WSOP 2008
Wolpert’s Bracelet Run Sunk by River
by AdamJ on 06.09.08, 12:59 am
A self admitted broke college student and teacher’s assistant just a few years ago, P5er Leo “Superfluous Man” Wolpert’s student loans shouldn’t be much of a concern anymore.
Wolpert, whose previous biggest score was from an online rebuy tournament for 31k, took third in the 5k NL Shootout WSOP Event #11 for 187k.
Wolpert took down quite a bit more however since the players agreed to a 3-way chop for 300k apiece, playing for the remainding purse and the WSOP bracelet.
If not for a river card that poker players have nightmares about, Wolpert may have taken home even more money and a bracelet.
With blinds at 25k-50k with a 5k ante, Wolpert moved all-in from the sb for 425k with K
3
. Greg “FBT” Mueller, called with K
2 in the big blind.
When both players tabled their cards, a Harrah’s tournament official and announcer said this hand will most likely end in a chop to the small crowd of about 30 people watching inside the dimly lit ESPN arena.
After a A
Q85 board, the harrah’s official announced that unless one of the players paired their cards the pot would be split.
When the 2 dropped on the river, Mueller’s fans roared and Wolpert was off to an exit interview.
Winning the Shootout Event has been proclaimed as even more of a feat than winning other bracelet events by some pro’s like Daniel Negreanu because the winner had to come through winner’s of previous tables and succeed at multiple stages of full-ring, short-handed and heads-up play.
In typical Wolpert fashion, he downplayed the notion that a good showing in this event was more impressive and said it was more of a gamble fest with the shallow structure.
Despite coming so close to the coveted bracelet, Wolpert didn’t seem very upset about the river card that kept him from having a shot at winning it.
“The money means more to me than a bracelet,” he said. “Since i’m a professional poker player, the money is paramount to me.”
Phil Tom, the eventual winner who defeated Greg “FBT” Mueller, confirmed to being the father of Scott Tom to a media member.
Scott Tom was a former Absolute Poker executive who came under fire for the superuser account “PotRipper”.