This week’s poker news is a recap of the biggest wins at the ongoing 2019 World Series of Poker. Here were a few of the big winners:
Chidwick Wins First-Ever WSOP Bracelet
Stephen Chidwick finished off an impressive run at the #WSOP50 Event 45: $25K PLO High Roller that saw him beat out 278 fellow poker players in the field. As a result, he picked up first career World Series of Poker bracelet at the Rio Casino.
The victory came with an impressive prize package that included a $1,618,417 payout. At the time, that prize was the biggest awarded during the 2019 World Series of Poker so far.
With the win, Chidwick is now at nearly $25 million in all-time gambling earnings at live events, which puts him at 18th on the all-time money list. The top 42 spots at this year’s field took home a total of $6,602,500 in prize money.
Chidwick finished the job by taking down James Chen in heads-up play. Matthew Gonzales, Robert Mizrachi and Alex Epstein round out the top-five finishers at this event. As was the case last year, the field for this event continued to grow with 48 more entries year over year.
Klein Claims $127K With By Winning WSOP Event No. 43
Loren Klein continued his run of dominance by taking home a $127,808 cash prize by winning the 2019 WSOP Event No. 43: $2,500 Mixed Big Bet Event. With the victory, Klein joined Doyle Brunson and Bill Boyd as the only players ever to win four WSOP bracelets in four consecutive years. It’s been a long time since Boyd and Brunson accomplished their streaks way back in the 1970’s. The fact that Klein managed to do it nearly 40 years after they did makes the feat that much more impressive.
On top of the timing, the fact that Klein managed to rally back from the shortest stack at the final table in order to prevail over a field of 218 entries makes his win stand out even more. Ryan Hughes, Phil Hui, Arthur Morris and Joey Couden rounded out the top five finishers at this event.
Blake Prevails In 2019 WSOP Super Seniors Event
A 71-year-old optometrist from Broomfield, Colorado took home the $359,863 top prize at this year’s WSOP Super Seniors Event. Michael Blake survived a field of 2,650 entries, then took down Barry Shulman heads-up in order to win his first career WSOP bracelet.
Blake needed to beat the two-time bracelet winner and Shulman in order to claim the first-place prize. It was just Blake’s third ever WSOP tournament entry after he took part in the Super Seniors event in both 2017 and 2018. After improving from a 168th-place finish in 2017 to a 107th place finish in 2018, Blake took the massive step to actually secure his first WSOP victory at this year’s event.
Cary Marshall, Timothy Joseph and Rick Austin rounded out the top-five finishers at this year’s WSOP Super Seniors tournament. The minimum age requirement for the 2019 World Series of Poker $1,000 buy-in Super Seniors no-limit hold’em event is 60.