Event #23: $2,500 8-Game Mix

John Monnette is quickly becoming a household name around the World Series of Poker, and tonight's performance will certainly help that trend. Monnette has just completed the goal he set before himself three days ago, winning Event #23, the $2,500 buy-in eight-game mixed event. With it comes nearly $300,000 and Monnette's first gold bracelet.

The day began with 25 players still in the mix -- see what we did there? --, among them some of the most skilled mixed-game players in the world. Names like Ylon Schwartz, Nikolay Evdakov, and Max Pescatori all dropped out over the course of the opening levels, and the field shrunk quickly. Midway through the day, the final eight were set, and the survivors were relocated to the secondary featured table for the conclusion of the fight.

John Racener was the first of the eight to fall, his pocket kings running into the flush of Eric Buchman in stud 8/b. Racener had a full-house draw with one to come, but a brick on seventh cut his evening short with a small payday for his fifth career WSOP final table. Adam Kornuth fell just a few minutes later in no-limit hold'em, his pocket eights coolered off by the two tens of Michele Limongi.

John Juanda was on life support early in Day 2, but he managed to grow his stack steadily for the last half of the event, right up until his elimination in sixth place today. Juanda got his last couple bets into a limit pot with king-high, and Buchman's     flopped an open-ended straight flush draw. He made that straight right on the turn with the  , and Juanda was thusly ushered out the door a few spots shy of his second 2011 bracelet.

Desmond Portano fell to John Monnette in a razz hand to bow out in fifth, and Monnette took care of Brent Hanks in fourth place, too. With the knockouts mounting, it was about this time that the momentum was really shifting toward Monnette. He rode the rush all the way to victory. Michele Limongi was his next victim, Monnette waking up with aces to take the last of the Italian's chips.

That left Monnette and Buchman heads up for the hardware, probably two of the betting favorites coming into play. They were playing the "H" of H.O.R.S.E. when Limongi went out, and by the time they got to the "E", the match was decided. The tides turned for good in the stud round where Monnette dominated, making a couple key hands to cripple Buchman down into the knockout zone. One hand of stud 8/b was all it took for Monnette to collect the rest, and Buchman was gracious in defeat.

It took about six hours of final-table play to crown Monnette as the champion, a feat which looked improbable at one point. It was a bit of a buzzer beater, too. With just 18 minutes left on the clock, Monnette and Buchman would have been forced to bag up if they couldn't settle it quickly. The end came, though, and it was John Monnette holding the bracelet with flash bulbs popping in the Amazon Room. He's the toast of the town tonight, and he'll join the growing group of bracelet holders when he's awarded his new jewelry on Friday.

Congratulations one more time to John Monnette, the champ!

Stud

On the last hand of the stud round, things went pretty sour for Eric Buchman. John Monnette brought it in with the  , and Buchman completed with the  . Monnette called.

Monnette: (x-x) /      / (x)
Buchman: (x-x) /      / (x)

Monnette quickly bet his ace on fourth street, and Buchman raised it up. Monnette called, and Buchman picked up an ace of his own on fifth. He bet again, then check-called on sixth. On seventh, he checked again, and Monnette made the last bet of 100,000. It represented a significant chunk of Buchman's remaining stack, and he toyed with the calling chips for a moment before sliding them in.

Monnette showed     for the wheel, and Buchman turned his palms upward and sighed. He couldn't beat it, and the losing of that pot drops him all the way down to just 203,000.

Omaha 8/b

Eric Buchman raised the button, and John Monnette called for a flop. It came      , and Monnette check-called a bet. That action repeated after the   turn and   river, as well.

Buchman showed         for the nut low, and Monnette's         was not great, but good enough for the high. Chop-chop.

Michele Limongi has been awkwardly fiddling with his glasses all night, and it's been entertaining to watch him squeeze out the dots on his tiny cards. After the last hand, he made a comment to the floor in the best English he could muster.

"Why, in the States, do you not use bigger cards? So they're easier to see?"

From across the table, John Monnette quickly piped up. "You can't squeeze big cards. Where's the fun in that?"

2-7 Triple Draw

John Monnette opened from the button, and Michele Limongi three-bet from the big blind. Monnette called taking two cards, and Limongi took one. Limongi bet, Monnette called. They each took one card on the second round, and Limongi fired again. It worked this time as Monnette folded with a curious look.

It's probably a good time to mention that both Michele Limongi and John Monnette are gunning for their first bracelet here tonight. Limongi has had some good success in mixed games, with results that include a fourth-place finish in a H.O.R.S.E. event here in 2009. Monnette is newer to the game than Limongi, but he's already becoming a household name around the Amazon Room. It helps when you go heads-up with a guy named Ivey. In 2009, Monnette finished second to Mr. Ivey in a 2-7 No-Limit Draw event. He finished in fifth in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship the same summer and has about $750,000 in career earnings.

And then there's Eric Buchman, by far the most accomplished player at the table. He's posted significant cashes in all disciplines of poker at the W.S.O.P., and he's the proud owner of one shiny gold bracelet. It came last year in a $2,000 Limit Hold'em event, and it came with more than $200,000. Still, that's only his fourth-largest career cash. The biggest one came the year prior when he binked more than $2.5 million for a fourth-place finish in the Main Event.

We just switched to no-limit hold'em. It's the Cadillac of Poker, you know. In any event, the button fell such that Eric Buchman had to post the lone big blind. He had already put the small blind out in preparation and was pestering Michele Limongi to put in his big. When the dealer corrected the blinds, Buchman put up a bit of a fight at having to post the extra 20,000. Just a little fight, though.

The result? He got a walk.

Stud 8/b

Brent Hanks brought it in with the   up, and John Monnette completed with the  . Hanks made the call, and their hands ran out thusly:

Hanks: (x-x) /      / (x)
Monnette: (x-x) /      / (x)

Both players checked fourth street, and Monnette bet fifth. He bet again on sixth, and Hanks check-called one last bullet on seventh. It was the one that put him all in for about 65,000, and he'd soon be all the way out. Monnette turned up     in the hole, and he finished with kings and a seven-low to scoop the pot. Hanks tabled his    , on his way out the door to collect fourth-place money. It's worth $78,774 -- not bad for a couple days' work.