Jonathan Taylor is no stranger to the WSOP brand, racking up 10 Circuit cashes and an impressive 3 Rings for over $250,000 in the last 2 years alone. Yesterday, he went on to improve that record by winning Event #14 – a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event with nearly 2,000 players. Taking home $454,424 for his victory, he attributed his success to playing his momentum and confidence carried over from the circuit. He maintained an above average chipstack for the closing stages of the tournament, entering the final day 2nd in chips and avoiding confrontations.

The final table lineup looked like this, with Jonathan Taylor starting as chip leader and one of only two Americans to make the official final table:

1. Jonathan Taylor – 2,057,000
2. Hiren Patel – 1,854,000
3. Jed Hoffman – 883,000
4. Patrick Kubat – 859,000
5. Blake Bohn – 738,000
6. Joseph Pergola – 678,000
7. Hunter Frey – 399,000
8. Tommy Vu – 364,000
9. Dan Gannon – 360,000

It’s also worth sparing a thought for the unlucky Russell Crane who finished in 10th place, losing two hands in a row – A K v J 5 swiftly followed by shoving his remaining chips with 9 6 into Blake Bohn’s A Q.

The final table started with plenty of action – the three short stakes had just 15 big blinds each and action came thick and fast, with plenty of all ins and 3bets. It took 11 hands before a flop was seen, and a further 7 for a hand with any major action – Bohn and Patel ended up all in on a JTK2Q board with no flushes possible, and both flipped AQ for the flopped nuts!

The first elimination of the final table was Joseph Pergola, who earned himself $33,323 for his run. After losing a substantial amount of his stack after turning a missed straight draw into a bluff and being called by the pocket king’s of Kubat, he ended up all in with just 4 7, losing to Patel’s A 6 after a 6 on the flop.

The next elimination came just under an hour later, with Gannon calling essentially all in with two players already in the pot with 4. Unsurprisingly a J 8 2 left him behind Jonathan Taylor’s K 7 and unable to prove Gannon was eliminated for $43,293.

The next elimination, of Jed Hoffman in 7th for $56,946 was by far the biggest pot of the final table so far. Hoffman raised holding Q Q and shoved all in over Blake Bohn’s 3bet. Bohn quickly called with A K and a promising flop of 9 10 9 followed, but the A turn left Hoffman drawing extremely thin and there was no help with the 3 river.

Consistent aggression from all players followed over the next hour, with Frey’s A 6 getting there against Kubat’s 10 10 to double Frey up. Lady Luck failed to return the favour to Kubat, who moved his remaining stack all in the next hand with 5 5. A board of 2 T 9 8 Q was bad news with Patel holding J T to eliminate Kubat in 6th for $75,879.

With 5 remaining, Frey was the noticeable short stack with just 500,000 (10 big blinds), and half the stack of 4th place. As always, just a few hands in poker can change everything, and after collecting 250,000 his shove with A 7 was called by Patel holding A K. A miracle runout of 9 Q 5 8 6 gave Frey a straight and a much needed double up.

Less than half an hour of play later, a clash of the monsters occurred with Vu and Taylor playing for a pot worth over 2 million chips. A raise by Taylor was followed by a call from Vu, with both seeing an action flop of J 9 4. A check from Vu led to a 95,000 bet from Taylor, and after a long tank Vu shoved all in to create a monster pot. An instant call from Taylor was the worst possible news for Vu – his J 9 was dominated by the 9 9. No miracle Jack on the turn or river meant Vu was eliminated in 5th place for a still-impressive $102,449.

Just two hands later, he was followed to the rail by Patel, who raised into Taylor’s blind holding A J and snapped off Taylor’s all in shove. Up against K 9, a safe rainbow flop of 3 2 6 looked good for Patel but a brutal 9 turn and no help on the river ended his bracelet dreams, sending him home with $140,143.

3 handed player started with a clear chip-leader: Jonathan Taylor held over half the chips with a stack breaching 4 million following his elimination of Patel. Before and after dinner, Taylor started to throw his weight around, taking the majority of pots before losing a pot worth 1 million to Bohn. This didn’t prove a major set-back to his bracelet ambitions as just two hands later he had an easy call to make with Q Q. Finding himself up against Frey’s two unders of J T the board provided a major sweat coming down K 5 6, but two absolute bricks – the 2 and 2 – meant Taylor held on with his pair of Queens and Frey received $194,315 for his efforts.

Heads up started as a very lop-sided affair: Jonathan Taylor’s 5,310,000 giving him a substantial advantage over Blake Bohn’s 2,875,000. Heads up was a fierce affair – no surprise given these two players were the most active during the whole of the final table. Despite lasting just 26 hands played in less than an hour, a reluctance to give up the small blind (there was only one walk in total) meant plenty of action, nearly of which went in Taylor’s favour. Extending his lead the first half of heads up hands to 6,850,000 to 1,335,000, heads up rapidly became a shove/fold affair with Bohn wielding his 15bb stack and showing no hesitation to go all in when he felt necessary despite the huge prizes on offer.

The final hand was a fine example of much of the heads up – Bohn raised A 5 on the button and faced an all-in from Taylor’s much larger stack. After thinking for a while, Bohn called and found himself a very slight favourite up against K 9. A dangerous flop of 5 6 8 was lots of low numbers but nothing suitable for Taylor. The bracelet winning card appeared on the turn though; the 9 being the $170,000 card Taylor’s railing were screaming for. A blank 3 on the river gave Taylor an extremely impressive win.

The massive field led to some huge prizes, and provided Bohn with $281,049 to lighten the blow of losing the final all-in. Taylor received a massive $454,424 and a prize money can’t buy – a coveted WSOP bracelet. A extremely calm and measured display of aggression by a player who is racking up WSOP cashes; I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t the last we saw of Jonathan Taylor.

The full list of cashes:

1. Jonathan Taylor – $454,424
2. Blake Bohn – $281,049
3. Hunter Frey – $194,315
4. Hiren Patel – $140,143
5. Tommy Vu – $102,449
6. Patrick Kubat – $75,879
7. Jed Hoffman – $56,946
8. Dan Gannon – $43,293
9. Joseph Pergola – $33,323