Day 3 of the WSOP Circuit Southern Indiana Main Event was a lengthy one as a final table of nine returned to play down to a winner. After 10 hours that winner was determined as Luis Yepez won the $111,979 grand prize and his second career ring.
Yepez is originally from Venezuela and has been living in the United States for five years now, often playing on the circuit. This win makes fir his second largest career score, with his largest coming in 2015 fir $185,000 in an event in the Dominican Republic. This score is a bit of a milestone win as well as it moves his career earnings above the $1 million mark.
Yepez was very pumped up after his win, as he let out a scream of celebration as he went off to collect his thoughts and freshen up before his winner pics. He was also very grateful and dedicated his win to a higher power.
"I have to thank the lord" he said afterwards. "I can't do it without him, he is the most important thing." as he made sure to show his cross prominently as his pictures were taken, also making sure to note the meaning of his winning hand "33" to be the same as the age at which Jesus Christ's life ended.
Heads Up Marathon
The path to his win ended up being defined by the heads-up battle that he had with runner-up Niles Lawlesss. It was a battle of attrition as the two crossed swords for 4 hours, making it one of the longest heads up battles you are likely to see in a circuit event. But what made it even more unique was parameters the battle was fought in. In a back and forth affair, Neither player dropped below 30% in chips until the very end and there was not a single move all in from either player until action was 4 hours in the heads up. There were very few hands that went to showdown and not very many pots that were larger than 2 million chips (when there were 13.4 million chips in play). Both players stayed true to this steady style of play all the way until the end where Yepez was eventually able to win the only two all ins.
Action of the Day
The day began with Yepez being second in chips, just barely behind Abdul Amer. The first two eliminations came fairly quickly, before things slowed down at seven-handed play. There was then a dramatic double elimination where Yepez took out both Jason Blodgett and Derek Nold with pocket jacks against pocket tens and pocket sixes. That was the catapult Yepez needed to take the commanding chip lead.
From there, Brad Butcher went out in fifth place before Dan Hummer went out in fourth, coming up just short of his runner-up finish in the Main Event from May.
Amer and Yepez were the two big stacks at three-handed play as they seemed destined to have a big heads-up confrontation that was projected from the start of the day. But it was not to be as Amer had his aces brutally cracked by the ace-jack of Lawless when the flop gave him trip jacks. Amer was decimated after that and could not recover as he was eliminated in third to set up the aforementioned heads up battle.
Final Table results:
1. Luis Yepez - Venezeula - $111,979
2. Niles Lawless - Cincinnati, OH - $74,244
3. Abdul Amer - Columbus, OH - $50,323
4. Dan Hummer - Cincinnati, OH - $34,891
5. Bradley Butcher - Yellow Springs, OH - $24,759
6. Derek Nold - Nashville, TN - $17,990
7. Jason Blodgett - Manchester, NH - $13,394
8. John Pelham McMurray - Hendersonville, TN - $10,223
9. Gabi Habash - Lexington, KY - $8,005
. The turn was the 
and the river 
to give Yepez the title after four hours of heads up play. 
to hold for Yepez, and just like that he re-took the lead for the first time in an hour.
