Jesse Martin has earned his second World Series of Poker bracelet after defeating the Australian, James Obst, in the heads-up phase of the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball event.
When the PokerGO team revealed their live streaming plans for the World Series of Poker (WSOP), it made Jesse Martin as happy as a seasickness sufferer landing a job on the Titanic.
“I won’t speculate on how they should run their business, but it’s definitely a sad change,” Martin stated on social media.
And when you perform as well in the mixed games as Martin does, then you can understand his frustrations at (a) not getting the coverage his skills demand, and (b) no longer have the window into the soul of these great games for the recreational players to eyeball.
All this means when Martin won his second bracelet in Event 7: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball, none of his inner circle, got the opportunity to see it. Apart from those loyal enough to stand by the rail whipping up some Martin mania, and that’s a shame because it could be the start of a promising run.
“I’m more excited that it’s so early in the Series,” Martin told the PokerNews team after his win. “Now, I can really go for a couple more this year and grab a bunch of results. Every Series I have one or two runs; coming second or win a bracelet one time. I’ve never had a big, big series. I’d love to have that.”
No WSOP Final Table is a walk in the park, but this one was bursting at the seams with experience. All in all, the final seven had 185 career WSOP cashes between them, including number 81 for Chris Bjorin, and some pocket change for the septuagenarian, Terry Jennings.
WSOP All Time Cashes
1. Phil Hellmuth – 120
2. Erik Seidel – 101
3. Daniel Negreanu – 93
4. Humberto Brenes – 88
5. Men Nguyen – 86
6. Chris Bjorin – 81
After Bjorin had departed in third place, Martin began his heads-up encounter with the talented James Obst with a slight chip lead. A few pots later and the lead extended to 3:1. Give a man like Martin a 3:1 chip lead, and some decent hands, and not even a player as Colonel Mustard as Obst stands a chance.
It was the second time in the past few months that Obst has sniffed a major title but come away feeling like he had sniffed an old woman’s armpits. He also finished runner-up in the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) on PokerStars. Last year he finished 13th in the WSOP Main Event.
Martin’s victory means that in the first seven events, three players have won two or more career bracelets: Doug Polk (3) and Upeshka de Silva (2). Martin’s first sliver of gold came in 2013 when he landed the $10,000 2-7 Lowball title.
Final Table Results
1. Jesse Martin – $130,948
2. James Obst – $80,922
3. Chris Bjorin – $52,671
4. Brant Hale – $35,349
5. Jared Bleznick – $24,356
6. Terry Jennings – $17,272
7. Daniel Hirleman – $12,617
The event attracted 225 entrants, on par with last year’s 236, and some of the players who went deeper than the roots of willow tree were Barry Greenstein (9th), Jake Schwartz (11th), and Konstantin Puchkov (16th).
