In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Bryan Piccioli took down the World Series of Poker Online Event #12 ($500 Turbo Deepstack) for $83,332 and in doing so, captured his second gold WSOP bracelet. At the final table, Piccioli was one of no less than four players from previous WSOP Main Event final tables and got the better of some of the best in the business to strike gold.
The final table began in quick fashion, reflecting the tournament overall, which took just seven hours to complete. Darren Elias opened to double the big blind from the hijack with 
and Jason Werrell called off the other half of his micro-stack with 
.
The flop of 
kept Werrell in the lead, but the 
on the turn changed all that and the 
river confirmed that Werrell was out in ninth place for $5,912.
As players like Elias jockeyed for power in the positions at the top of the leaderboard, the short stacks tried to survive, and for a time, double-ups were the order of the hour. That couldn’t last in the turbo format, however, and when Michael Dyer moved all-in from the small blind with 
, he was caught by Piccioli in the big blind with 
. The board of 
gave Dyer no hope of recovery and he crashed out in eighth place for $7,724.
Piccioli was stepping on the gas, and just a handful of pots later, was all-in pre-flop again, this time with his huge chip lead of 15 million chips to the nearest competitor with 7 million looking to run over his opposition. ‘Aceofspades3’ called for their tournament life and 2.5 million chips from the small blind with 
but while they went to the board well ahead of Piccioli’s , it was a disaster of a run-out. The flop of 
gave ‘AceOfSpades3’ a set of queens, but the 
turn handed Piccioli the straight and the 
confirmed that yet another pot had gone the way of the eventual champion.
It was Matthew Paoletti who busted in sixth place, in the very next hand. All-in for less than three big blinds from the small blind with 
, it was Elias who called it off from the big blind with 
and the flop of 
gave him a flush draw to call for across the remaining two cards to come. There was instant payment on the turn and after the 
river, the field was reduced to five players in double-quick time.
Elias may have won that hand, but it was his turn to ride a roller coaster he would eventually tumble off. Having dropped down to under three million chips, Elias survived a scary board when his king-jack managed to turn a jack to survive against Piccioli’s four-five which had hit the flop, but Piccioli’s revenge was brutal and final as he took out the most decorated of his final table opponents in stunning style.
Elias was all-in pre-flop again, this time with , but Piccioli had the better of it this time, calling with 
. The board of 
saw Piccioli win with top pair, top kicker and just like that, the former PocketFives #1 had a stranglehold on the event, holding 22 million chips to the other three players, who totalled less than 15 million between them.
The average stack of Piccioli’s opponents was 12 big blinds when Ye Yuan moved all-in from the button with and was called by Daniel Fellner with . The flop of gave Yuan one par, but the 
turn and river could not save him and Yuan bowed out in fourth place for $25,893.
It was Fellner himself who would miss out on the heads-up battle after a clash of two big hands sent him out of contention. Fellner shoved from the small blind with but Piccioli had the easiest of calls with . The flop of 
saw Fellner hit one pair, and the turn of was even better news, opening up the nut flush draw too. The river of was the opposite of help and Fellner left in third place for $36,293.
Thanks to that hand, Piccioli led the chip counts into heads up with 22.5 million to Dan Sindelar’s 15.6 million. Piccioli maintained that lead for the early stages of the duel, but when all the money went into the middle with Piccioli’s 
against Sindelar’s , that situation flipped on its head, a queen-high board that helped no-one keeping Sindelar ahead and catapulting him into the lead.
Both men knew what it was like to final table the WSOP Main Event, with Sindelar and Piccioli having cashed for over a million in 2014 and 2017 respectively. Piccioli managed to grind his way back to almost level before the decisive hand of the event, calling for his tournament life just 3.2 million behind his opponent. Sindelar had shoved from the button with 
but Piccioli woke up with and made the call. He was rewarded by a board of 
giving him a commanding 10:1 chip advantage.
The final hand saw Sindelar move in with and Piccioli called it off with , a flop of 
immediately paying him off. The turn of offered Sindelar hope, but it was not to be fulfilled on the river and the tournament was over, Piccioli claiming his second WSOP bracelet in fine style.
With 654 players and 305 rebuys, a total of 959 entries produced a prize pool of $431,550. Piccioli may have won the lion’s share of that, but many other big names made the money too. Event #11 runner-up Felix Vandeput followed up his final table run 24 hours later by coming in 11th for $4,574, while Katie Lindsay (18th for $2,891), Shannon Shorr (48th for $1,424), Daniel Negreanu (62nd for $1,208) and former WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess (98th for $820) all got close to the business end of the tournament without making the final table.
It was to be Piccioli’s day in the sun, however, as he won his second WSOP gold bracelet and the top prize of $83,332 to go with it. Piccioli, who won over $1.6 million for his sixth-place finish in the WSOP Main Event just four years ago, adds to his WSOP bracelet won in 2013 in the WSOP Asia-Pacific series as well as the WSOP Online Circuit ring he claimed 17 months ago.
WSOP Online Series $500 Turbo Deepstack Event #12 Final Table Results:
- Bryan ‘Pellepelle’ Piccioli – $83,332
- Dan ‘Feeltheflow’ Sindelar – $51,527
- Daniel ‘spleen’ Fellner – $36,293
- Ye ‘yuan365’ Yuan – $25,893
- Darren ‘darrenelias’ Elias – $18,729
- Matthew ‘peepeepoopoo’ Paoletti – $13,723
- ‘AceOfSpades3’ – $10,227
- Michael ‘helionic’ Dyer – $7,724
- Jason ‘QIGONG’ Werrell – $5,912
