The $5,000 buy in Event #19 was a Pot Limit Holdem event which attracted 195 of the top tournament players to compete for a chunk of the $916,500 prizepool. The field was indeed very talented and some of the most talented players in the world made it to the final table, including Dario Minieri, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov and Davidi Kitai.
The 10th place finisher who has narrowly missed this start studded final table was Jesse Martin, who was knocked out in unbelievable fashion. Usually when players go all in with the same hand and one of the catches a flush, the other player has a good dimareason to be upset, but imagine how upset would you be if that happened to you on a WSOP final table bubble. And that’s exactly what happened to Jesse who got it in preflop with Eugene Katchalov with A 
Q 
vs Katchalov’s A 
Q . The board ran out 9 4 4 K 3 , giving Katchalov a backdoor flush and knocking off Jesse Martin in 10th place for a $16,011 payday.
With that the final table was set and players drew the following seats:
Seat 1 Davidi Kitai 879,000
Seat 2 Dario Minieri 234,000
Seat 3 Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier 222,000
Seat 4 Chris Johnson 72,000
Seat 5 Dimitar Danchev 137,000
Seat 6 Eugene Katchalov 440,000
Seat 7 Vincent Bartello 134,000
Seat 8 Kristina Holst 180,000
Seat 9 Cary Katz 618,000
Davidi Kitai made his presence know early at the final table, raising and taking down most of the first hands and in hand 6 Chris Johnson decided to be the first to take a stand. Kitai raised from the hijack and Johnson moved all in from the button. Both blinds folded and Kitai snap called with T T and Chris needed help with A 3 . The K 
9 8 8 J board did not bring any help to Chris Johnson as he was eliminated in 9th place, earning $20,520.
After a few dozen hands the Italian poker star Dario Minieri found himself on the short stack and had to push all in from the button for his last 64,000. This was just enough for Dimitar Danchev to call with A 3 from the big blind and Minieri needed some help with K 5 . Unfortunately for him, the board did no connect with either of the players and Dario Minieri had to settle for 8th place and $26,468.
Not all big names were able to get traction and next up hitting the rail was one of the top tournament players in the world Bertrand Grospellier. After a preflop raise from Elky, Katchalov re-raised full pot, putting Elky in a decision for all his chips. Elky called with Q J but was way behind Katchalov’s K K . The flop gave Elky a glimpse of hope as 5 Q 2 rolled out, but the rest of the board did not bring him any help and Bertrand Grospellier was eliminated in 7th place, scoring $34,341.
Not long after Elky was gone, the last woman standing – Kristina Holst lost a big pot that relegated her to just over 1 big blind and with that she was all in on top of a raise by Vincent Bartello and a 3-bet by Caru Katz from the big blind, which was called by Vince. On a Q A 6 flop Katz put in a continuation bet of 70,000 and was again called by Vincent. J rolled out and Katz announced all in which was followed by a quick fold by Vincent. This left Katz, holding A 8 heads up against Kristina who was holding A 3 . Katz was well in the lead and the 4 on the river did not bring any help to Kristina as she was gone in 6th place $44,844 richer.
Eugene Katchalov who was very hot at the start of the final table was now moving in the wrong direction and hand 51 was poised to be his last. Cary Katz raised it up to 50,000 from early position and Eugene 3-bet the pot from middle position. Everyone else folded and Katz announced all in which was quickly called by Eugene. Unfortunately for him he was way behind with 9 9 against Katz’s Q Q . The flop all but sealed Katchalov’s fate, bringing 7 8 3 and leaving him with 1 out. The turn, however, took that away too as the 2 rolled out and left Eugene drawing dead. With that Eugene Katchalov was eliminated in 5th place with a score of $58,912.
Just two hands later Davidi Kitai was at the center of a three – way all in which ended in two players leaving the table. Dimitar Danchev, after a big loss in the previous hand was down to just a few big blinds and raised pot from under the gun, behind him Vincent Bartello announced all in and with the action folding to Davidi Kitai he also elected to go all in. Dimitar closed the action with a call for his remaining chips and players revealed their hands. Kitai was ahead with 9 9 , but not by a mile as Vincent rolled over A Q and Dimitar was hoping for some help with Q 5 . Fortunately for Kitai, the board helped no one as he scored a double elimination bringing the tournament to heads up play just like that! Dimitar Danchev was the shortest stack and was eliminated in 4th place for a $77,893 score and Vincent Bartello took 3rd place and $103,628.
The heads up match lasted almost as long as the entire final table up until this point, but eventually it was Davidi Kitai who was stacking the last of the chips in front of him.
After a great battle by both players it all came down to hand 90 where players got it in preflop after several re-raises. Kitai was holding J J and was way behind Katz who had K K . Kitai had Katz covered and would not be out should he loose this hand, but the situation changed in a hurry as the flop brought J 6 8 , giving Kitai a massive lead in the hand and leaving Katz with less than a 10% chance to re-capture the lead. Unfortunately for him, neither the turn or the river brought any help and Katz exited in 2nd place, earning $138,794 for his efforts. And just like that Davidi Kitai captured his third WSOP bracelet and $224,560 to add to his impressive poker resume!
Davidi Kitai
Final table payouts
1 Davidi Kitai $224,560
2 Cary Katz $138,794
3 Vincent Bartello $103,628
4 Dimitar Danchev $77,893
5 Eugene Katchalov $58,912
6 Kristina Holst $44,844
7 Bertrand Grospellier $34,341
8 Dario Minieri $26,468
9 Chris Johnson $20,520