Hand #65: Brian Yoon raised to 65,000 from the button and Mustapha Kanit called from the small blind.
The flop came down and Kanit checked to Yoon who bet 65,000. Kanit called, the landed on the turn and Kanit checked again. Yoon bet 150,000, Kanit check-raised to 345,000 and Yoon called to see the river.
Kanit shoved for 875,000, sending Yoon into the tank for a good three minutes before he called. Kanit showed for a missed open-ended straight draw, while Yoon tabled for a pair of aces to score the elimination.
Hand #116: In the first hand after returning from the impromptu break, Josh Arieh raised to 125,000 from the small blind only to have Ardit Kurshumi three-bet all in for 1.215 million.
"Here we go. I don't think I can fold," Arieh said before making the call.
Arieh:
Kurshumi:
It was a flip, but Arieh would need to improve if he hoped to eliminate Kurshumi, something that proved easier said than done in the four-handed battle. The flop was safe enough for Kurshumi, but just like he turned an ace in an earlier hand to double, Arieh turned an ace to take the lead.
The turn left Kurshumi looking for a four on the river to stay alive, but there would be no miracle as the improved Arieh to trips. Kurshumi exited in fourth place on his way to the payout desk to collect $176,684.
Hand #121: Josh Arieh opened for 100,000 on the button and then called when Josh Bergman shoved all in for 1.08 million from the big blind.
Bergman:
Arieh:
Bergman was behind, but he was drawing to two live cards. The flop left him drawing to those same two cards, but the turn was not what he was looking for. Bergman needed either a queen or ten on the river to stay alive, but it was not meant to be as the blanked. Bergman took his leave in third place for $246,169.
Hand #142: Brian Yoon raised to 100,000 on the button and Josh Arieh folded.
Hand #143: In what would be the final hand of the tournament, Arieh opened for 100,000 from the button and Yoon called from the big blind, which brought about a flop of . Yoon checked, Arieh bet 75,000, and Yoon check-raised to 240,000. Arieh called to see the and Yoon bet 350,000. Arieh took a few moments before raising all in for 1.63 million and Yoon snap-called.
Yoon:
Arieh:
Arieh put it in with a pair of aces and the ace-high flush redraw, and he needed to hit the latter as Yoon had flopped a flush. Both rails were on their feet to watch the dealer burn and put out the .
Arieh missed and was eliminated in second place. While Arieh missed out on his third bracelet, he will take home a $391,575 consolation prize.
Event #35: $5,000 Eight-Handed No-Limit Hold'em at the 2014 World Series of Poker, which attracted 550 players and created a prize pool of $2.585 million, was originally scheduled to be a four-day event; however, things moved a little faster than expected on Day 3 and a winner was crowned. That man was Brian Yoon, who captured a $633,341 first-place prize and his second WSOP gold bracelet.
Yoon may be familiar to poker fans as the man who topped a massive field of 4,756 players in last year’s $1,111 buy-in Little One for One Drop event for a first-place prize of $663,727. With this win, Yoon, who is two for two in WSOP final-table wins, brings his lifetime WSOP winnings up over $1.4 million.
Day 3 began with 23 players, and it didn’t take long for some to hit the rail. Among the early eliminations were Olivier Busquet (23rd - $18,095), Eric Froehlich (22nd - $18,095), Ravi Raghavan (21st - $18,095), and Jeff Madsen (20th - $18,095). Madsen began the day as chip leader, but he lost a good portion of his stack straight out of the gate. Then, in Level 21 (5,000/10,000/1,000), he three-bet all in for 147,000 from the big blind after Yoon had opened for 20,000 from the small blind. Yoon called and was in a dominating spot with the to Madsen's . The board ran out a clean , and the 2006 WSOP Player of the Year made an unexpected early exit.
From there, 11 players followed him out the door before the final table was set. Among them were Matt Davenport (18th - $18,095), Sylvain Loosli (16th - $21,946), Sam Stein (14th - $27,013), David Peters (12th - $33,734), and Sam Trickett (11th - $33,734).
Tony Cousineau was the first final-table casualty after his pocket nines failed to hold against Yoon’s king-queen on Hand #43. With that, Cousineau added to his record streak of 63 WSOP cashes without winning a gold bracelet.
On Hand #49 of the final table, Timo Pfutzenreuter exited in seventh place when his pocket sevens fell to the of Mustapha Kanit after an ace appeared on the flop. Another ace on the turn left Pfutzenreuter drawing dead, and he took home $71,940 for his seventh-place finish.
Nine hands later Kanit would eliminate Dan Smith when his own pocket sevens held against Smith’s , but seven hands later Kanit would be on the rail after a failed bluff against Yoon.
Four-handed play last quite awhile, but eventually the blinds got big and Josh Arieh was able to eliminate two players in five hands. The first was Ardit Kurshumi, who failed to win a race for his tournament life, and the other was Josh Bergman, who failed to overcome Arieh’s with the . Kurshumi and Bergman were felled in fourth and third place for $176,684 and $246,169, respectively.
Heads-up play between Yoon and Arieh began with the two near even in chips, and they were pretty deep. It could have been an extended affair, but instead it lasted just 19 hands. During that time, Yoon gained momentum, opened up a chip lead, and finished off his opponent after flopping a flush.
Place
Player
Prize
1st
Brian Yoon
$633,341
2nd
Josh Arieh
$391,575
3rd
Josh Bergman
$246,169
4th
Ardit Kurshumi
$176,684
5th
Mustapha Kanit
$128,862
6th
Dan Smith
$95,515
7th
Timo Pfutzenreuter
$71,940
8th
Tony Cousineau
$55,034
Congratulations to Brian Yoon, winner of Event #35: $5,000 Eight-Handed No-Limit Hold'em!