Pierre Milan Wins Event #29 $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em ($536,768)
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It took three days of intense play, but a winner has finally emerged in the 2014 World Series of Poker Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em. After 30 total levels of play, Pierre Milan topped a field of 1,165 players to capture the $536,768 first-place prize and his first gold bracelet.
Interestingly, Milan defeated Justin Oliver heads up to win. Oliver took down the 2013 WSOP Event #38 $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Four Handed for $309,071 and ended up giving that gold bracelet to his dad for Father’s Day. Unfortunately for him he was denied his second bracelet on Father’s Day.
Day 3 action saw the final 20 players return to Level 21 (5,000/10,000/1,000), and it didn’t take long for the first elimination of the day to occur. It happened when Jamie Armstrong opened for 20,000 under the gun and Richard Kirsch called him from the small blind. The big got out of the way and it was heads-up action to the 
flop. Kirsch was first to act and wasted little time in moving all in for right around 135,000. Armstrong called.
Kirsch: 
Armstrong: 
Kirsch flopped a flush draw and decided to play it strong. Unfortunately for him it did pan out as the 
blanked on the turn followed by the 
on the river. Kirsch became the day's first casualty and took home $16,220 for his 20th-place finish.
From there ten others followed him out the door before the final table was set including William Reynolds (19th - $16,220), Rep Porter (18th - $19,718), Joseph Brattole (17th - $19,718), Justin Kindred (16th - $19,718), Marius Pospiech (15th - $24,277), Grayson Nichols (14th - $24,277), Yong Lu (13th - $24,277), Scott Davies (12th - $30,267), Chris Johnson (11th - $30,267), and David Benefield (10th - $30,267).
After a dinner break, Sam Cohen hit the rail in ninth place after her 
failed to overcome the [1d10s] of Justin Oliver, and she was followed out the door by British pro Daniel Laming, who had his pocket kings cracked by the ace-queen of Matt Salsberg.
Andy Phan took his leave in seventh when his pocket queens fell to Barry Hutter’s big slick when an ace spiked on the river, and then Oliver put a bad beat on Armstrong to send him home in sixth.
After a short-stacked Hutter fell in fifth place, the four-handed battle waged until Thad McNulty and Matt Salsberg, who were the short stacks, fell in fourth and third place respectively. That left Justin Oliver and Pierre Milan to battle heads up essentially even in chips.
Even so, it took just three hands for a winner to emerge. That’s because the two played a big pot on the second hand of heads-up play, which went to Milan. One hand later and it was all over.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Pierre Milan | $536,768 |
| 2nd | Justin Oliver | $332,198 |
| 3rd | Matt Salsberg | $207,842 |
| 4th | Thad McNulty | $150,859 |
| 5th | Barry Hutter | $111,368 |
| 6th | Jamie Armstrong | $83,486 |
| 7th | Andy Phan | $63,502 |
| 8th | Daniel Laming | $48,952 |
| 9th | Sam Cohen | $38,244 |
Congratulations to Pierre Milan, winner of Event #29: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em for $536,768.