$1000 +$111 Little One for One Drop (Event #75)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's James Anderson, 33, has become the winner of the 2019 World Series of Poker Event #75: $1,000+111 Little One for One Drop No-Limit Hold'em by outlasting a record-setting field of 6,246 to claim his first WSOP gold bracelet and a first-place prize of $690,686. Anderson defeated Brazil's Fernando Karam heads-up during an unscheduled extra day, denying the successful Brazilians their third WSOP bracelet of the summer.

Anderson is no stranger to success himself, surpassing $2 million in lifetime winnings on The Hendon Mob with the biggest score of his career. His poker resumé already boasts three earlier six-figure scores, but a sizable four-year cashless drought sticks out.

"I just started playing again a couple of months ago so this one definitely feels good," he said. "I wanted to get away from the game for a little bit. I was grinding really hard and wanted to take a little break from it. I feel good now. My mind is a lot fresher now, I have a different perspective, and hopefully, it continues. It's a good start."

Ever since its inception in 2013, The Little One for One Drop has been one of the most popular events on the WSOP calendar, attracting a wide range of poker enthusiasts to build bumper fields of over 4,000 runners year on year. This year, the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino was packed to the brim with 6,246 entrants, dwarfing the previous record of 4,756 players that showed up during the event's inaugural year in 2013 won by Brian Yoon.

Regardless of skill, overcoming such a monstrous field full with mine traps along the way is a challenge alone, and a dose of good fortune along the way is essential to reach the pinnacle of poker glory.

"It was a long grind and I just ran super hot at the final table, nothing much I can say about that," a modest Anderson admitted to PokerNews shortly after his victory. "I'm not really realizing right now but it's going to hit me later for sure."

Final Table Results

Parlaying his initial investment of $1,000 — plus the additional $111 going straight to the One Drop Foundation — into a massive score $690,686 must be cause for celebration. However, there's no Sin City night of debauchery in store for the Pennsylvanian, who admitted that despite his eventual victory, the summer has been making him a bit weary.

"I have a flight tonight actually, I'm from Pittsburgh. I'm really ready to go home. I've been in Vegas for too long already so I'm going to celebrate back home," he said, before explaining how taking time away from the felt keeps him fresh.

"It's just good to come in with a fresh mind. You really lose perspective when you're just playing tournaments all the time, every day. You can lose confidence very easily. I can go and play the next tournament and lose and I'll think I'm the worst player in the world even after I win this."

"You just have to really keep that in mind, you're going to gain and lose confidence every time you play."

Weariness or not, Anderson came prepared for the biggest final table of his career. He came, saw, and conquered on an extra, unscheduled fifth day that saw five players returning at noon local time. At the start of the day, it was a pair of animated Israeli's hogging the spotlight with their antics. Shalom Elharar in particular, an Israeli native who lives in Miami, Florida, stood out as the most invested of the bunch, sweating his fellow Israeli Liran Betito's all-ins vicariously as if they were his own, and seemingly giving up a piece of his soul every time he had to surrender a hand.

However, it wasn't going to be the year of Israel, as both Elharar and Benito ended up becoming the first two players to hit the rail. Elharar lost a race with pocket tens against Marco Guibert's ace-king, while Benito never recovered from a big all-in where Anderson spiked a wheel on the turn that left Benito on fumes.

Three-handed action between Anderson, Karam, and Guibert lasted for several hours, with each of the three trading the chip lead back and forth. Ultimately, it was Guibert who became the first to bow out from the trio. Getting it in with pocket jacks preflop, Guibert's outlook against Anderson's ace-six was great on the onset, but once again, the American ended up with a straight to send the Argentinian to the rail in third.

Heads-up, one fortuitous hand turned the tables on Karam, who had been leading throughout most of the final table. Holding ace-six of spades, Anderson four-bet shoved all-in preflop and Karam beat him to the pot with the ace-queen. A nine-high rainbow flop with one spade brought grim prospects for the American, but two more spades fell on turn and river to double up.

Much to the dismay of the Brazilian rail, the river came the queen of spades, pairing Karam's queen but handing Anderson the backdoor flush to scoop. For several seconds, however, their raucous celebrations echoed loudly throughout the Amazon room, all under the impressing that their country brought home their third piece of hardware for the summer. Instead, reality sunk in like a brick when the dealer casually pointed out Anderson had a flush, and the two tango'd on.

Sporting a 2:1 lead after the runner-runner, Anderson never looked back and meticulously worked his opponent down to scraps before finishing him off with king-five against queen-four to win it all.

In the aftermath, Anderson had nothing but kind words to say about his final challenger.

"I wasn't really confident, he was playing really good actually at the start and I got really lucky on him. But that's all it takes, one hand to get the momentum."

Little One for One Drop History

The near $700k first-place prize was the biggest one to be awarded in the event's seven-year history. The One Drop Foundation is one of many charity initiatives that have been established around the globe have been adopted by the gaming industry.

One Drop has been proudly supported by the World Series of Poker through this decade, including three Big One for One Drop events with a million-dollar buy-in during the WSOP in Las Vegas. Over the years, the WSOP has raised $23,860,280 for the charitable foundation, with $693,306 coming from this event alone. It's another step towards providing access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene in, currently, thirteen countries across the globe.

Hand #271: Fernando Karam folded his big blind.

Hand #272: James Anderson tossed a pile of 1,000,000 chips in front of him, putting Karam at risk for his tournament and the latter called for 12,800,000.

Fernando Karam:   
James Anderson:   

Karam managed to find a board      , giving him the straight and the needed double up.

Hand #273: Karam announced all in on the button and Anderson tanked before folding.

Hand #274: Anderson moved all in and Karam folded, showing   .

Hand #275: Karam folded his button.

Hand #276: Anderson folded.

Hand #277: Karam folded on the button.

Hand #278: Anderson folded.

Hand #279: Karam folded on the button.

James Anderson	225,300,000	-9,700,000
Fernando Karam	24,500,000	9,500,000

Hand #255: Fernando Karam raised on the button and James Anderson folded.

Hand #256: Anderson raised to 6,500,000 and Karam decided to three-bet to 18,000,000. Anderson pushed all in for a total stack worth 81,300,000 and Karam snap-called.

James Anderson:   
Fernando Karam:   

Anderson had the dominated hand and the board first fell     but the   turn and the   river gave a runner-runner flush to Anderson who doubled up through Karam.

Hand #257: Karam folded his button.

Hand #258: Anderson raised to 6,500,000 and Karam called.

Both checked on the flop     and Karam led out for 6,500,000 when a   fell on the turn. Anderson called. The river was the   and this time Karam checked and folded after Anderson fired 22,000,000.

Hand #259: Karam raised to 6,500,000 and Anderson called. Both checked throughout the board       and Karam mucked when Anderson showed    for a pair of fives.

James Anderson	162,600,000	87,600,000
Fernando Karam	87,200,000	-87,800,000

Hand #237: Fernando Karam completed and James Anderson checked.

The flop came     and Anderson check-called a bet of 4,000,000 from Karam. The   turn brought no betting action.

A   completed the board and this time Anderson check-called for 17,000,000. Karam tabled    for two pair and Anderson mucked.

Hand #238: Anderson raised to 6,500,000 and Karam called to see a flop    . Karam checked and snap-folded when Anderson grabbed some chips for a bet.

Hand #239: Karam raised to 7,500,000 and Anderson called. The flop appeared     and Anderson check-folded after a continuation bet from Karam.

Hand #240: Anderson raised his button to 6,500,000 and Karam called. The flop     went check-check.

The turn brought the   and Karam quickly check-called a bet worth 7,000,000 from Anderson. On the   river, Karam checked and Anderson fired a bet of 25,000,000. Karam thought about his move for a minute and moved all in.

Anderson went deep into the tank and ended up folding after a few minutes. Karam said he was bluffing.

Hand #241: Karam folded his button.

Hand #242: Anderson raised to 5,500,000 and Karam called. Both checked on the flop    .

The turn fell a   and Karam led out for 5,000,000. Anderson let it go.

Fernando Karam	131,000,000	72,000,000
James Anderson	119,500,000	-71,500,000

Hand #229: Fernando Karam raised preflop to win the hand.

Hand #230: With 6,200,000 each in the middle preflop, a flop of     appeared. Karam bet 5,000,000, James Anderson raised to 14,000,000, and Karam folded.

Hand #231: After a raising war preflop, both players got their stacks in the middle. It was Karam who put the last, big shove in and Anderson called it off for 82,000,000 total.

James Anderson:   
Fernando Karam:   

The kings of Anderson held up on a       board to propel him to a huge lead.

Hand #232: Anderson raised to 6,000,000 and Karam called. The flop was     and Karam check-called 7,500,000 from Anderson. Both players checked the   turn and   river, giving Anderson the winner with   .

Hand #233: Karam raised to 6,000,000, Anderson three-bet shoved and Karam folded.

Hand #234: Walk for Karam.

Hand #235: Walk for Anderson.

Hand #236: Walk for Karam.

James Anderson	191,000,000	122,000,000
Fernando Karam	59,000,000	-121,800,000

Hand #226: James Anderson completed his small blind and Marco Guibert checked. Both players checked on the flop    . The turn brought a   and Anderson bet 5,000,000. Guibert folded.

Hand #227: Anderson raised on the button for 5,000,000 and Guibert three-bet in the small blind to 16,000,000. Karam quickly announced all in and it folded to Guibert who considered it for a minute before folding his hand.

Hand #216: Marco Guibert limped on the button and Fernando Karam called in the small blind before James Anderson decided to shove. Guibert asked for the count and after the dealer confirmed Anderson's stack worth 64,800,000, both Guibert and Karam folded.

Hand #217: Karam raised to 5,000,000 on the button and Anderson shoved once more in the small blind. It came back to Karam who made the call.

James Anderson:   
Fernando Karam:   

The board brought       and the pot was split.

Hand #218: Guibert completed his small blind and Karam checked. Guibert check-called Karam for 5,000,000 on the flop    . The turn was the   and Guibert checked again but snap-folded when Karam tossed a pile of chips in front of him for a bet around 10,000,000.

Hand #219: Karam completed his small blind and after some thoughts, Anderson raised it to 7,500,000.

The flop fell     and Karam check-raised all in after Anderson made a continuation bet for 5,500,000. Anderson tanked and ended up folding.

Fernando Karam	113,500,000	19,200,000
Marco Guibert	76,500,000	-16,500,000
James Anderson	51,000,000	-7,800,000

Hand #209: Marco Guibert completed his small blind and Fernando Karam raised to 12,000,000. Guibert quickly folded.

Hand #210: James Anderson got a walk.

Hand #211: Karam raised on the button to 6,000,000 and grabbed the blinds.

Hand #212: Anderson min-raised on the button to 5,000,000 and Karam called in the big blind.

The flop went     and Karam quickly check-called Anderson's bet for 4,000,000. The same action happened on the turn, this time for 10,000,000.

The river fell the   and went check-check. Karam revealed    for a full house and Anderson mucked.

Hand #213: Anderson got a walk.

Hand #214: Anderson raised to 6,700,000 in the small blind and Guibert sent his cards into the muck.

Fernando Karam	92,000,000	17,000,000
James Anderson	71,000,000	-14,000,000

Hand #200: James Anderson raised to 4,500,000 on the button and Fernando Karam called the big blind. Karam check-folded the     flop to a bet of 4,000,000.

Hand #201: Marco Guibert raised to 4,500,000 on the button and Anderson defended. The       board got checked down to the river, where Guibert took it with a bet of 6,000,000.

Hand #202: Karam raised to 4,500,000 on the button and Anderson called the big blind. The     flop went check/check. Anderson bet 9,000,000 on the   turn and Karam called.

On the   river, Anderson cut out a sizable bet of what appeared to be 26,000,000 and Karam gave it up.

Hand #203: Karam got a walk.

Hand #204: Karam limped and Anderson checked. The     flop went check/check. Karam bet 3,000,000 on the   turn and won to take the players into a 15-minute break.

Marco Guibert	94,600,000	2,600,000
James Anderson	92,500,000	9,500,000
Fernando Karam	56,700,000	-11,300,000