Credit Suisse employee Ryan Hefter takes advantage of a European working trip to capture World Series of Poker gold in Berlin.
When it comes to money, Hefter is pretty switched on. Poker is not his preferred method of paying the bills. Instead, Hefter works for the global financial service giant Credit Suisse. He was able to play in Berlin because he is currently on assignment in Poland. It was a sound investment idea to bunny hop over the border.
Prior to his win, Hefter had only ever cashed twice before, in live tournaments. His previous highest score was less than $4,000. That was four years ago. Hefter prefers to play cash games.
580 entrants paid the €1,650 buy-in. That created a prize pool of €843,900 with €176,205 for the winner. Each player started with 15,000 chips. That created plenty of deep play, but unlike the previous events, the heads-up action only lasted 17-hands.
Seven different nationalities made it to the final table. Hefter beat the Frenchman, Gilbert Diaz, in those 17-hands. Diaz is an accomplished pro who has previously won side events at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) and European Poker Tour (EPT). In the summer, he had a nice run in the WSOP $777 NLHE Lucky 7s event finishing 18/4422.
Four more players deserve mention.
Carlos Chang is the first player from Taiwan to make a final table at the 2015 WSOPE. The former Asian Poker Tour (APT) Macau winner finished fifth in the Little One for One Drop in the summer. He sat down with over half a million dollars in live tournament winnings on his resume.
It’s not often that you see a Peruvian at the final table of a major event. Diego Ventura started the year well, and he his finishing it well. He was runner-up to Kevin Schulz in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event, earning close to a million bucks in the process.
Henrik Hecklen was making his third WSOP final table. He won the EPT High Roller at the Estrellas part of EPT Barcelona in 2014 for $390,922. He followed that up with a runner-up spot in the United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) London High Roller for $114,809.
If you were going to choose a player to fulfill the role of final table boss, then David Peters would get the nod. The American came into his seventh WSOP final table – third in Europe – with over $6.8m in live tournament results.
Eventually, the fight would come down to Hefter v Diaz. It was almost all over in the second hand. The American moved all-in, on the button, holding [8c] [6c], and Diaz called with [Ah] [Ks]. An eight on the river would hand Hefter an 8m v 700k chip-lead.
Diaz would fight back, scoring numerous doubles ups, before the final hand of the day. Hefter moved all-in with [8s] [7c], Diaz called with [Ad] [Jh] and a seven on the flop handed Hefter his first gold bracelet.
Final Table Results
1st. Ryan Hefter – €176,205
2nd. Gilbert Diaz – €109,625
3rd. Carlos Chang – €80,170
4th. Henrik Hecklen – €59,495
5th. Diego Ventura – €44,725
6th. Armin Eckl – €34,180
7th. Justin Frolian – €26,415
8th. Richard Sheilis – €20,675
9th. David Peters – €16,45
Other notables with ITM finishes were Casey Kastle (13th), Simon Deadman (16th) and Yorane Kerignard (21st).
