It is a truly memorable Monday for one poker player - he has always managed to get into numerous WSOP final tables already, but never fortunate enough to finish the race on top - until now.
2019 WSOP Event #6: $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw
Buy-in: $2,500
Date: June 1 to June 3, 2019
Entries: 296
Prize pool: $666,000
Daniel Zack outlasted a player field of 296, claiming his very first WSOP bracelet after a fantastic comeback to bring home the bacon worth $160,447.
A resident of Princeton, New Jersey, the American mixed games specialist managed to finally earn his very first dream bracelet, but it wasn't a walk in the park for him during the tournament because he got by with almost no chips for 2 and a half days. He said, "This whole tournament, I was not above average until I literally came to the final table with seven left."
He revealed he always sent his brother updates on the game during each break, saying that it was getting pretty monotonous. "It has been 'yeah, I'm in dead last'. Just over and over again."
Final Table Action
Although things were not looking good for Zack, he was able to squirm loose from the short stack grip and on the final day, he was 10th out of 13 in chip count.
He said as he was rising up the ranks despite the odds against him, "I've played a ton of short-handed triple draw and badugi online, and the mixed triple draw event was tailor-made for my abilities."
Onto three-handed play, Zack made a fantastic comeback with 80% of all chips on his side. His friends from the rail started congratulating him during dinner break, but he knew it wasn't over yet and thinking about it, he began to feel nervous.
Things really went well for him as it didn't take long for Zack to finish off Brayden Gazlay (3rd place for $65,217). He then made a swift blow to first-timer Sumir Mathur who settled as the runner-up in this event for $99,153. Mathur's performance here was notably impressive considering the fact that he had no prior live cashes to his name upon entering this tournament.
Finally securing the very first golden bracelet of his life, Zack felt relieved and happy, "This is a relief. I was starting to question if I was doing something terrible at every final table that I made." Zack became the butt of jokes for having the second-most WSOP final table finishes without ever making it to top 3, just like Tony Cousineau.
Now that the nasty stigma has been lifted, he can now focus on a goal he set 3 years ago. He said, "I always came in for the first week or so with the plan to do that and that if I didn't do anything in the first week I'd usually end up in cash games."
Zack's latest WSOP score now brings his total lifetime earnings to $871,698, according to The Hendon Mob.
2019 WSOP Event #6: $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw Final Table Results
|
|
Player
|
Country
|
Prize (USD)
|
|
1
|
Dan Zack
|
USA
|
$160,447
|
|
2
|
Sumir Mathur
|
USA
|
$99,153
|
|
3
|
Brayden Gazlay
|
USA
|
$65,217
|
|
4
|
Jon Turner
|
USA
|
$43,984
|
|
5
|
Jesse Hampton
|
USA
|
$30,437
|
|
6
|
Jake Schwartz
|
USA
|
$21,625
|
Source: https://www.pokernews.com/tours/wsop/2019-wsop/event-6-2500-mixed-triple-draw/chips.273489.htm
