Event 46 of this years World Series of Poker was the largest buy-in 6-max No Limit Hold’Em tournament of the series. The $5,000 tournament drew 805 entrants for a total prize pool of $3,783,500. 6-max No Limit Hold’Em is a different beast than full-ring and most consider it more conducive to the styles of better players. Online pro Massimo states, “6-max games usually play more aggressive and it is easier for a good player to control a 6-max table than a full-ring table.” Given this favorableness for the elite, it is no surprise the field included big names such as Betrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Gavin Griffen, Dan Shak, Joe Hachem, Lee Watkinson, and Ryan Daut.
After the first day, there were less than 100 players left in the running. Jesper Peterson was in the chip lead with over 200,000 chips and Daut, ElkY, and Dan Shak were still contending for the bracelet. Day 2 was to end with the final table tickets punched. When it was down to eight players, Jimmy Wong made a successful bluff against FTR’s Rich “nutsinho” Lyndaker. But, on the very next hand he went all-in with A-10 and Lyndaker was not about to fold his A-Q which had Wong crushed. But, when a 10 came on the turn, Wong’s “lucky 10’s” seemed to be the victor. But, in true poker form, a Q came on the river and it was over for Wong who cashed for $82,858.
With seven players left they condensed to one table. After some banter, and of course some poker too, it was again Lyndaker who would do the eliminating. Will Failla’s all-in with A-K was just not at the right moment as Lyndaker flipped over A-A and the board would do nothing to help Failla. Failla took home $82,858 for his efforts.
When the final table was set, Lyndaker and Joe Cammisso were the big stacks at the table. Lyndaker did most of the heavy lifting as he eliminated Davidi Kitai in 6th and then Thomas Lutz and Sam Trickett in 5th and 4th over the next two and a half hours. Although Lyndaker eliminated the first three people, Cammisso maintained the chip lead by taking a few big pots off of Lyndaker and eliminating Edward Ochana in third.
Going into what would be the longest heads-up match of the World Series to date, Cammisso enjoyed a 2:1 chip lead over Lyndaker which he would slowly improve to 4:1 over the first hour. Lyndaker then survived eight pre-flop all-ins, for four of which he was behind. The crucial hand of the tournament came when Lyndaker had taken the chip lead from Cammisso. Lyndaker raised and Cammisso called from the big blind. Cammisso checked a flop of K-8-6 and Lyndaker continued with a bet. Cammisso raised Lyndaker’s bet about three times and Lyndaker moved all-in. Cammisso had commited enough chips and called with 9-7 making an up-and-down straight draw. When the 5 came on the turn Cammisso completed his draw and took a massive chip lead. Soon after Lyndaker moved all-in with 9-7 and Cammisso called with A-Q. The flop, turn, and river proved no help to Lyndaker and he was gone in second taking home $570,551. Cammisso had won an epic battle and cashed for the biggest prize of the World Series so far, $911,855.
The full list of cashes is as follows:
1. Joe Commisso
$911,855
2. Richard Lyndaker
$570,551
3. Edward Ochana
$368,891
4. Sam Trickett
$245,927
5. Thomas Lutz
$174,041
6. Davidi Kitai
$120,693
7. Will Failla
$82,858
8. Jim Wong
$82,858
9. Steven Ware
$63,941
10. Bryan Pope
$63,941
11. Alex Jacob
$45,023
12. Leo Kam
$45,023
13. Jesper Petersen
$31,781
14. Jason Gray
$31,781
15. Paul Foltyn
$31,781
16. Bertrand Grospellier
$31,781
17. Karl Wiklund
$31,781
18. Joanne (J.J.) Liu
$31,781
19. Robert Forsman
$26,106
20. Gabriellson Ferit
$26,106
21. Riku Koivurinne
$26,106
22. Eduard Scharf
$26,106
23. Magnus Persson
$26,106
24. Keith Hawkins
$26,106
25. Christopher Kline
$20,430
26. Maurizio Biasini
$20,430
27. Andrey Zaichenko
$20,430
28. Shannon Shorr
$20,430
29. Ray Henson
$20,430
30. Elliot Smith
$20,430
31. Ryan Daut
$16,647
32. Steven Weusten
$16,647
33. David Farber
$16,647
34. Chris Dombrowski
$16,647
35. Bryn Kenney
$16,647
36. Christos Vlassis
$16,647
37. Philip Sparta
$14,377
38. Nikolay Evdakov
$14,377
39. Tony Hachem
$14,377
40. Yuri Bokkel
$14,377
41. Keith Tilston
$14,377
42. Richard Murnick
$14,377
43. Craig Duffy
$12,107
44. Greg Pierson
$12,107
45. Patryk Hildebranski
$12,107
46. Edward Martin
$12,107
47. Darrell Dicken
$12,107
48. Michael Hogbom
$12,107
49. Jonathan Aguiar
$10,972
50. Eugene Todd
$10,972
51. Jason Mercier
$10,972
52. Benjamin Hamnett
$10,972
53. Michael McClain
$10,972
54. James Burgoine
$10,972
55. Adam Elpayaa
$9,837
56. Clifford Pappas
$9,837
57. Michael Goldberg
$9,837
58. William Elliot
$9,837
59. Aaron Wilt
$9,837
60. Eric Mutrie
$9,837
61. Jens Klaning
$9,080
62. Nathan Sumrall
$9,080
63. Ken Einiger
$9,080
64. Nick Binger
$9,080
65. Daniel Shak
$9,080
66. Michael Glasser
$9,080
67. Alexander Millar
$8,323
68. Jonathan Heath
$8,323
69. Glen Chorny
$8,323
70. Devin Lake
$8,323
71. Robert Eckstut
$8,323
72. Richard Ashby
$8,323
73. Philip Yeh
$8,323
74. Chris (Mac) McCormack
$8,323
75. Peter (Alan) Smurfit
$8,323
76. Fredrik Halling
$8,323
77. Al Adler
$8,323
78. Steven Goosen
$8,323