Trevor Pope, from Wisconsin, won his first career bracelet today in WSOP Event #2, an eight-handed NL Hold’em event. This event attracted 481 hopeful entrants who ponied up $5,000 each, generating a prize pool larger than $2 million, of which Pope took home $553,906.
After three days of play, the field had been whittled down to eight competitors, who remained to play the final table. Trevor entered the table with a sizable lead. The initial chip stacks at the start of final table play were:
1. Trevor Pope – 3,420,000
2. David Vamplew – 629,000
3. Jared Hamby – 629,000
4. Dan Kelly – 625,000
5. Brandon Myers – 595,000
6. Jaime Armstrong – 451,000
7. David Peters – 435,000
8. Darryll Fish – 432,000
Aside from Trevor, all the the other players seemed to be fairly evenly matched, chip-wise. None of them had even close to the amount that he had. This lead was to continue through the remainder of the tournament, with nobody really even coming close to challenging Trevor’s lead.
David Peters was the first knocked out in hand #34. With his stack diminished to 175,000 chips, which was only 6 big blinds, Peters open-shoved K
2, only to see Pope call with a monster – Q
Q
. To make things even worse for Peters, the flop was Q T
3, giving Pope top set. No help came for Peters on the turn or river, and he busted out in 8th place for a $48,130 prize.
A few hands later, Brandon Meyers went all in for 415,000 with AQ, but again Pope had a monster. Improving upon the QQ he held when he knocked Peters out, Pope this time held AA. The flop came with two hearts, but Pope’s AA held up. Peters received $62,915 for his 7th place finish.
Just four hands after Meyers had to bid the table farewell, another exciting hand played out. Dan Kelley, with a 715,000 stack, opened for 60,000. Trevor Pope again entered the pot, this time with a three-bet. Kelly called and they saw a T 6 7 flop. Pope checked to Kelley, who made a small c-bet, which Pope called. The turn was the T. Pope checked to Kelley, who shoved his remaining chips into the pot, which Pope called without hesitation. The players turned over their cards, Pope revealing Q7, while Dan Kelley showed the A A. Finally Trevor Pope’s luck seemed to be running out as his 2-pair was less than 5% to win the hand against Kelley’s better 2-pair. But the river brought a miracle 7, giving Pope a full house and the winning hand. Kelley’s 6th place finish was good enough for him to win $83,552.
After Trevor’s complete demolition of those three opponents, things settled down for a bit, but then in hand #58, Darryll Fish ran his 77 into Jaime Armstrong’s QQ. Unfortunately for Armstrong, the 7 on the flop gave Fish a set, which held up and left Armstrong crippled. A couple of hands later, he ran his A3 into David Vamplew’s AQ. They both flopped a pair, but Vamplew’s pair of queens held up against Armstrong’s pair of treys, sending Jaime Armstrong home in 5th place, with $112,695.
Once the table was 4-handed, the competitors seemed to be playing very cautiously and avoiding confrontations. Trevor Pope was able to extend his chip lead by taking down many uncontested pots. Many other hands featured someone shoving preflop and everyone else folding. Finally, in hand #111, we saw some action. Pope open raised, and Jared Hamby three-bet all his chips. Pope made the call, and flipped over AJ, which was dominated by Hamby’s AK. The flop, however, was 8 8 5, bringing a flush draw for Pope. The 9 on the turn sealed Hamby’s fate. He left the table in 4th place with winnings of $154,518.
Pope was involved in another all-in confrontation about five minutes later when Darryll Fish jammed and Pope called. Fish turned over the lackluster J8, while Pope had yet another pocket pair, this time 99. No help arrived for Fish, and he left the tournament with a cool $215,286 in 3rd place.
David Vamplew had tenaciously outlasted 6 other players at the final table, yet entered heads-up play with a severe chip deficit. Vamplew’s 550,000 stack was less than one tenth of Trevor Pope’s 6,665,000 mountain of chips. After three inconsequential hands that ended preflop, Pope raised from the button and Vamplew called. Vamplew called Pope’s c-bet on a A 9 3 flop. The turn brought the J. Pope bet enough to put David all-in, and David called. Pope showed the A3, while Vamplew held the JJ for a turned set. The river was irrelevant, and David doubled up. Now Trevor’s lead was reduced to a “mere” 6-1 advantage.
Unfortunately, David’s momentum was soon halted a few hands later. Vamplew raised, and Pope three-bet all-in. David called and showed A6. Pope had 55, so it was a race. Vamplew failed to improve as the board ran out JQJ 7 4, and David was eliminated. He earned $342,450 for his efforts.
After 124 hands, Trevor remained the only player standing, earning the bracelet and a whopping $553,906 first prize. His play throughout the day seemed appropriately aggressive, leveraging his huge stack to take down many pots uncontested. Of course, getting the right hands at the right time helped a lot, too.
The final table payouts at WSOP Event #2 were:
1. Trevor Pope – $553,906
2. David Vamplew – $342,450
3. Darryll Fish – $215,286
4. Jared Hamby – $154,518
5. Jamie Armstrong – $112,695
6. Dan Kelly – $83,552
7. Brandon Meyers – $62,915
8. David Peters – $48,130
