Brett Shaffer is now a two-time bracelet winner, winning Event 31 - $1,500 No Limit Hold’em. He is the eighth repeat bracelet winner of 2014. Shaffer won his first bracelet in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event last year, defeating British poker professional, David Vamplew. What makes his bracelet wins even more impressive is that both of the events he has won have had massive fields. This year he defeated a field of 1,631 players and last year he was able to outlast a gigantic field of 2,816 players. Schaffer has figured out the formula on how to succeed in these massive fields and is picking up bracelets at a pretty decent clip using it.
Shaffer defeated RJ Sullivan in just 13 hands of heads-up play to earn the bracelet. Sullivan took home $258,605 for his runner-up finish. Shaffer said that this final table had a lot different feel to it than the first. This year Shaffer came into the final day of play third in chips whereas last year when he won, he entered the final day of play with a below average stack.
"This final table was very different than my first final table," said Shaffer. "Stack sizes and the players involved were a lot different."
The 31-year-old is a professional poker player is from Beloit, Kansas. This marks his ninth WSOP cash. Beside his two bracelet winning performances, Shaffer also has a sixth place finish in a $1,500 Shootout from 2010. With this victory Shaffer has eclipsed the $1 million WSOP earnings mark.
This final table featured one bracelet winner, Shaffer, and two other players with previous final table experience, Matt Stout and Peter Gould. This is the fourth final table in as many years for Stout, who can add a 3rd place finish to his second, third, and eighth place finishes in bracelet events.
The latest $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event drew 1,631 players and generated a prize pool of $2,201,850. The top 171 finishers made the money. Some of the notables who cashed include Justin Pechie (143rd), Jackie Glazier (106th), Adam Levy (70th), and Perry Friedman (28th).Here are the final table results for the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Event 31:
1st: Brett Shaffer - $418,4352nd: RJ Sullivan- $258,6953rd: Matt Stout - $170,2474th: Peter Gould - $122,7315th: Aleksandr Gofman - $89,8356th: Robert Schmidt - $66,7167th: Rajaee Wazwaz - $50,2468th: Jim Jakobsen - $38,3569th: Jason Vanstrom - $29,658