Fortunes change quickly in WSOP turbo finish
A swift reversal of fortune gave Allan Cheung his first World Series of Poker bracelet late Wednesday, and Myles Kotler had to settle for second again.
Cheung (screen name Treeoflife) won Event 22 of the WSOP Online, a $500 No-limit Hold’em turbo tournament, earning $120,082.95. He prevailed in a field of 1,579 entries (1,082 players and 497 rebuys) on WSOP.com.
Kotler (Shipthemoney) finished second for the second time in five nights and is still seeking his first bracelet. He earned $74,039.31 on Wednesday after winning $111,955.41 in Event 18, a $1,000 No-limit Hold’em turbo tournament, on Saturday.
Kotler held a 2-1 chip lead over Cheung going into heads-up play and quickly extended it to about 5-1. However, Cheung doubled up to stay alive and then won another sizable pot to take over the chip lead.
In the final hand, Cheung raised, and Kotler went all-in with ten-eight of spades. Cheung called with ace-seven and locked up the bracelet with an ace on the turn.
The whole heads-up match took a little over 10 minutes in a tournament that took only about seven hours under the turbo format in which the stakes (the blind bets required for each hand) rise faster than in a normal tournament.
Cheung had never cashed in a WSOP event before this series, but Wednesday marked his fourth cash of the WSOP Online.
The flagship WSOP that is normally held every summer at the Rio Convention Center has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. leg of the WSOP Online includes one event every day through July 31. Players must be physically located in Nevada or New Jersey to play.
Event 23, a $500 No-limit Hold’em knockout tournament, starts at 3 p.m. Thursday and is expected to end early Friday. Event 24 is a $400 No-limit Hold’em eight-handed tournament that starts at 3 p.m. Friday.
A series for players who live outside the U.S. — or Americans who can travel out of the country — started Sunday and runs through Sept. 6 on GGPoker.
Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.
