On the day of the Big One For One Drop Event #47 kicked off, the Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better Event #46 also started and with all the biggest names in poker concentrated in the high roller event, Event #46 was a good chance for other players to shine.

With 435 entries each putting up $3,000, the prizepool reached $1,187,550 and after 3 days of play only 10 were left standing. As usual, the final 10 players form 1 table, also known as the unofficial final table and play down to one more elimination at which point the real final table starts.

Unofficial final table

Vladimir Shchmelev 775,000
Ashly Butler 620,000
Zhen Cai 480,000
Brian Hacker 410,000
Mel Judah 315,000
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman 305,000
Tyler Nelson 275,000
Andrey Zaichenko 275,000
John Cernuto 202,000
Alexey Makarov 165,000

Usually at a this point in a tournament it is one of the short stacks that hits the rail, but on PLO8 anything can happen and that’s what Zhen Cai learned the hard way.

After the re-draw to a singe table, Cai was third in chips and then the following hand happened. Ashly Butler raised to 32,000 from the button and was called by Cai from the big blind. On a J K 2 flop Butler fired a continuation bet and Cai re-raised him to 153,000, which was called by Butler. The T hit the turn and after a brief thought Cai moved all in and was snap called by Butler. Butler turned the nuts with A Q T 8 and Cai was now very much behind after having a solid lead on the flop with K K Q 3 . The turn card was best hand in the deck for Butler at this point as it made it nearly impossible for Cai to fold his top set and second nut flush draw and only that card could give Butler the only better made hand as well as the only better re-draw. The river was a 9 and just like that Zhn Cai bubbled the final table and Ashly Butler took a massive chip lead in the tournament.

With that elimination play resumed at now the official final table and short stacks now needed to make moves to have any shot at the bracelet. Sitting with just under 10 big blinds Alexey Makarov was the first to make his move as he re-raised all in from the small blind after Brian Hacker opened the action to 37,000 from middle position. Brian called and both players revealed very similar hands with Brian holding A 5 5 2 and Alexey holding A 2 2 7 . The 5 K 9 flop, however, left Alexey drawing very thin and the K on the turn sealed the deal as Alexey Makarov was eliminated in 9th place for a $22,171 score.

Just a few hands later the last woman left standing in the tournament – Allyn Jaffrey Shulman got all her chips in preflop against the rolling Ashly Butler. Butler was initially ahead with A J J 4 against Allyn’s A Q 4 6 and the flop pretty much cemented that lead, rolling out 8 T J . A 7 on the turn gave Allyn some out to a quarter of the pot as well as two more outs to a chop and the still live 3 outs for a scoop, but the river Q was none of those and Allyn Shulman hit the rail in 8th place, earning $28,821.

Not much time has passes since Butler finished stacking up Allyn’s chips before he was gobbling up another short stack. After Butler opened the action to 60,000 from early position he got a call from Andrey Zaichenko from the small blind. Zaichenko moved all in on a K 7 J flop and was again snap called by Butler who flipped over A K 2 6 . Zaichenko was behind but more than alive with A 8 9 T for a wrap. Unfortunately for him, 2 black 4’s rolled out on the turn and river and Andrey was gone in 7th place with $37,847.

4 eliminations in a row was not enough for Butler as a few orbits later Butler and Tyler Nelson got it in preflop with Butler holding A A K 4 and Nelson playing catch up with A K 3 5 . The 3 2 6 flop gave Butler the lead for both parts of the pot and the A on the turn did not help Nelson much either. The river J was irrelevant and Tyler Nelson left the tournament in 6th place for a well – deserved $50,197.

With 5 eliminations in a row and counting Butler had no intention of slowing down and the next victim was John Cernuto. Again the decisions ended preflop as Butler raised enough to put John all in and John came along for the ride with A T 8 5 . At this point Butler must have been feeling very good about his rungood since he only had K 6 3 2 . The A T 5 flop gave John a virtual seal on the high end of the pot but Butler had quite a lot of out for the low. The J on the turn was not one of them though, but Butler’s run was merciless as the 4 hit the river, giving him the nuts both ways. With that John Cernuto was gone in 5th place with a nice $67,262 score.

Finally Butler was beginning to lose momentum and in the next few orbits he gave up a sizeable amount of his chips. The next elimination, however, came at the hands of the last Russian standing. Vladimir Shchmelev opened the action from the button and got re-raised all in by Brian Hacker. Vladimir called off the all in bet and showed A K 9 4 which was up against Brian’s A 2 2 6 . A 7 Q 2 flop gave Brian a commanding lead and It seemed the worse that could happen for his is a chop. Unfortunately for him, two perfect cards came along for Vladimir, a T on the turn and a J on the river, giving him the scoop and sending Brian Hacker to the rail in 4th place with $91,085.

At this point Butler was starting to spiral out of control, while Vladimir Shcmelev was raking in pot after pot and slowly re-taking the chip lead which he held at the start of the unofficial final table. Finally the two went head to head. Vladimir limped on the button for 40,000 and got a raise to 140,000 from Butler in the big blind. Vladimir called and players saw a 5 6 9 flop. Butler made a pot bet and Vladimir quickly raised all in, which was called by Butler. Butler had A Q A 7 , but Vladimir flopped the world with A 2 7 8 , leaving Butler with very few outs. The turn and the river bricked for both players and just like that after a blazing hot start to this final table, Ashly Brian was eliminated in third place, earning $124,645.

Heads up was between Vladimir Shcmelev who held the chip lead and Mel Judah who had some catching up to do. For a while both players stood their ground, not letting the other get to far away, but eventually it all came down to a single flop that broke out the fireworks. After a preflop raise to 125,000 from Judah, Vladimir called and players saw a 5 2 5 flop. Judah fired the same amount again and called Vladimir’s raise to 350,000. After the 9 hit the turn Vladimir potted it for 950,000 and Judah announced all in. Vladimir called of the remaining chips and showed A 7 2 2 for a flopped full house. Judah flopped second best with A 5 6 K and needed help. If Judah were to hit a better full house he would have a monster chip lead, but it was not meant to be as the Q rolled out on the river, sending Mel Judah to the rail in 2nd place with $172,361 for his efforts.

After a rollercoaster ride where Vladimir Shcmelev started out on the top, then fell down and came right back up, he was the only one left standing, winning his first WSOP bracelet and a cool $279,094 that went with it!

 

Vladimir Shcmelev

Vladimir Shcmelev

Final table payouts

1 Vladimir Shchmelev $279,094
2 Mel Judah $172,361
3 Ashly Butler $124,645
4 Brian Hacker $91,085
5 John Cernuto $67,262
6 Tyler Nelson $50,197
7 Andrey Zaichenko $37,847
8 Allyn Jaffrey Shulman $28,821
9 Alexey Makarov $22,171