busted in 3rd for $466,407.
This is actually only the second time ever that Phil Hui is playing the $50,000 PPC in his poker portfolio. He faced a three-to-one chip deficit against Josh Arieh.
The two battled for a few hours, and then Hui managed to snatch the chip lead with trip jacks in a Stud Hi-Lo pot. The lead position was tossed back and forth between them for a few times, with most of the heads-up play being around five big bets apart.
Hui gained a huge lead after winning a big PLO pot, and then left Arieh in the dust after winning again in Razz.
Below is the final hand of the event:
This is Hui's 39th cash score in the WSOP, the biggest cash in his poker career so far and it's just his 2nd recorded WSOP bracelet. His first bracelet was back in 2014 at Event #59: $3,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better ($286,976). He now has $2,979,262 in total live earnings, according to The Hendon Mob.
2019 WSOP Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship - Final Table Results
|
|
Player
|
Country
|
Prize (USD)
|
|
1
|
Phil Hui
|
USA
|
$1,099,311
|
|
2
|
Josh Arieh
|
USA
|
$679,246
|
|
3
|
John Esposito
|
USA
|
$466,407
|
|
4
|
Bryce Yockey
|
USA
|
$325,989
|
|
5
|
Shaun Deeb
|
USA
|
$232,058
|
|
6
|
Dan Cates
|
USA
|
$168,305
|
|
7
|
David Oppenheim
|
USA
|
$124,410
|
|
8
|
Phil Ivey
|
USA
|
$124,410
|
|
9
|
Dario Sammartino
|
Italy
|
$93,764
|
|
10
|
Christopher Vitch
|
USA
|
$93,764
|
|
11
|
Talal Shakerchi
|
UK
|
$72,078
|
|
12
|
Andrew Brown
|
USA
|
$72,078
|
Source:
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates/?aid=2&grid=1622&tid=17418&rr=5
