The last two nights in Vegas were marked by the last two final days of this year's Main Event, in which the participants of the "November nine" presented themselves. The final nine of the most prestigious tournament in the world returned to the final table with the certainty of a million dollars, but the goal of each of them was one - the most beautiful bracelet of all and 8 million dollars along with it.
Although the original plan was to finish the first day till the last four players, we have gradually witnessed eliminations in the following order: Chase Bianchi, Jareth East ($ 1,100,000), Alejandro Lococo ($ 1,225,000), Hye Park ($ 1,400,000), Ozgur Secilmis (1,800,000 $) and Joshua Remitio ($ 2,300,000). And after the 125th hand, the 8th game day was officially over and the final trio took a well-deserved break before the final day.
Before the very beginning of the second final day, as is customary, this year's WSOP Hall of Fame inductee was announced, selected by living members and media representatives from a dozen nominees. Among the names such as Antonio Esfandiari, Michael Mizrachi and Betrand "ElkY" Grospellier, Israeli high stakes professional Eli Elezra, who has a WPT title and four WSOP bracelets, eventually received this honor.
Subsequently, there was nothing to prevent the last three players from embarking on the final stage of this entire marathon, which eventually lasted more than 6 hours. During them we saw 98 hands, full of action and emotions, which many times erupted in a huge rev of the participating spectators.
The pleasant surprise of the evening was definitely the home player George Holmes, who has only one entry on his live tournament account and considers himself an amateur player. It was Holmes who pushed forward slowly from the beginning of the day, until he sent Jack Oliver home in the 41st hand. After a tank of more than a minute, Holmes decided to call Oliver's 18bb shove with a combination of Q J, with which he faced the opponent's A 8 in the showdown. The flop of 8 7 5 kept Oliver in the lead, but drastically changed the turn of J, and river 9 was just proof that Jack Oliver took home $ 3 million for third place.
After a short break, during which a bracelet and $8 million were placed on the table, we were able to embark on the final heads-up, which Aldemir entered with a 2:1 advantage. Even though everyone favored professional Aldemir in this duel between David and Goliath, Holmes did not let himself be embarrassed and was more than an equal opponent. After only ten hands, Holmes leveled the scales and after a huge game with the A 8, he even took the lead with a 230m stack against Aldemir's 168m.
Over the next 30 hands, the players gradually took over the baton and took turns, but they could continue at this pace for a very long time, given the 80-blind stacks. But everything was definitely decided by the 223rd final table hand, which you will definitely enjoy yourself:
After that moment, the final decision was made - the crowd favorite, George Holmes, took home $4,300,000 after his life performance, but all the glory today belongs to the new champion Koray Aldemir. He took home the most valuable bracelet of all, $8 million, from a field of 6,650 entries! Are you satisfied with this year's champion?
"In the last hand, I was sure I was the best on the flop, I almost always had nuts there. The turn didn't change much and my plan was to check-call on the river. Well, when it came, I had to think, but the pressure was huge and it was a lot. I'm very happy that I made a good call and that I won, it really means a lot to me! "
Source: PokerNews.com, PokerGO.com
