Event #24: $1,500 Limit Hold'em

Shane Buchwald just won his first-ever World Series of Poker gold bracelet in his first-ever WSOP event. Buchwald will take home $177,985 and the bracelet after winning Event #24: $1,500 Limit Hold'em. The event drew 616 players and a prize pool of $831,600. Buchwald managed to beat a table full of players who were each seeking their first WSOP bracelet.

Day 3 started with 15 players, including three-time WSOP bracelet winner Barry Greenstein. Buchwald started the day in fifth position and took control late in the final table on his way to winning the bracelet. Greenstein was eliminated in 11th place and took home $9,085.

Buchwald won the final six hands of the heads-up portion of the tournament to eliminate second-place finisher Venkata "Sandy" Tayi. Tayi got his final chips in with jack-high versus ace-high and missed a flush draw and a straight draw to be eliminated in second place.

Buchwald also eliminated Ray Henson in third place. The two were in for three bets apiece preflop, and Buchwald flopped a pair of nines against Henson's ace-high. He also eliminated fourth-place finisher Shane Fumerton when he made a flush in a four-way pot that left Fumerton eliminated and Henson short.

Nancy Nguyen entered Day 3 as the chip leader and eventually finished in fifth place at the hands of Tayi, who flopped a set and turned a full house. Tayi also eliminated Hod Berman in sixth place when he turned two pair against Berman's single pair with ace-high.

Kevin Lizak got his last chips in against Fumerton with ace-high. Fumerton flopped a pair of kings and sent Lizak to the rail in seventh place. Lizak was the one who sent Mark Bassaly home in eighth. Bassaly, who was sporting the loudest rail of the day, was eliminated when he got ace-king in against Lizak's king-ten. Bassaly flopped an ace, but Lizak went runner-runner tens to win the hand and send Bassaly to the rail.

Tung Tran flopped a set, but Buchwald turned a flush to send him home in ninth place.

Below are the payouts for the final table:

Reflecting on his runner-up finish and second cash of the WSOP this year, Venkata "Sandy" Tayi was upbeat on coming so close to his first bracelet.

"When I sat down on the first day I said I was here for the bracelet not the money, and I came pretty close," he said.

Meanwhile, Shane Buchwald said it was "hard to believe" after winning an event he hadn't even planned to play.

"I'm living in southern Brazil right now. I registered this tournament after a 24-hour flight; I came here with a friend who is a limit hold'em regular and he wanted to play this. By the end of four levels, I was falling asleep at the tables!

Despite never playing a hand of full-ring limit hold'em in his life, Buchwald says that he has played over 20,000 of heads-up limit hold'em over the course of his poker career.

"In limit hold'em, you have to make some marginal decisions, but it's pretty straight-forward. You can't make that many huge mistakes. I just tried to keep myself above ten big bets the whole time, and as long as I was around there, I was pretty happy."

And as for his plans for the future?

"I've recently signed up for culinary school, trying to get out of poker," he said.

"I'm quite content to stick with my one-from-one in WSOP events. This is as probably as good as it gets.

That concludes Event #24 $1,500 Limit Hold'em. PokerNews will be covering all the events at WSOP 2017 and you can find updates on all the events until the Main Event Champion is crowned.

Hand #151: Sandy Tayi raised, and Shane Buchwald folded.

Hand #152: Buchwald raised, and Tayi called. The flop was    , and Tayi checked. Buchwald bet, and Tayi folded.

Hand #153: Tayi raised, and Buchwald called. The flop was    , and Buchwald check-called Tayi's flop bet. The turn was the  , and both players checked. The river was the  , and Buchwald bet. Tayi called, and Buchwald won the hand, showing   .

Hand #154: Tayi got a walk.

Hand #155: Tayi raised, and Buchwald three-bet. Tayi called, and the flop came    . Buchwald checked, and Tayi bet. Buchwald called. The turn was the  , and both players checked. The river was the  , and Buchwald bet. Tayi folded.

Hand #156: Buchwald raised, and Tayi called. The flop came    , and both players checked. The turn was the  , and Tayi checked. Buchwald bet, and Tayi folded.

Hand #157: Buchwald got a walk.

Shane Buchwald	4,500,000	540,000
Sandy Tayi	105,000	-655,000

The two remaining players are going on an early dinner break and will return around 9 p.m.

Hand #142: Shane Buchwald got a walk in the big blind.

Hand #143: Sandy Tayi raised and took down the pot.

Hand #144: Ray Henson got his remaining stack in preflop against Tayi.

Henson:   
Tayi:   

The board ran out      , and Henson doubled up.

Hand #145: Tayi raised, and Buchwald called. Tayi bet the     flop, and Buchwald called. The turn was the  , and Tayi check-folded to a bet.

Hand #146: Henson received a walk in the big blind.

Hand #147: Buchwald raised, and Tayi defended his big blind. The pair checked the     flop, and Tayi check-called a bet on the   turn but check-folded to a bet on the   river.

Hand #148: Tayi raised, and Buchwald called blind on blind. The pair checked the     flop before Buchwald folded to a bet on the   turn.

Hand #149: Henson received a walk in the big blind.

Hand #138: Ray Henson raised, and Sandy Tayi called, as did Shane Fumerton. The flop was    . Tayi checked. Fumerton bet, and Henson raised. Tayi then three-bet, and Fumerton thought about his decision before folding. Henson was all in, and he turned over   , while Tayi showed   .

The turn was the   and the river the  , and Henson doubled up.

"Why?" asked Fumerton on his return to the table. "Why does that hand play that way?"

Hand #139: Fumerton raised and took down the pot.

Hand #140: Tayi raised and took down the pot.

Sandy Tayi	950,000	-450,000
Ray Henson	440,000	265,000

Hand #114: Shane Buchwald accidentally limped, apparently thinking he was the big blind in error. Ray Henson then raised. Shane Fumerton called, as did Buchwald. The flop was    , and it folded to Henson, who bet. The other two players folded.

Hand #115: Fumerton raised, and Buchwald called. The flop was    , and Fumerton bet. Buchwald called, and the turn was the  , where Buchwald called another bet. The river was the  . Both players checked, and Buchwald won the pot with    for ace-high.

Hand #116: Buchwald limped, and Henson checked. Henson folded to a bet on a king-high flop.

Hand #117: Fumerton raised, and Sandy Tayi called. The flop was    , and Tayi check-called a bet. The   turn was checked by both players. Tayi check-folded on the   river.

Hand #118: Buchwald raised, and Fumerton three-bet. Buchwald called. The flop was    . Fumerton bet, Buchwald raised, and Fumerton called. The turn was the  , and Fumerton check-folded to a bet.

Hand #119: Tayi raised, and Buchwald three-bet. Tayi four-bet, and Buchwald called.

The flop was    , and Buchwald check-called a bet. The turn was the  , and Buchwald check-raised a bet from Tayi, who then called. The river was the  , Buchwald bet, and Tayi called. Buchwald showed    for a set of threes and took down the pot. In doing so, he became the new chip leader with over 2,000,000 in chips.

Shane Buchwald	2,150,000	600,000
Sandy Tayi	1,500,000	-600,000
Shane Fumerton	800,000	-75,000
Ray Henson	200,000	90,000

Hand #99: Shaun Fumerton raised from the button, and Shaun Buchwald called in the small blind. Buchwald check-called a bet on the flop, which was    , but check-folded to a bet on the   turn.

Hand #100: Sandy Tayi raised, and Ray Henson called. The flop was    , and Henson check-called a bet from Tayi. The turn was the  , and Henson check-called again. The river was the  , and Henson bet. Tayi called.

"Straight," announced Henson, showing    and Tayi mucked.

Hand #101: Fumerton raised, and Tayi three-bet. Fumerton called. The flop was    . Tayi bet, and Fumerton folded.

"Second hand in a row," said Tayi, showing    and implying that he had flopped top set the previous hand.

Hand #102: Tayi raised, and Fumerton called. Tayi bet the     flop, and Fumerton raised. Tayi called. The pair checked the   turn and the   river. Tayi showed    for ace-high, and Fumerton won with    for a pair of threes.

Hand #103: Tayi raised, and Fumerton and Buchwald both called. The     flop was checked to the preflop raiser, whose bet was enough to take down the pot.

Hand #104: Fumerton raised, Buchwald three-bet, and Henson four-bet. Fumerton folded, and Buchwald called.

The flop was    , and Buchwald check-called a bet from Henson. The turn came the  , and again, Fumerton check-called. Fumerton bet the   river, and Henson called.

"Boat," announced Fumerton, showing   , and Henson mucked    for a smaller boat.

Hand #91: Shane Fumerton raised, and Sandy Tayi called from the big blind. The flop came    , and Tayi checked. Fumerton bet, and Tayi raised. Fumerton folded.

Hand #92: Shane Buchwald raised, and everyone folded.

Hand #93: Tayi raised, and Fumerton and Nancy Nguyen called from the blinds. The flop came    , and the action checked to Tayi. He bet, and Nguyen was the lone caller. The turn was the  , and Nguyen checked again. Tayi bet, and Nguyen folded.

Hand #94: Buchwald got a walk.

Hand #95: Nguyen raised the button, and the blinds both folded.

Hand #96: Ray Henson raised from the small blind, and Tayi called from the big blind. The flop was    , and Henson bet. Tayi raised, and Henson called. The turn was the  , and Henson checked. Tayi bet, and Henson folded.

Hand #97: Nancy Nguyen raised under the gun, and Sandy Tayi three-bet from the small blind. Nguyen called.

The flop came    , and Tayi bet. Nguyen raised, and Tayi called. The turn was the  , and both players checked. The river was the  , and Tayi bet. Nguyen called, and Tayi won the hand with a set of tens, showing   .

Sandy Tayi	1,800,000	600,000
Shane Buchwald	1,300,000	175,000
Shane Fumerton	1,100,000	-275,000
Ray Henson	275,000	-195,000
Nancy Nguyen	130,000	-260,000