It seemed like only a matter of time until David BakesBaker took down his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet. On Friday night, Baker pulled away from the field of the $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball World Championship, earning $294,000 and besting a rock solid final table. As you might expect, his fans celebrated in a thread in Poker Discussion.
About half of the players who entered the tournament, the 19th on the 2010 WSOP docket, were former bracelet winners, making Baker’s rise to the top even more impressive. For Baker, who final tabled a Full TiltOnline Poker Series (FTOPS) tournament in May for $125,000 and won a PokerStarsSpring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) event last year for over $200,000, the bracelet seemed to mean more than the nearly $300,000 in prize money.
Baker told WSOP officials following play, “Now, when I say I’m a professional poker player, it has real meaning. The WSOP gold bracelet gives real meaning to claiming you are a poker pro.” According to a press release distributed by the WSOP, Baker has been playing 2-7 Lowball for about four months and explained the key to succeeding in the off-kilter game: “It’s a two-street game with very little information compared to the other games. The key to this game is getting a solid read on your opponents.”
Here were the final results from the No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball World Championship:
1. David BakesBaker – $294,314
2. Eric Cloutier – $181,886
3. George Danzer – $115,295
4. John Juanda – $78,088
5. Doug Booth – $55,483
6. Erik Seidel – $41,270
7. Eric Kesselman – $32,080
8. Daniel Negreanu – $26,004
Elsewhere at the Rio, Gary GB2005Bogdanski (pictured) made the final table of Event #18 of the 2010 WSOP, a $2,000 Limit Hold’em tournament. A total of 476 players entered and Bogdanski picked up $21,000 for his eighth place finish. Former WSOP Main Event November Niner Eric Buchman ultimately took down his first bracelet in Event #18 to go along with a $203,000 cash prize. Despite making the nut flush on his final hand, Bogdanski ran into William Jensen‘s boat to send the New Jersey native home.
WSOP bracelet winner Blair Rodman(pictured) is back at a final table. After winning a bracelet three years ago in a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event, Rodman will look to add another piece of gold to his collection in Event #20, $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha. Rodman owns the sixth largest stack entering the nine-handed final table at 272,000. The field trails WSOP bracelet winner Nenad Medic‘s commanding total of 1.5 million; no other player at the table is above 600,000.
Here is the gauntlet that Rodman will have to navigate through in order to win his second bracelet on Saturday. When play wrapped up for the night, the blinds were 5,000/10,000. To the victor will go $256,000 in spoils:
1. Nenad Medic – 1,504,000
2. John Barch – 546,000
3. Trai Dang – 500,000
4. Klinghammer Thibaut – 366,000
5. Ashkan Razavi – 294,000
6. Blair Rodman – 272,000
7. Chris Hyong Chang – 195,000
8. Denton Pfister – 167,000
9. Tyler Patterson – 139,000
Also playing down to a winner today is Event #21, $1,500 Seven Card Stud. Titan Pokerpro Sorel Imper1umMizzi is out in front with a stack of 435,000, with fellow online poker players Pat TorontoToroPezzin and Jon PearlJammer Turner (pictured) also in the hunt for the $140,000 top prize and coveted WSOP bracelet. Here’s a look at the leaderboard heading into Saturday’s finale in Las Vegas:
1. Sorel Imper1umMizzi – 435,000
2. Darren Shebell – 320,000
3. Richard Ashby – 276,000
4. Dan Heimiller – 241,000
5. Pat TorontoToroPezzin – 211,000
6. Christine Pietsch – 193,000
7. Jon PearlJammerTurner – 83,000
8. Owais Ahmed – 78,000
Baker’s bracelet win marked the fifth by a PocketFives.com member in 2010. Stay tuned for the latest WSOP coverage of online poker players.