Three more stories from the World Series of Poker including Calvin Anderson winning his second bracelet, and maiden bracelet victories for Jessica Dawley and Mike Takayama.
The first scene where Neo meets Agent Smith. The pair of them, locked away in an interrogation room.
“Mr Anderson,” says Smith.
He is leafing through a file. Neo’s file.
“As you can see, we’ve had our eye on you for quite some time now.” Says Smith.
Let’s imagine ‘Smith’ is the ‘system’. That locked room is a casino. Mr Anderson goes by the first name ‘Calvin’, and that ‘file’ contains every single one of his achievements.
$2.1m earned playing live tournaments.
Two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets.
$7.2m earned playing online tournaments.
Former PocketFives World #1.
A record 10 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) titles.
Two World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) titles.
The Matrix Trilogy, and it’s leading protagonist and antagonist represent, something much more profound than mind-blowing cinematic entertainment. For many people, The Matrix is real.
For me.
For you, maybe?
Definitely for Mr Anderson.
After Anderson beat 119 players to win the $309,220 first prize in Event #56: $10,000 Razz Championship he credited his victory to his study of the Law of Attraction. Amongst the numerous quotes that flew out of his mouth in rapid succession when speaking to PokerNews after his win was:
“Keep a positive attitude because then you attract a lot of positive things in your life.”
“Complaining doesn’t match the frequency of winning.”
“Maintaining power is important.”
To win his second bracelet – the first came in a Stud Hi-Lo event in 2014 – Anderson had to maintain power over a glittering final table of foes new and old.
The leader of the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year (POY) race is John Hennigan, and the man who has cashed nine times, made four final tables and earned a bracelet in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E finished seventh.
If Hennigan doesn’t reach the finishing line then maybe Julien Martini will. The Frenchman currently sits third, behind Shaun Deeb, and he finished third. A few weeks ago he won his first bracelet in the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better for $239,771.
Bracelet winner and World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club member, Mike Leah, who was cashing for the eighth time, including his third final table, finished fourth. Jerry Wong finished fifth during his second final table appearance, and Dmitry Urbanovich came eighth after finishing runner-up in the baby version of this event.
Agent Smith cloned himself well.
The final two were Anderson and the three-time bracelet winner and a former WSOP Player of the Year, Frank Kassela. The laid-back vibe of the competition illustrated in a beautiful image showing them both playing heads-up for the bracelet with their feet on the table.
Anderson began with a 3.6m>2.3m chip lead, but Kassela quickly turned things around to lead by 3:1. The pair exchanged the lead with the pace at which Neo and Trinity used to exchange love letters, ultimately leading to an unscheduled Day 4.
After a kip, the whole thing was all over in five hands.
Mr Anderson was the winner.
“Why don’t I give you the finger, and you give me my bracelet.”
Not in this script.
Final Table Results
1. Calvin Anderson – $309,220
2. Frank Kassela – $191,111
3. Julien Martini – $134,587
4. Mike Leah – $96,744
5. Jerry Wong – $71,014
6. Alex Balandin – $53,253
7. John Hennigan – $40,817
8. Dzmitry Urbanovich – $31,992
Only 18 players earned enough dosh to buy some Matrix memorabilia including bracelet winners Paul Volpe (11th), Ted Forrest (13th) and Scott Seiver (17th)
Jessica Dawley Wins Event #57: $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em
The last time I was in Vegas for the WSOP I spent my morning making Jessica Dawley freshly squeezed juice. I like to think my combination of beets, carrot and ginger had something to do with her eventual rise to the top of a WSOP crowd.
Dawley defeated 696 players to take the title in the Ladies Event. Three players stood out alongside the former 888Poker Ambassador. Tara Cain finished second in the $3,333 WSOP.com Online High Roller last year. Weiyi Mo finished 26/7361 in the Millionaire Maker a few weeks back, and last year Tara Snow beat 183 entrants to win the $2,700 buy-in Million Dollar Heater in Biloxi, beating Kyle Cartwright, heads-up, to take the $150,975 first prize.
But this was Dawley’s day.
Her two previous most significant scores came in 2015 when she finished 6/766 at the Seminole Hard Rock Rock n Roll Main Event for $110,304, and 5/3922 in a WPT side event at the Borgata for $92,206.
The $130,230 she banked for this win is her personal best.
Everything went Dawley’s way once the ladies began swimming in the deep end, so much so, she took a 3.1m>370k chip lead into heads-up against Lisa Fong. It only took four-hands before 85hh hit a five on the flop to beat K4o.
It wasn’t all rain and shine.
Danielle Anderson, who finished tenth, tweeted her displeasure at the WSOP for preferring to live stream the Razz instead of the Ladies Event, and for sticking the final table in the far corner of the room, making it impossible for the railbirds to take a perch.
Not exactly the way to promote women in poker.
Final Table Results
1. Jessica Dawley – $130,230
2. Jill Pike – $80,444
3. Lisa Fong – $55,812
4. Mesha James – $39,334
5. Jacqueline Burkhart – $28,167
6. Tara Cain – $20,499
7. Weiyi Mo – $15,167
8. Molly Mossey – $11,411
9. Tara Snow – $8,732
105 ladies earned enough money to invest in a park bench placard including Danielle
Anderson (10th), Kristy Arnett (28th) and Gaelle Baumann (31st)
Mike Takayama Wins Event #59: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty.
The Philippines is the latest country to conjure up a WSOP bracelet winner after Mike Takayama took down Event #59: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty for $198,568.
The highly popular blitz attracted 2,065 entrants.
It was all over in a day.
The final table contained two bracelet winners in Steve Jelinek and Jack Duong.
Takayama has now won 15 career titles.
Final Table Results
1. Mike Takayama – $198,568
2. Lorenc Puka – $122,627
3. Matthew Smith – $88,938
4. Steve Jelinek – $65,145
5. Spencer Baker – $48,196
6. Kavish Shabbir – $36,019
7. Elizabeth Montizanti – $27,193
8. Jack Duong – $20,743
9. Oliver Rising – $15,988
310 people managed to avoid the sadness of the bubble including one of the best players yet to win a bracelet, Jacob Bazeley (33rd), former Nov Niner Vojtech Ruzicka (40th) and the former WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen (72nd).
