The World Series of Poker experiment with the Hyper Hold’em format of fast-action poker appears to have gone down well with the 1,436 players who entered Event 6, which was done and dusted in just 2 days with Minnesota’s John Reading (26) earning the fastest $252,068 he’s likely to see in a while.
The twenty minute rounds saw Reading claim his first WSOP gold bracelet after reaching the 2-hour final table in a day, and then surviving against a bunch of talented players that included Dublin’s Mark McDowell, New Yorker Harrison Beach, Alexandr Gofman from Russia, Californians Matt Woodward and Rob Suer, Kenneth Johnson from Minnesota, Ryan Julius from Illinois and Wayne Boyd.
Actual playing time for the 48 hands it took for a champion to be decided was around 2 hours, and 8 hands of that was all that was needed for Reading to dismiss his heads up opponent, 28-year-old Mark McDowell from Dublin, Ireland.
Starting with a chip advantage of almost 3 to 1, Reading wasted no time in sending the audacious and at times aggressive Irishman to the cashier to collect his runner-up prize of $155,876.
Other pay-outs included:
Harrison Beach $98,623
Aleksandr Gofman $71,586
Matt Woodward $52,807
Rob Suer $39,547
Kenneth Johnson $30,048
Ryan Julius $23,133
Wayne Boyd $18,041
The event attracted many top names in poker, including former WSOP Main Event champ Greg Merson, who secured his 13th cash, and Jason Mercier, who claimed his 42nd WSOP cash.