REP PORTER WINS ANOTHER RAZZ TITLE
Seattle-area poker pro collects $142,624 top prize in Event #13
Porter’s third gold bracelet victory gives him two wins in Razz
Poker superstar Daniel Negreanu finishes fourth
Final table includes 5 of 8 gold bracelet winners
Two-time gold bracelet winner Michael Gathy, from Belgium, finishes as runner up
MEET THE LATEST WSOP GOLD BRACELET CHAMPION
Name: Rep Porter
Age: 45
Current Residence: Woodinville, WA
Marital Status: Married
Children: 2
Profession: Poker Player (former equity options trader)
Number of WSOP Cashes: 38
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 12
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories (with this tournament): 3
Best Previous WSOP Finish: 1st (2008 and 2011)
Total WSOP Earnings: $2,227,721
Personal Quote:
“I feel perfectly content going home and disappearing when it’s all over. I don’t aspire to have fame. I play poker because it gives me lots of personal freedom. It gives me time to spent with my family. It gives me time to do the things I like to do outside of poker. I can work hard now at the series for the next seven weeks, and then I can take the next five week off after it’s done….poker affords me a lot of opportunity to do the things I like to do in life and it’s a pretty decent living. The game’s been good to me.”
-- Rep Porter (three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner) when asked about fame and celebrity in poker
Rep Porter is the newest member of poker’s highly-exclusive three gold bracelet club.
The good-natured poker pro from Woodinville, WA won the $1,500 buy-in Seven-Card Razz tournament, which was played over three days and nights at the Rio in Las Vegas, June 9-11. Porter collected $142,624 in prize money. This marked his third time to win a gold bracelet following previous victories in 2008 and 2011. His previous wins came for Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em and Seven-Card Razz. Hence, he’s one of a small number of players with multiple wins in this unique form of lowball poker. Porter can also play other forms of poker well, too – as evidenced by his 12th-place finish in the 2013 WSOP Main Event Championship.
Porter won his victory by prevailing at one of the toughest final tables of the 2016 series, to date. The third and final day included several notable names, none bigger than Daniel Negreanu, who ended up busting out in fourth place. Other former gold bracelet winners who made the top eight included – Brendan Taylor., Shaun Deeb, Michael Gathy (and Porter).
In fact, the heads-up showdown was a battle between a couple of two-time gold bracelet winners who put up a great Saturday show. With the crowd evenly divided in terms of allegiances, the match took on a sporting atmosphere, atypical of the usual Razz crowd. Both players were aiming for what would have been their third WSOP win. The final moment of triumph came when Porter scooped the final pot of the tournament after a lengthy and stubborn final stand versus Michael Gathy, from Belgium, who finished as the runner up.
Porter was aided by his table top lucky charm named “Quicksilver.” He’s brought it out during each of his three WSOP victories. Porter explained that back in 2008 when he was about to leave him to come to the WSOP, his daughter handed him her favorite toy because she thought it might bring him good luck. A week later, Porter won his first WSOP victory. A few years later, Quicksilver once again delivered. On this night, the white horse which has become a treasures keepsake was with Porter every step of the way.
This tourney attracted 461 entries which created a prize pool totaling $622,350. The top 70 finishers collected prize money. Registration numbers were about the same as last year’s tourney, which drew 462 entrants.
Razz is an unusual poker game in which the worst five-card hand wins. The object of the game is to get dealt nothing – as in no pairs, nor high cards. As Paul Newman once said in the movie Cool Hand Luke, “sometimes nothing can be a pretty cool hand.”
“A lot of people think Razz is a stone luck game, but I think it takes lots of skill,” Porter said. “It feels good to win the same tournament again. It kind of validates that you’re good at that game.”
Aside from the winner, here’s a brief report of the other top finishers who made the final table:
Second Place: Michael Gathy, from Brussels, Belgium took $88,146 as his consolation prize. He had the chip lead at one point during the final table. However, Rep Porter seized the advantage as play became shorter handed and Gathy was forced to conceded defeat as Porter enjoyed a flurry of low cards, which is a favorable spot in Razz. Gathy’s gold bracelets were won in No-Limit Hold’em events played in 2012 and 2013.
Third Place: Alexey Makarov, from Russia, played tough but ended up going out in third place. He earned $60,309, which was the biggest prize he’s collected at the WSOP in 9 in-the-money finishes he’s posted.
Fourth Place: Daniel Negreanu is arguably the most famous poker player in the world at the moment. Any public appearance by “Kid Poker” is sure to attract mobs of fans and followers. Negreanu’s presence certainly added some electricity to what might otherwise have been a more routine tournament at the series. However, after taking the chip lead for a time, Negreanu wasn’t able to maintain his momentum. Negreanu, a six-time gold bracelet winner with more than $15 million in WSOP earnings added $42,030 to his cash winnings.
Fifth Place: Brendan Taylor, from Pasadena, CA was short-stacked during much of the final day, but still managed to inch his way up into fifth place. He won his gold bracelet in 2011. Taylor now has 17 cashes on his resume. This deep run paid $29,846.
Sixth Place: Valentin Vornicu, from San Diego, CA went out in sixth place. He’s been grinding on the WSOP Circuit for several years and currently owns eight gold rings – one behind the all-time leader. Vornicu has yet to win a gold bracelet, but does have nine cashes. His take from this tournament amounted to $21,604.
Seventh Place: Daniel Weinman, from Atlanta, GA became one of the first players to cash four times at this year’s series. This was the first final table appearance of the four, which paid out $15,945.
Eighth Place: Shaun Deeb, from Las Vegas, NV won last year’s $10K Pot-Limit Omaha championship. However, he couldn’t survive an early bust out. Deeb, in his 31st cash at the WSOP, collected $12,006.
This was the 13th event on this year’s schedule, which includes 69 gold bracelet events.
OTHER NOTABLE IN-THE MONEY FINISHERS:
David Benyamine, a gold bracelet winner, bubbled the final table. He finished in ninth place.
Matt Grapenthien, a gold bracelet winner and runner up this year in the $10K Seven-Card Stud Championship, made another impressive showing by finishing 12th in this tournament.
Richard Sklar, the longtime Las Vegas sport bettor and golf gambler, finished 13th.
Fabrice Soulier, the Parisian who won a gold bracelet in 2011 and now has 29 WSOP cashes, finished in 14th place.
Matt Waxman, a gold bracelet winner with $1.2 million in WSOP earnings, finished 21st.
Gavin Griffin, a gold bracelet winner, finished 31st.
Phillip Tom, a gold bracelet winner, finished 43rd.
Steve Gee, a gold bracelet winner, finished 45th.
Cyndy Violette, a gold bracelet winner, finished 46th.
Other notable players who finished beyond the top 50 included – Max Pescatori, Dutch Boyd, Ant Zinno, Maria Ho, Konstantin Puchkov, Dean Kerl, and Allen Kessler.
Special Note: Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler now has three cashes at this year’s WSOP.
FUN FACTS:
The breakdown of players was – 378 Americans and 83 players from other countries. The top five nations which participated included – United States, Canada, Great Britain, Russia, and Brazil.
The breakdown of players by gender was – 94 percent male and 6 percent female.
The average age of players was 44 years, about 5 years higher than normal. Participants ranged in age from 21 to 80. The eldest player in the field was Berry Johnston, who won the 1986 world championship and is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.
EVENT DIRECT LINKS:
For this event’s official final results (listing all players who finished in-the-money), please visit:
http://www.lnmandiya.com/tournaments/results.asp?grid=1232&tid=14913
For Rep Porter’s official player profile page, please visit:
http://www.lnmandiya.com/players/playerprofile.asp?playerID=642
For the live reporting logs for this event, please visit:
http://www.lnmandiya.com/tournaments/updates.asp?grid=1232&tid=14913
To access licensed images from this all other 2016 WSOP gold bracelet events, please visit:
www.pokerphotoarchive.com
For the live stream archive of this event, please visit:
http://www.lnmandiya.com/videos/?vcat=2
(Note: Will appear 48 hours after event concludes)