$3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (Event #36)

The second Shootout tournament of the 50th Annual World Series of Poker has crowned a champion and it was David Lambard topping a field of 313 players to take home the lion's share of a $845,100 prize pool, and most importantly, the elusive gold bracelet. For his victory in Event #36: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout, Lambard received $207,193 after defeating French poker pro and poker coach Johan "YoH ViraL" Guilbert heads-up.

Heading into the final table at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, plenty of well-known poker pros had hit the rail in the previous two rounds, yet Lambard still had to face off against former bracelet winners Justin Bonomo, Alexandru Papazian and Andrew Lichtenberger. The 44-year-old, who has been playing poker for a living for the past 10 years, knew what to expect and how tough it would be to win.

"Actually, I knew this whole field was top notch," he said. "They are all wizards, they are all super pros, this was a top field going on. I was well aware of that. A lot of these tournament pros I don't even follow, I just know they are tough. I came with my own style. The only way to win a tournament is to have no fear."

Down to the last three players, a key hand took place when fearless Lambard clashed with eventual third-place finisher Weiyi "Wayne" Zhang. Lambard raised with pocket sixes and jammed a ten-high turn with a gutshot, showing that he had no fear. Zhang called with queen-seven for trips and instead of the straight, Lambard spiked one of the two remaining sixes to take a commanding lead.

"I just went with it, I just had a feel. I am kind of an instinct player and these guys are pretty robotic and know the whole matrix. I am kind of old school. I play mostly play cash games and go with the feel. Like the bluff with the three-five, it felt like the right play and he folded."

That bluff hand was run with five-high and a gutshot against Guilbert in the penultimate hand of the tournament, and he forced the Frenchman to lay down seven-four for bottom two pair. It was all over the very next hand when Lambard won a flip and posed for the winner shots a few minutes later.

Lambard also admitted that he didn't have any special strategy for this Sit-and-Go format.

"Just a basic strategy. Play tight early and when you get down to five-six handed you open up. Establish a tight image early on. I noticed some of the other guys tried to accumulate chips faster. When it is nine or ten-handed, it is pretty ABC. I do everything off, unorthodox. Old school is all I know."

Coming into the tournament, the father of three had four WSOP and WSOP Circuit cashes to his name with a top score of $107,640. This victory nearly doubled that and Lambard can usually be found at the cash game tables at The Bike, Commerce and in Gardena.

"My dad played poker for a living, and it has been in my blood since the seventies." Lambard also mentioned Bobby "The Wizard" Hoff as his mentor. Going forward, Lambard will be playing some more events and also giving the upcoming $10,000 Main Event a shot.

A maiden bracelet winner was already guaranteed when the field was reduced to the final three, as Justin Bonomo (10th - $12,937), Alexandru Papazian (7th - $28,182), and Andrew Lichtenberger (4th - $67,706) all saw their bid for a repeat victory fall short.

Final Table Results

Action of the Final Day

After winning the initial full-ring round and getting past the four-handed stage in the second round, only 10 players remained and took their seats in the "Thunderdome." All eyes were on three-time WSOP bracelet winner Justin Bonomo, who eventually became the first casualty of the day. Down to around 15 big blinds in the third level of the day, Bonomo lost a flip with pocket nines against the ace-king of Ben Farrell.

Martin Zamani experienced a roller coaster ride in the early stages of the final table and went from one of the chip leaders to a short stack, doubled and then ran with queens into the pocket aces of Jan Lakota. No miracle queen showed up and Zamani bowed out a couple of hands later.

Down to the last eight, the live stream on CBS All Access and PokerGO kicked off and it would take 109 hands from there to determine a champion. It took 20 hands to reduce the field to seven when Adrien Delmas failed to hold up in a flip with pocket fours against the ace-queen suited of Weiyi Zhang. Two diamonds on the flop gave Zhang a flush draw, running queens improved the Chinese player to trips instead.

After a move with king-nine suited against the ace-jack of Lichtenberger, Papazian was knocked down to less than one big blind. He more than doubled, but eventually came up short with king-eight against the ace-seven of Farrell. Just one hour later it was Farrell that headed to the payout desk as his ace-ten was no good against the pocket jacks of Lambard.

Lakota was the next to fall and again it was Lambard that did the work. Two ace-kings clashed and Lambard had them in spades, spiking two further spades on the flop and improving to the nut flush on the river. That hand vaulted Lambard into the lead with four players remaining.

Weiyi "Wayne" Zhang doubled into the lead in a flush-over-flush clash with Lichtenberger, and he finished the job soon after with ace-ten against the queen-eight of Lichtenberger. However, Zhang would not become the fifth Chinese player to win a WSOP bracelet just yet as Lambard got there with pocket sixes against the trip sevens of Zhang, spiking one of his six outs on the river.

Lambard entered the heads-up with Johan Guilbert with a comfortable lead, but the Frenchman nearly closed the gap after taking down four hands in a row. With sheer aggression, Lambard pulled further ahead again and even a double for Guilbert with ace-jack versus ace-trey suited only changed the momentum for a few minutes. Eventually, it was a flip that decided over the victory when Lambard came out on top with pocket fours against ace-eight.

The PokerNews team will provide continued updates of all bracelet events of the 2019 World Series of Poker until the end, so make sure to tune back regularly to find out who will next claim a bracelet.

Hand #106: Johan Guilbert limped the button with the    and David Lambard checked his option holding the   . The     flop saw both players check and the   appeared on the turn. Again it went check-check and the   peeled off on the river. Both players knocked the table and chopped it up.

Hand #107: Lambard looked down at the    on the button and raised to 250,000. Guilbert folded his   .

Hand #108: Guilbert limped with the    and Lambard checked his option holding the   . The latter led out for 150,000 on the     flop and Guilbert, who flopped two pair, just called. When the   appeared on the turn, Lambard checked and Guilbert bet 625,000.

Lambard wasted little time in check-raising all in and Guilbert, who had 1.79 million behind, took a drink of water, stood up from his chair, and sat back down. He appeared tortured over the decision and eventually laid down the best hand.

David Lambard	4,330,000	1,130,000
Johan Guilbert	1,770,000	-1,130,000

Hand #100: Johan Guilbert called on the button and David Lambard raised to 300,000 which Guilbert called. The flop came    , Lambard shoved with the bigger stack and Guilbert folded.

Hand #101: Lambard raised to 200,000 on the button and Guilbert called. The flop came    , both players checked to see the dealer turn the  . They both checked again for the   to complete the board on the river. Guilbert bet 225,000 and Lambard called but mucked when he saw Guilbert held    for the pair of queens.

Hand #102: Guilbert called on the button and Lambard checked. The flop came     for both players to check for the   on the turn. Lambard bet 200,000 and Guilbert folded.

Hand #103: Lambard called and Guilbert checked. The flop came    , Guilbert check-folded to the 100,000 bet of Lambard.

Hand #104: Guilbert raised to 250,000 on the button and Lambard opted to fold.

Hand #105: Lambard raised to 200,000 and Guilbert called. The flop came     and Guilbert checked, which prompted a continuation bet of 200,000 by Lambard. Guilbert check-raised to 625,000 and that did the trick to win the pot.

David Lambard	3,200,000	-400,000
Johan Guilbert	2,900,000	400,000

Hand #90: Johan Guilbert called on the button and David Lambard raised to 300,000 for Guilbert to fold.

Hand #91: Lambard raised to 200,000 from the button and Guilbert called. The flop came     for both players to check to the   on the turn. Guilbert checked again and so did Lambard. The   on the river completed the board. Guilbert checked and Lambard bet 400,000. Guilbert opted to fold after considering it for a few seconds.

Hand #92: Guilbert called on the button and Lambard opted to check. The flop came    , Lambard bet 200,000 and that was enough to Guilbert to let the hand go.

Hand #93: Lambard raised to 200,000 on the button and Guilbert called. The flop came    , Guilbert check-folded to the 300,000 continuation-bet of Lambard.

Hand #94: Guilbert called on the button and Lambard opted to check. The flop came    , Lambard bet 100,000 and Guilbert raised to 225,000. Lambard called and looked at his cards once more before the   was dealt on the turn. Lambard bet big to put Guilbert all-in who snap-folded.

David Lambard	4,600,000	1,100,000
Johan Guilbert	1,500,000	-1,100,000

There are seven minutes left in the level and Johan Guilbert as well as David Lambard are back in their seats.

Hand #75: Weiyi Zhang limped in from the small blind and David Lambard made it 280,000 total to go. Zhang made the call and they headed to the     flop. Zhang checked and Lambard fired a continuation bet of 350,000, which Zhang called. After the   turn, Zhang checked and called the shove of Lambard for 1,280,000.

David Lambard:   
Weiyi Zhang:   

Lambard needed a nine or one of the two remaining sixes in the deck to stay alive, as he was the player at risk. The   fell on the river and Lambard scored a massive double, while Zhang was left with just 175,000.

Hand #76: Zhang moved all in for 175,000 on the button and Johan Guilbert made the call in the big blind.

Weiyi Zhang:   
Johan Guilbert:   

The     flop gave Guilbert trips sevens, however, the   turn and   river improved Zhang to a miracle straight.

Hand #77: Guilbert open-shoved out of the small blind and Zhang let go his big blind and big blind ante.

David Lambard	3,900,000	1,900,000
Johan Guilbert	1,900,000	-100,000
Weiyi Zhang	310,000	-1,790,000

Hand #56: Johan Guilbert limped in from the small blind and Weiyi Zhang checked in the big blind. The flop came     and Guilbert led for 115,000, Zhang made the call. A second flush draw arrived on the   turn and Guilbert now bet 310,000, Zhang folded after some consideration.

Hand #57: Zhang filled up from the small blind and David Lambard checked in the big blind. The flop brought     and a min-bet from Zhang for 60,000 ended the hand right there.

Hand #58: A button raise by Zhang for 130,000 won the blinds and big blind ante.

Hand #59: Lambard raised to 130,000 on the button and Zhang defended the big blind. They headed to a     flop and Zhang check-folded to a continuation bet of 150,000.

Hand #60: Zhang raised to 185,000 out of the small blind and Lambard called after brief consideration. On a flop of    , Zhang continued for 150,000 and Lambard opted for a raise to 600,0000. Zhang moved all in and Lambard snap-folded.

Weiyi Zhang	3,000,000	700,000
Johan Guilbert	1,800,000	100,000
David Lambard	1,300,000	-700,000