Two cash game Wizards earned their first World Series of Poker bracelets after Tyler Groth netted a $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha win, and Brian Brubaker took down the $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw.
32-year-old, Tyler Groth, from Iowa, has defeated 1,058 players to take down the second Pot-Limit Omaha event of the summer, and the $179,126 first prize.
It was a big moment for Groth, who earlier this year, made the decision to quit his job and pursue poker full time. Groth grinds out his days playing PLO8 and told the WSOP crew that he doesn’t believe the PLO8 players get enough respect from the PLO gang, so it was nice to take some of them out.
Groth is an inexperienced live tournament player with only seven cashes on his Hendon Mob resume, and none of them breaching the $3k mark. Conversely, Groth was up against three players each with a history worth noting.
Allan Le won the $1,500 Mixed Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better & Big O event last year. He also won the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Manila Millions in 2012 for $1.5m. Igor Sharaskin came third in the $565 PLO event out of 3,186 players, and Casey Carroll is a former Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Champion.
But it came down to a heads-up duel between Groth and the equally inexperienced tournament player, Jonathan Zarin. Groth began the fight with a little over a 2:1 chip lead, and despite Zarin nearly making it even-steven, Groth never relinquished the chip lead on his way to victory.
“I am in shock; I am really shaking.” Said Groth after his win.
Last year, the event attracted 1,106 players, and Sam Soverel took the bracelet. The High Stakes Pro made a decent effort of his defence finishing in 111th place.
Final Table Results
1. Tyler Groth – $179,126
2. Jonathan Zarin – $110,655
3. Allan Le – $78,372
4. Darren Taylor – $56,242
5. Igor Sharaskin – $40,862
6. Adam Brown – $30,090
7. Daniel Spencer – $22,456
8. Mark Zullo – $16,986
9. Casey Carroll – $13,026
Other well-known players to dig deeper than a steroid induced rabbit were the 888Poker Ambassador Bruno Politano (10th), triple-bracelet winner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi (17th), and the $565 PLO event runner-up Jason Stockfish (20th).
Brian Brubaker Wins Event #28: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw
A Los Angeles mixed game pro has taken down Event #28: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw.
Brian Brubaker defeated a field of 326 players after enduring a two-hour heads-up war against the former WSOP Limit Shootout bracelet winner, Brendan Taylor.
The victory takes Brubaker to within $100,000 of the magic million mark in live tournament winnings. It was his second cash of the series after finishing 14th in the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball. He finished third in a $2,500 Triple Draw Lowball event in 2013.
The biggest draw at the final table was Max Kruse. The German Bundesliga star, who was dropped by his former club Wolfsburg last year, after admitting how much he loved playing poker and eating Nutella, finished fourth. Let’s hope he remembers to take his winnings home with him this time. He reportedly left €75,000 in poker winnings in the back of a cab last year.
Final Table Results
1. Brian Brubaker – $109,967
2. Brendan Taylor – $67,952
3. Jason Riesenberg – $43,597
4. Max Kruse – $28,740
5. Dean Kerl – $19,482
6. Rick Fuller – $13,591
Other well-known players diving deeper than Jacque Cousteau were the four-time bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi, Salomon Ponte’s punching bag Shaun Deeb (20th), and Phil Galfond’s wife Farah Galfond (21st).
