Two more World Series of Poker bracelets have been claimed, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money as events 57 and 58 concluded at the Rio in Las Vegas Friday.
A young internet pro and university drop-out from Maryland, Gregory Merson, earned his first WSOP bracelet and became an instant millionaire when he took down event 57 – the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed competition, earning himself a career-best pay day of $1,136,197.
The starter field in the event numbered 474 hopefuls, with a liberal sprinkling of big names anxious to claim the big pay check.
The match turned out to be another protracted affair, resulting once again in an extra day being required to finalise the exciting and action-packed heads up between Merson and his more experienced rival Keith Lehr – a WSOP bracelet holder.
In the event, the resumed heads up, which saw Merson holding a decisive chip lead, was done and dusted in short order. Just one hand after play recommenced, Merson ousted his opponent to send him home with the runner up prize of $701,757.
It was Merson’s biggest ever win, although he has an online victory worth $163,291.56 on his biog, the result of a win as gregy20723 on Pokerstars.
Other pay-outs on the final table were:
Shannon Shorr $455,362
Edward Sabat $300,753
Christopher Brammer $200,502
Andrew Lichtenberger $140,531
Event 58 – $3,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Low Split 8/OB also concluded Friday with Russian 23-year-old former geologist turned poker pro Viacheslav Zhukov besting a field of 526 to claim his second bracelet and a main prize worth $330,277.
The four day competition produced a super-tough final table that comprised Zhukov along with Roch Cousineau, Chris Bell, David Baker, Randy Ohel, Yuval Bronshtein, Jack Ward, Scotty Nguyen and Juan Ramirez.
Zhukov, who won his first bracelet last year in the $10,000 Omaha eight-or-better event, was just one of several bracelet holders around the table, which distilled to a heads up between the Russian and Roch Cousineau.
Here’s how the finalists cashed:
Roch Cousineau $204,426
Chris Bell $135,858
David Baker $100,820
Randy Ohel $75,662
Yuval Bronshtein $57,662
Jack Ward $43,840
Scotty Nguyen $33,789
Juan Ramirez $26,235