The 20th event Big Blind Antes $5,000 NLHE at the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) saw Jeremy Wien emerging the victorious. He outlasted a 518 -entry field for $537,710 and his first gold bracelet.
Hailing from Mount Kisco, New York, Wien made his first appearance at the WSOP in 2007 in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event where he finished 78th for $7,957. Since then, he has collected 11 WSOP cashes and amassed around $155,278 in live poker tournament winnings.
While the field had some great poker players, the main rival was the Spanish heads-up specialist David Laka who gave tough competition to Wien. Everything was looking in favour of Laka to win the title. The 21-year-old was steamrolling the final table until he clashed with Wien in heads-up.
The heads-up between Wien and Laka lasted for several hours with chips coming up and down in between. On the final hand, Wien checked-raised and Laka moved all-in with Q♦-Q♠ and Wien snap-called with A♥-A♦. The board ran J♥ 8♣ 2♥ 3♣ 6♥ where Wien’s hand prevailed.
Talking about his strategy against the Spaniard, Jeremy Wien said, “I had a plan which was to be more deliberate and folding my button. We were joking that they announced that David got a walk for a 100th time. He did tell me at the last break that he’s a heads-up specialist.”
Some notable players who ran deep and made money in this event included the likes of Patrick Truong (9th place for $34,862), Michael Gagliano (10th place for $27,208), Asi Moshe (11th place for $27,208), Englishman Stephen Chidwick currently holding 1st rank in GPI (19th place for $14,572), Ran Ilani (22nd place for $14,572) and Arne Ruge (23rd place for $14,572).
Final Table Payouts (USD):
- Jeremy Wien – $537,710
- David Laka – $332,328
- Eric Blair – $228,307
- Jake Schindler – $159,575
- John Amato – $113,510
- Shawn Buchanan – $82,199
- David Peters – $60,618
- Richard Tuhrim – $45,538
Image courtesy: WSOP.com