WSOP Event #24: Panayote Vilandos Wins The Bracelet

The remaining 19 players returned for Day 3 of the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event. Chris Sparks was caught bluffing and lost a chunk of his stack in the later stages of play on Day 2, and now he was the first one to pack his bags.

Sparks managed to collect the blinds and antes with a shove, but his second one was fatal. He moved all-in with and David Lerman snap-called with . Lerman commented, "Oh, that's the worst hand for me to race against, I never win a race against sevens." Whatever luck he may have had in the past, that statement went down the drain when the board came .

While more and more players were making their way out, the chip leader Andy Seth continued to grind his opponents down and soon reached the 2 million mark. His stack went even higher and passed 2.5 million in chips after a hand against Roberto Truijers. Action began with Truijers making a raise to 73,000, Seth re-raised to 142,000 and Truijers decided to make the call.

The flop came , Seth bet 80,000, Truijers moved all-in and Seth insta-called. Truijers turned over and Seth showev . The turn brought and river came . Truijers was out in 15th place and the final table was rapidly approaching.

The final table bubble boy was Benny Champlin. He shoved his last 319,000 and Glen McCaffrey made a lonely call, as the rest of the table folded. Champlin turned over and McCaffrey revealed . The board came and Champlin was flushed from the tournament in 11th place.
One dinner break later and the final table was ready to begin. Andy Seth was still in the chip lead with 2,290,000, though Alan Jaffray was keeping him company a little bit over 300,000 chips behind. The shortest stack belonged to David lerman, who was clinging on to his remaining 276,000 chips.

Ernst Hermans was the first victim at the final table. His pocket threes ran into Ronnie Kevin's pocket kings. The board produced another king just to make sure no miracle would happen and Hermans was out in 10th place. Brian Fitzpatrick was the next one to hit the rail, as his went up against Panayote Villandos' . The board came and Fitzpatrick packed his bags in 9th place.

Ronnie Kevin soon found himself amongst the spectators. Andy Seth raised to 115,000, Vilandos re-raised 300,000, Kevin moved all-in for 555,000, Seth folded and Vilandos made the call with while Kevin turned over . The board revealed and Kevin was out in 8th place.

David Lerman started his day with a short stack and managed to work his way up all the way to 7th place. In his last hand, action began with a raise to 115,000 from McCaffrey, Alan Jaffray called and so did David Lerman. The flop came . Lerman moved all-in for 415,000, McCaffrey re-raised and forced Jaffray to fold. Lerman turned over and McCaffrey showed . The turn came and with the on the river, his final table appearance was over.

Alan Jaffray was the next player to fall, as his ran into Panayote Vilandos' . The board revealed another queen and with no king in sight, Jaffray was sent to the rail in 6th place while Vilandos climbed into the chip lead by scooping this pot and reached 4.3 million mark.

Dean Hamrick soon found out it's not exactly the best idea to tangle up with the chip leader. Hamrick raised to 150,000 and Vilandos moved all-in. After some consideration, Hamrick made the call with his last 980,000 and turned over while Panayote revealed . The board came . Hamrick made his way out and Panayote's stack went up to 5 million.
Andy Seth ran into trouble when he raised from the button with . Instead of picking up the blinds, he found himself up against McCaffrey's . The situation looked dire for Seth, but as it is in poker, nothing is said and done before the board speaks its mind. This time the board decided to reveal a flush for Seth, as it came . McCaffrey ended his run in 4th place, leaving the remaining players to settle who would enter the heads-up play.

Seth quickly eliminated another player, this time it was Michael Greco. Action began with Greco making a push from the big blind and Seth making an insta-call with . Greco showed and couldn't improve, thus ending his run in 3rd place.

Source: IMPDI for 2009 WSOP

While most of the heads-up plays featured one player with a huge advantage, this event saw a very even situation between Andy Seth (5,875,000 in chips) and Panayote Vilandos (5,345,000 in chips).

The first few pots were small, but then a big one came and went to Vilandos' hands. Seth raised to 205,000, Vilandos re-raised to 500,000, Seth made it 1,315,000 and Vilandos announced all-in. Seth insta-called and turned over but he soon discovered he was in bad shape, as Vilandos held . The board came and Vilandos rose up to 9,142,000 while Seth dropped down to 2,135,000.

Seth couldn't recover from this blow and his last chips went to Vilandos shortly after. In their last hand, Vilandos limped, Seth raised to 710,000 and Vilandos moved all-in with . Seth threw in his remaining chips to make the call and turned over . The board came and Panayote Vilandos (pictured right) took down the last pot in the tournament which also granted him a coveted gold bracelet along with $607,256 in prize money.

Here are the final table results:

World Series Of Poker Event #24 Results
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Panayote Vilandos	$607,256
2nd	Andy Seth	$372,855
3rd	Michael Greco	$248,855
4th	Glenn Mccaffrey	$176,165
5th	Dean Hamrick	$132,380
6th	Alan Jaffray	$105,699
7th	David Lerman	$88,937
8th	Ronnie Kevin	$79,017
9th	Brian Fitzpatrick	$73,886
10th	Ernst Hermans	$51,755