TITLE
It took three days of play for Kenneth Lind to overcome a field of 4,407 players, but he did walk away a winner with the gold bracelet, his name on the Golden Eagle Trophy, and $634,809 in cash. Others started taking notice of Lind early on day two, when he became second in chips by playing the big pot poker and quickly accumulating chips. He then carried second in chips position all the way until the final table.
The final table was set on Sunday evening and consisted of Dana Ott with 2,100,000 in chips, followed by Kenneth Lind, John Holley, Randolph Spain with same amounts, 1,900,000, then Barry Bashist at 1,800,000, Fernando Halac, 1,250,000, Jack Ernest Ward with 1,100,000, Michel Bouskila, 710,000, and James Miller with 420,000.
First to hit the rail was Fernando Halac, who moved all in on the Q
K4
flop on a flush draw holding 85. Lind made a call with Q
10. The 10
10 turn and river gave Lind a boat and eliminated Halac in 9th for $52,474.
It was Lind again delivering the next knockout, when he called an all in from James Ward on 1010. Ward, holding a pair of threes did not get any help from the board and headed for the exit with $68,180 and an eight place finish.
It was hand #47 of the final table play already and level 27: 25,000-50,000, 5,000, when James Miller three-bet all in preflop his last 645,000 on A10. Randolph Spain, who raised initially, announced a call holding AK. Miller was undoubtedly ecstatic to flop a flush draw on the 793 board, but turn and river bricked with 5 and 8, and he went to the payout deck to collect $89,281 for his seventh place.
Only seven hands later, Bouskila engaged in a preflop tussle against Lind and eventually called for all of his chips on AQ
. Lind was again the favorite with QQ and delivered his third knockout of the night after the board ran out 5K1066. Michel Bouskila thus finished in sixth for the first 6-digit payout of the final table, $117,799.
It took another 24 hands of play, a dinner break, and the next blind level to see the next elimination. On hand #78, it was none other than Lind, who came from behind postflop to relieve another player of all of his chips. Lind held KQ and raised from under the gun. Randy Spain reraised on AQ from cutoff, which Lind called. Lind check/called Spain on the 6Q5 flop. He checked again when K fell on the turn and snap-called an all in from Spain, holding two pair. K on the river gave Lind a full house sending Spain home in fifth with $156,629 and upping Lind’s scalp count to four for the night.
Determined to do all the work at the final table, Lind continued his carnage just five hands later, staring down Barry Bashist. Holding AJ, he called a continuation bet on the Q106 flop from Bashist, who had K10. Lind caught a nut straight when the turn came K and checked. He was more than happy to hear Bashist announcing himself all in, as he promptly called leaving opponent scrambling for four outs to catch a full house. When the 9 river bricked, Bashist had to join the “Re-Lind-guished” club with the fourth place finish and a $209,856 payday.
Three-handed play went on for 70 hands but two players eventually found themselves locking horns for all of the chips. It was Holley versus Ott postflop when Holley, with the top pair on the 7K106 board three-bet all in only to find himself drawing to no outs against Ott’s nut straight on 89. The meaningless 7 on the river changed nothing and John Holley left the tournament in third pocketing $283,312.
Entering heads-up Lind held a slight chip advantage sitting on 6,990,000 in chips over Ott’s 6,220,000. Lind steadily achieved a sizeable 3:1 chip advantage but Ott managed to fight his way back to even. Finally, on hand #224, both players found themselves with good enough holdings to put all of their chips in the middle. After a limp/check preflop, Lind called a 400,000 bet from Ott on the 7810 flop, and that’s when the turn 7 arrived. Ott announced a check and Lind bet out a million. Tanking for a few seconds, Ott raised to his feet and said “I’m all in”. Lind quickly called and produced J9 for a straight. Ott, with J7 for three-of-a-kind, appeared resigned to his fate although he had plenty of board pair outs to make a winning full house. K on the river confirmed his expectations and he graciously congratulated the winner and went on to collect the runner-up’s $390,601, deservedly won with admirable skill and resolve.
This left us with Ken Lind standing alone, who, playing WSOP as an item on his bucket list, played the poker of his life.