WSOP Event #53: David Halpern Takes The Bracelet

Day 3 of the $1,500 Seven Card Hi/Lo 8-or-Better event started with 14 players, but in 1 hour of play, 5 players hit the rails and the final table was formed. Overnight leaders Brian Swinford and Chad Brown made it to the final table without too many surprises.

Swinford and Brown were joined by David Halpern, Max Stern, Allie Prescott, Richard Sklar, Matt Savage, William Kohler and Zak Gilbert. David Halpern was the chip leader at the start of the unofficial final table with 480,000 chips.

Halpern took out Richard Sklar who went in to the unofficial final table of 9 players with the short stack of just 65,000 chips. Sklar's 2 pair ()()() was beaten by Halpern's set of queens ()()(). His 9th place exit earned him $12,149.

Allie Prescott left the table at 8th place and $16,682 shortly after that, as he was railed by William Kohler. Chip Leader after Day 2 Brian Swinford was next to go at 7th, taking home $19,901. Zak Gilbert and Matt Savage were the next to go as they earned $24,828 and $32,465 respectively. Down to his last 100,000 chips, Chad Brown left the table in 4th place and $44,589. He could not improve on his pair of fours ()()() and was knocked out by Max Stern's nines (X)(X)(X). Stern however, could not put these new chips into good use, as Kohler knocked him out less than an hour later. Stern took made $64,484 with his 3rd placed finish.

After 2 quick hands of heads-up play, Kohler and Halpern were almost even as Kohler took down a couple of pots to catch up. Both players got on remarkably well during as they made plans for dinner and drinks after the match. They were both enjoying themselves as the chip stacks remained largely unchanged before the dinner break.

The first all-in move of the night, came as Kohler re-raised all in on sixth street after he had bet all the way. The pot however was chopped as Halpern ()()() made a 7-low while Kohler ()()() had a full house.

Source: IMPDI for 2009 WSOP

Kohler got into trouble a while later as he went down to just 200,000 chips. Kohler bet on 5th street, but Halpern took control by betting the 6th and 7th streets. Halpern showed threes full of queens ()()() as Kohler (X)(X)(X) mucked his cards.

Kohler kept himself alive by winning the next hand and moving back up to around 300,000 but that didn't last long. 3 hands later, he announced "This could be it, this could be the last hand", and he was right, although he had also made the same announcement for the 2 hands before that.

In the last hand of the night, Kohler led out on the 4th and 5th streets. Halpern raised him the second time around. "Oh, you raise?" quipped Kohler and he called. Kohler bet again on the 6th street and went all-in on the river. Halpern called and it was all over.

Kohler had tens ()()() while Halpern showed kings and fours ()()(). William Halpern wins the event taking home his first WSOP bracelet and $159,390. Kohler had to settle for $98,550 after finishing second best.