The first weekend of the 48th Annual World Series of Poker is done and dusted with the PokerStars duo of Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov winning the tag team event, and Upeshka Da Silva winning his second bracelet in the $3k Shootout.
I’m old school.
The Rockers were a tag team.
Demolition were a tag team.
The Road Warriors were a tag team.
And the one thing they all had in common was the number two. Any more than that and you don’t have a tag team, you have something else entirely.
So, when I heard Igor Kurganov, and Liv Boeree had taken down the $10,000 Tag Team Championship I thought justice had been served. If the World Series of Poker (WSOP) want to create teams of three and four people, then introduce a wrestling style Survivor Series concept. Until then, allow teams of two to battle it out. It feels right.
It was a fairytale.
The two lovebirds will one day grow old – and man there will be a lot of grey hairs – and no matter what happens in their philanthropic poker playing life they will never forget this moment.
It was a beautiful to see two people, committed as they are to the growth of this game, sharing this moment.
One couple.
Two bracelets.
Priceless.
It was the first time either had experienced a World Series of Poker (WSOP) final table despite winning more than $15.5m between them on the live circuit. Kurganov had previously won a World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) event, in 2016, but nothing like this.
The event attracted 102 teams.
Team Boeree/Kurganov earned $273,964 after beating Ankush Mandavia and Joe Kuether in heads-up action. 50% of that purse has been donated to the effective altruism meta-charity Raising for Effective Giving (REG).
Daniel Negreanu came close to earning his seventh gold bracelet after his team were sent to the rail in third place by Kurganov and Boeree. Eric Wasserson, Mark Gregorich and David Benyamine were a part of Team Negreanu.
Here are the final table results:
1. Liv Boeree/Igor Kurganov – $273,964
2. Ankush Mandavia/Joe Kuether – $169,323
3. Daniel Negreanu/Eric Wasserson/Mark Gregorich/David Benyamine – $119,753
4. Anthony Aljouny/David Fong/Mike McClain – $86,237
5. Javier Gomez/Lander Lijo – $63,253
6. Martin Jacobson/Mark Radoja – $47,271
7. JC Tran/Nam Le/Antonio Gutierrez – $36,008
8. Connor Drinan/Mike Aron – $27,967
9. Dietrich Fast/Moritz Dietrich/Jan Schwippert – $22,156
Upeshka De Silva Wins Event 3: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout
Upeshka De Silva has won his second gold bracelet in two years after beating Louis Helm in heads-up action to take the title in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout event.
369 players created a total prize pool of $996,300, and De Silva earned $229,923, the second-largest score of his career. De Silva’s first gold bracelet came in 2015 when he defeated 1,655 entrants to win a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event.
It was the third time De Silva had made the final table of a WSOP event, so he has a decent closing out record. He also finished seventh in the 2013 Millionaire Maker for $175,713. Last year, he finished third in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker event for $198,720, and the $2m GTD Rock n Roll Poker Open in the Seminole Hard Rock in Florida for $200,640.
Special mention should also go to the German Jan Schwippert who made the final table of the first two open events finishing ninth in the Tag Team event and fourth in this one.
Final Table Results
1. Upeshka De Silva – $229,923
2. Louis Helm – $142,115
3. Linglin Zeng – $103,449
4. Jan Schwippert – $76,018
5. Olivier Busquet – $56,397
6. Casey Carroll – $42,246
7. John Richards – $31,955
8. Mark Mcmillin – $24,410
9. Jean Gaspard – $18,832
10. Taylor Paur – $14,675
