After a lightning fast final table, Gregory Kolo emerged victorious in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em event, earning his first World Series of Poker bracelet. After only about two hours of play, the eight players who started the day had been whittled down to two, Kolo and second-place finisher Kazu Oshima. About 20 minutes later, Kolo held all the chips, winning the first-place prize of $169,225 to go with his gold bracelet.
Kolo came into the final day of competition with the chip lead, but he got off to a rough start. The 37-year old from Ohio maintained his confidence, though, and kept himself near the top of the chip counts throughout the final table. “I lost the first two hands of the day," Kolo recalled after his victory. "I was mad at myself ‘cause I didn’t play them how I should have. I called a bet when I shouldn’t have. I bet a flop when I shouldn’t have. I was really down on myself, but after that, I chipped up. After that I never had any doubts.”
This is not only Kolo’s first bracelet. It’s also his first cash in a WSOP event. He has had quite a bit of success of the WSOP Circuit, however. Before today, the biggest tournament cash of his career came last September, in a third-place finish in the Main Event at the WSOP Circuit at the Horseshoe Cincinnati. Kolo surpassed that today with his with his win and his first piece of WSOP hardware. But for him, the money is not as important as the symbolism of the bracelet. "It feels good. Just the reward of knowing that I played well enough to win. [The bracelet] is a good recognition of that fact."The final table included three players with previous WSOP final table experience, 2011 November Niner Phil Collins (9th), Tom McCormick (5th), and Dean Bui (3rd). For McCormick, it was his 46th career WSOP cash, which puts him second behind Tony Cousineau on the list of players with the most cashes but no bracelets. Coincidentally, Cousineau also cashed in this event, bringing his total of WSOP cashes to 30.This event drew 557 players and generated a prize pool of $751,950. The top 63 finishers made the money. Some of the notables who cashed include Tony Gregg (45th), Joseph Cheong (40th), Ryan Riess (36th), Phil Ivey (22nd), and Jake Toole (13th).Here are the final table results from the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em:1st: Gregory Kolo - $169,2252nd: Kazu Oshima - $104,5133rd: Dean Bui - $74,3144th: David Martirosyan - $53,3285th: Tom McCormick - $38,8986th: Dan Goldman - $28,7697th: Ahmed Amin - $21,5658th: Ryan Schoonbaert - $16,3849th: Phil Collins - $12,610