The WSOP $10k championship event in 7-card stud hi-lo 8-or-better was scheduled as a three-day event. Connoisseurs of the game were delighted when it spilled over into a fourth, particularly given the composition of the final table.
American east coasters have always laid claim to 7-card stud variants as their own. While it's not unheard of for New Yorkers to assert that they are better than everyone else, in this instance they have some supporting evidence. In the blue ribbon stud-8 event of the year, those at the final table included Erik Seidel (NYC), Brian Hastings (born PA, now residing in Ithaca), Josh Arieh (born Rochester, now of Atlanta), and Scott Seiver (Cold Spring Harbor, NY).
In addition to this heavy representation from the Empire State, the final table was also weighed down with jewelry. A total of 24 WSOP gold bracelets could have been rattling, had the players had the poor taste to wear all of those they had won. Erik Seidel led the bracelet field with nine, having recently added to his tally through an online title on WSOP.com.
Running concurrently with the later stages of the Main Event, the tournament still managed to attract a field of 144 and a prize pool of $1,342,800. When the day-four overtime period finally wrapped up the contest, it was Brian Hastings who claimed his fifth WSOP gold bracelet along with the first prize of $352,958.
Day 3 recap: from nine down to four
First to fall on day 3 of the tournament was Josh Arieh. He took the defeat in stride, tweeting:
"Out of Stud8 in 9th. Pretty good finish for having no clue how to play! Onto the 10k nl super turbo."
Arieh is currently favorite to win the WSOP 2021 Player of the Year award, and this cash adds to his chances.
The following hour saw the elimination of Gary Benson in eighth and Erik Seidel in seventh. Yuval Bronshtein led the remaining pack of six.
In a heads-up hand against Ian O'Hara, John Monnette started with four spades and three to a low. After heavy action, the remaining money went in on sixth street. Monnette missed his flush, but it wouldn't have helped as O'Hara made sevens full, eliminating Monnette.
With play five handed, Hastings looked likely to be the next to fall, sitting with one tenth the chips of leader Bronshtein. But as Bronshtein's lead continued to grow, Hastings hung around. It was Marco Johnson who was next sent to the rail at the hands of the chip leader. Play was then suspended, setting up the unscheduled fourth day.
Overtime: four down to one
The four surviving players returned for the overtime period, with Bronshtein leading the way, but with Seiver, Hastings and O'Hara all in striking distance. Seiver was the first eliminated at the hands of O'Hara, leaving the final three with similar stacks. Then long-time chip leader Bronshtein lost both sides of a big pot to Hastings, and soon thereafter was eliminated by O'Hara.
As Hastings and O'Hara faced off, the latter had the chip edge. However, in the heads-up duel, the big pots were all going Hastings' way, as he first edged ahead and then pulled out a big chip advantage over his opponent.
O'Hara fought back gamely with a double up, scooping a high-only pot with trip aces. But the mountain was too high to climb, and another one-way pot in which Hastings made a flush decided the title. The bracelet is Hastings' fifth.
Final table pay-outs.
- Brian Hastings: $352,958
- Ian O'Hara: $218,144
- Yuval Bronshtein: $151,460
- Scott Seiver: $107,967
- Marco Johnson: $79,073
- John Monnette: $59,545
- Erik Seidel: $46,140
- Gary Benson: $36,821
- Josh Arieh: $30,290
Featured image source: Twitter
