WSOP Event #28: Mike Eise Victorious

Tonight, a dream came true for Mike Eise. The father of three daughters left all 2,640 participants of the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Event behind and won his first bracelet and a prize money of $639,331. Eise had won his ticket for the tournament in a Missouri poker club.

"I have three little girls at home and I'm going to take them to Disneyland", was his first comment. He added: "This is the only event I played in, this was the only event I wanted to play in, so it feels great to win it."

Before they got to the table, the 27 remaining players in day three had to stand the pressure first. 18 players had to go to rails before the final nine could fight it out for the bracelet and over half a million dollars for first place. It took the field about four hours before a bubble boy was finally found. Joey Brattole was eliminated on 10th place and was rewarded with $54,481 for his effort.

Mike Zulker was the first to take his leave on the final table. He re-raised Jason Potter's bet all-in, and when the latter called, Zulker's was in good shape against the opposing . Potter picked up some outs for a split pot on the flop, and when the turn came down with a , his additional flush draw put Zulker at risk. It was however one of the initial three outs, the on the river, which sealed Zulker's fate.

Less than an hour later, Jose Luis France was the next victim. Short-stacked, he pushed all-in with his before the flop, and was promptly called by Rico Ramirez' . There was no suck-out this time, and France was eliminated on 8th place. Avi Braz couldn't get away from his demise on the flop, either. He shoved with and was in bad shape against Mike Eise's . Turn and river didn't help him out and he was done for the day.

The next elimination came after the dinner break. Zack Fritz was the victim in this hand; he pushed all-in with his against an UTG raise and was called by Eise's . Things would have looked good if the action stopped here, but Jeff Chang - the initial raiser - also pushed all-in. When Eise called again, both him and Fritz were looking rather bad against Chang's . The pair held up and Chang was able to almost triple up while Fritz was sent to the rails. A short-stacked Jason Potter was eliminated by Chang, too, when his failed to crack Chang's pocket tens.

While he held on to his chip lead for most of the final table, Rico Ramirez was finally eliminated on third place. In his final hand, he hit a great flop with his . He decided to slow-play his monster on the board and checked his options.

When he fired a bet to the on the turn, Eise raised all-in and Ramirez called - only to run into for a turned full house. The river blanked and our heads-up was set with Mike Eise and Jeff Chang facing off for the victory.

Eise started the heads-up with a dominant 9:2 chip lead, but Change managed to put up a good fight as there were some significant ups and downs. In the final hand, he made a tough call for all his chips on the board.

With his for ace-high, he had made a great read as he was comfortably ahead of Eise's stone-cold bluff with . He wasn't supposed to be rewarded, however, as the on the turn gave Eise top pair; it was now Chang who was hoping for one of his six outs. The river didn't help Chang who was punished for a brilliant call and Mike Eise was the fortunate winner of Event #28.