Event #56: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em

David Peters is the newest member of poker’s gold bracelet club.

The 29-year-old veteran professional poker player from Toledo, OH won the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament, which was played over three days and nights and just concluded on the ESPN main stage at the Rio in Las Vegas. 

Peters collected $412,557 in prize money, making this one of the biggest wins of his career.  He certainly earned the victory by virtue of 38 previous cashes and more than $1.3 million in previous WSOP-related earnings.  Until this point, Peters had made seven final tables at the series, which included a 2^nd, a 3^rd, and two 4^th-place finishes.  He also won a WSOP Circuit gold ring at Caesars Palace back in 2010.

“I was definitely surprised it took me as long as it did (to win),” Peters said afterward.  “There were a lot of close calls.  I came in almost every place at the final table, except first.  I knew it was coming, so it definitely feels amazing to get it.”

Peters won his victory at a wild final table with plenty of crowd noise.  The big partisan crowd went home happy. 

“The rail was loud.  I could certainly hear them.  They made a difference,” Peters said.  “It felt so much better after I won.  There was so much energy.  I loved it.”

He came out on top in a finale which included a few notables – including Cathal Shine, from Ireland, and Matt Affleck, the highly-accomplished tournament and cash game pro – who finished in second and third place respectively.  Peters came in with a big stack and then caught fire almost instantly under the bright lights and never appeared in serious danger of elimination.  He ran the event in a runaway victory.

“I tried not to let myself think about that,” Peters said.  “Everything was going good, and the vibes were good, and I tried to keep my focus.  I tried not to think about the gold bracelet or anything.  It worked out.”

“Having all my friends here rooting me on made it much more enjoyable,” he added.

This tourney attracted 1,860 entrants which created a prize pool totaling $2,511,000.  The top 279 finishers collected prize money.

Aside from the winner, here’s a brief report of the other top finishers who made the final table:

Second Place:  Cathal Shine from Tralee Kerry, Ireland finished as the runner up.  He’s a 29-year-old poker pro who was hoping to become the first Irish winner at the series in eight years.  However, the luck of the Irish ran out and he fell just short of victory.  Still, the consolation prize of $254,890 wasn’t too depressing.

Third Place:  Matt Affleck, from Mill Creek, WA came in third place.  He’s on the list of best players without a WSOP win and he’ll have to wait a little while longer for that victory.  Affleck collected $184,456 in his third WSOP final table and 22^nd career cash.

Fourth Place:  Muhammad Abdel Rahim, from Derry, NH came in fourth place.  He cashed for the fourth time in a WSOP event.  This payout and finish was his best yet, and paid $134,845.

Fifth Place:  Zachary Okin, from Queens Village, NY made quite a splash in his first time to cash at the series.  He earned $99,592 for fifth place.

Sixth Place:  Brendan Sheehan, from Woodbury, NY cashed for the second time this year and overall with this sixth place finish.  He earned $74,321.

Seventh Place:  Takuya Suzuki, from Minatoku, Japan came in seventh.  He hoped to become only the third WSOP winner in history from the nation of Japan.  Still, he picked up $56,044 for seventh place in what was his eighth time to cash in a series event.

Eighth Place:  Kilian Kramer, from Vienna, Austria came in eighth, which was his 13^th time to cash in a series event.  Kramer received $42,711.  Kramer’s most noteworthy finish was coming in 18^th in last year’s WSOP Main Event Championship, which paid $325K.  He followed that up with another big feat a few months later, coming in 5^th at the WSOP Europe Championship.