WSOP

WSOP

4 days ago the biggest event of this years’ WSOP kicked off and it was Event #47, the One Drop High Rollers No-Limit Hold’em event.

This, of course is no regular event, but a charity based event with a massive $111,111 buy-in, 3% of which would go directly to the ONE DROP charity foundation, which aims to provide everyone around the world with fresh drinking water. Last year a similar tournament was organized with an even more massive $1,111,111 buy in which was a great success, raising $5.6m for ONE DROP. On top of the 3% which goes to ONE DROP from every buy in, players who cash in the event are also encouraged to give a small percentage of their winnings to ONE DROP. If you want to be part of ONE DROP’s efforts too, visit ONEDROP.org for more information.

Eventually an astounding 166 players registered for this high roller event, creating a $17,891,148 prize pool with almost $5 million going to the winner! This is biggest amount of entries for a six figure buy in event in history, which really highlights the success that ONE DROP’s and WSOP’s collaboration has had.

Some players were predicting the event to be somewhat soft, but once the final list of players was up, it was obvious that the most of the top high stakes pro’s have turned up for this event. Players like nine-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey, last year’s champion Antonio Esfandiari and multiple EPT, WTP and other poker tour winners were in the running.

The event was initially expected to last 3-days, but due to the high turnout it was prolonged to a 4-day event, but more on that later.

After 3 and a half days only 10 players were left standing and amazingly enough, it was last years’ winner Antonio Esfandiari who was the chip leader with over 11 million chips! Among the players still remaining high stakes pro’s Nick Schulman and Olivier Busquet were still in the running, as well as other big names.

Since the bubble burst, eliminations were piling up quickly and the man who was unfortunate enough to be eliminated in 10th place was Lawrence Greenberg. Sitting on a pretty small stack in the big blind, Greenberg saw everyone fold except Martin Jacobson, who raised to 510,000 from the small blind. Greenberg shoved for 3.5m but was snap called by Jacobson who was ahead with A Q against Greenberg’s J 9 . A 2 8 K flop did not look very promising for Greenberg. The turn brought K and a flush draw for Greenberg, but the river was the Q , sending Greenberg packing with an impressive $384,122 score.

With that elimination the official final table was set and it was still Esfandiari who was leading the pack.

Unofficial Final Table

Seat 1 Brandon Steven 2,240,000
Seat 2 Antonio Esfandiari 11,745,000
Seat 3 Richard Fullerton 6,425,000
Seat 4 Anthony Gregg 3,740,000
Seat 5 Chris Klodnicki 9,165,000
Seat 6 Martin Jacobson 7,830,000
Seat 7 Nick Schulman 2,650,000
Seat 8 Olivier Busquet 1,750,000
Seat 9 Bill Perkins 4,380,000

Now players had one elimination to go until the official final table and it was Olivier Busqet who was sitting with the shortest stack and needed to find a good spot to double up. A few orbits into the unofficial final table Olivier shoved from under the gun and was called by Nick Schulman from the small blind. Unsurprisingly Nick had the better hand, but his A J was not that far ahead of Olivier’s K Q . Schulman was very happy to see the board run out 9 2 5 5 8 , bringing help to no one and sending Olivier Busquet home in 9th place, earning $384,122 for his efforts.

With that the final table of 8 was set and players were now playing for huge sums of money where every elimination would count.

Just 15 hands into the final table Nick Schulman was really struggling and nothing seemed to be going his way after the elimination of Olivier Busquet. Loosing a big chunk of his stack Nick was in the big blind and saw a raise to 625,000 from Richard Fullerton, which was for almost half his stack. Schulman elected to just call and on a T 2 K flop he moved all in for his last chips. Fullerton immediately called and flipped over A Q , holding a lot of outs against Schulman’s T 9 . The 9 on the turn gave Fullerton the lead, but Schulman still had 6 outs to a full house. The Q on the river did not help him though and Nick Schulman became the first final table casualty. Even so, he received $485,029 for his efforts!

The very next hand it was short stack Brandon Steven who was flipping for his tournament life. Brandon opened the action to 550,000 from under the gun but Bill Perkins moved all in from the big blind. Steven made a relatively quick call with 6 6 and was racing against Perkins’ A J . The race was virtually ended on the flop as Perkins flopped top two pair on a 5 A J board. The turn and the river did not bring any help to Brandon Steven and he was out in 7th place with $621,180.

A few orbits later Martin Jacobson found himself in a predicament of his own. Chris Klodnicki opened the action to 600,000 from under the gun and Martin elected to shove for 3 million chips in middle position. Before action could get back to Chris, Anthony Gregg moved all in from the big blind over the top and Chris elected to fold. Jacobson turned over A J and needed help against Gregg’s Q Q . The flop, however, was spot on for Gregg as it rolled out 4 7 Q , leaving Jacobson with no immediate outs. The 7 on the turn sealed the deal and Martin Jacobson exited in 6th place $807,427 richer.

Antonio Esfandiari was realtively quite at the final table but in hand 43 he finally received some action after he opened the action to 650,000 from the cut off. Right behind him Richard Fullerton moved all in for 2.85 million chips. The blinds folded and Antonio snap called. Fullerton was way behind with 6 6 against Antonio’s T T. Both players were eagerly awaiting the flop and as the deal rolled it out, the crowd gasped as it came A 9 6 , giving Fullerton a massive lead in the hand. However, they don’t call Antonio “The Magician” for nothing. Just like magic the T hit the turn, turning the tables on Fullerton and leaving him with 1 out. The 8 on the river was not it and Richard Fullerton was the first person to hit the rail with a 7 figure score for $1,066,491.

At this point all 4 remaining players were matched up evenly in chips and because of the record breaking field that this tournament attracted players would go on a break and come back for a day 4 to decide who will be the champion. Businessman Bill Perkins would lead the final four with 14.7 million, but facing some stiff competition from Anthony Gregg (13.9 million), Chris Klodnicki (12 million) and Antonio Esfandiari (9.2 million).

The next day action continued with the same intensity as Chris Klodnicki and Antonio Esfandiari were the first to light up the fireworks just 10 hands into the new day. Chris opened the action to 800,000 from the button and Esfandiari moved all in from the big blind. After a long consideration Chris finally called and shoved A 9 for a race against Esfandiari’s 8 8 . The K 6 7 flop favored Esfandiari as he was now a substantial favorite to take down the 20 million chip pot and become the chip leader. Another 6 hit the turn, inching Antonio even closer, but just like the ace on the river helped him survive two days earlier, this time the A on the river took it all away from him. Just like that last years’ winner Antonio Esfandiari was eliminated in 4th place, adding another $1,433,438 to his name.

The remaining players were not in the mood for a long fight as well. Up to this point Bill Perkins has lost more than 60% of his stack to Anthony Gregg and was now sitting on just over 13 big blinds. 7 hands after Antonio’s elimination Anthony Gregg limped on the button and Bill Perkins shoved all in from the big blind. Gregg insta-called and was way ahead with A Q against Perkins’ A 5 . The flop was as good as Perkins could hope for, rolling out 9 8 5 and giving him the lead. The turn, however, brought the 4 , giving Gregg an additional 9 outs and just like we’ve seen before on this final table, the river was relentless, bringing the Q to eliminate Bill Perkins in 3rd place for a cool $1,965,163 score.

With that elimination Anthony Gregg accumulated a 3 to 1 chip lead going into the heads up battle with Chris Klodnicki. For about 20 hand Chris held his own and tried to do whatever he could to stay alive and double up. However, on the last hand of the tournament he slipped up badly. After a limp from Chris and a check from Anthony a 4 3 9 flop dropped. Klodnicki fired 500,000 and Gregg re-raised to 1.4 million. Klodnicki thought about it and moved all in for 8 million chips, receiving a call from Gregg. With 9 2 Gregg was more ahead than he could have hoped for as Chris turned over 7 5 for a gutshot straight draw. The 5 on the turn brought some more outs for Chris, but the river was a meaningless 3, ending the tournament and eliminating Chris Klodnicki in 2nd place for $2,985,495.

Congratulations to Anthony Gregg, Winner of Event #47: $111,111 One Drop High Roller ($4,830,619)

 

Anthony Gregg

Anthony Gregg

 

Final table payouts

1 Tony Gregg $4,830,619
2 Chris Klodnicki $2,985,495
3 William Perkins $1,965,163
4 Antonio Esfandiari $1,433,438
5 Richard Fullerton $1,066,491
6 Martin Jacobson $807,427
7 Brandon Steven $621,180
8 Nick Schulman $485,029