Sean Getzwiller has earned a World Series of Poker bracelet (and $611k) for outlasting 4,177 other players to take Event #8, the $1k NLHE ‘stimulus’ event. The 33-year-old Getzwiller has taken part in the last three WSOPs, and has now finished in the money nine times, but nothing like this. Getzwiller and runner-up Sadan Turker began heads-up play with virtually identical chip stacks, and it took four grueling hours for Getzwiller to emerge triumphant, but emerge he did, “Amazing. I mean, I won a bracelet in a 4,000-player event. How much better can I feel?”
The 22-year-old Turker (yet another Brit kicking ass at this year’s WSOP) took home $377k for his second-place finish. Turker plays online under the handles Pearljammer/Pearljammed. The Event #8 field was notable not only for its size, but also by the 172 women who took part. Of these, Odette Tremblay made the final table, just the second woman (following Maria Ho’s runner-up finish at Event #4) to get within striking distance of a bracelet at this year’s WSOP.
Geffrey Klein has taken top honors at Event #10, the $1,500 Six-Handed NLHE, earning a shiny gold bracelet and $554k to boot. Adding to Klein’s bragging rights, the 1,920-strong field made this the largest six-handed tourney in history. Klein, an OB-GYN by trade and the only amateur at his final table, had declared that his strategy for the 2011 WSOP was to “not get unlucky.” Done and done. Despite entering heads-up play with a 10-1 chip advantage, Nicholas/Eddie Blumenthal had to settle for second place, earning just shy of $335k. While coming so close to gold without actually reaching it is never easy, Blumenthal finished fourth in Event #4 just a few days ago, so it’s been a banner fucking week all the same.
