Event 13 goes to Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell is the winner of the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em Event. In the heads-up he defeated Steve Merrifield in 17 hands. Bell received $666,777.
1,397 players signed up for the 13th tournament of the Series. They generated a prize pool of $3,213,100; 99 places were paid.
Speedy Finale
The players set up a breath-taking pace in the finale. After only 16 hands, four players were already eliminated.
First Elimination in the second Hand
Merrifield was able to eliminate Nicolas Levi in the second hand of the evening. With 
he busted Levi's sevens when a ten appeared on the flop.
Bell eliminates Ditzik, Soffer and Sanders
Only two hands later it was all over for Brent Ditzik, who run with 
into Bell's 
. The flop came with 
and gave Bell the set. Turn and river were blanks. Ditzik dropped out in 8th place.
In the eleventh hand, Ariel Soffer fell victim to Bell, who busted Soffer's sixes with 
when he hit the straight on the turn.
In hand 16, Bell eliminated Jason Sanders. With 
Bell prevailed against Sanders' 
. Sanders missed the flop, the turn came up with another deuce for the set. Sanders finished 6th.
Afterwards, Bell had almost 3 million chips for an impressive chip lead.
"That's the Suckout, Baby!"
Then it was time for Merrifield to shine. In the 23rd hand of the final table, Brent Hanks suffered a terrible bad beat by Merrifield who commented the event with the line: "That's the suckout,
baby!"
Hanks raised to 115,000, Merrifield called from the small blind. The flop came with 
,
and Merrifield donked into the pot for 200,000. Hanks stared at Merrifield for a while before he raised to 325,000. Merrifield shoved all-in, Hanks
called and showed 
for top two pair. Merrifield flipped over 
. He bet everything on a draw and only had a roughly 30% chance to win. The turn came with the 
and changed nothing, but with the river came the 
and completed Merrifield's draw. A bit later, Merrifield sent Hanks to the rails on rank 5, who was followed by Shawn Buchanan
(Rank 4) and Nathan Doudney (Rank 3).
Heads-Up
In the heads-up met the players who only needed 55 hands to eliminate the whole table. At first, it looked like a win for Merrifield when he was able to grab a monster pot against Bell. But Bell managed to double up and regain the chip lead.
In the last hand of the tourney, Bell raised to 155,000 pre-flop and Merrifield called. The flop came with 
.
Bell made a continuation bet of 150,000 and was raised by Merrifield, who bet 500,000. Bell announced his all-in, Merrifield called and showed 
, only to see that Bell held 
. The turn 
and the river changed nothing anymore. Bell received his first bracelet.
| WSOP 2008 Event 13 $2,500 No Limit Hold'em |
||
| Rank |
Name |
Prize money |
| 1 | Duncan Bell | $666,777 |
| 2 | Steven Merrifield | $428,948 |
| 3 | Nathan Doudney | $260,261 |
| 4 | Shawn Buchanan | $218,491 |
| 5 | Brent Hanks | $178,327 |
| 6 | Jason Sanders | $139,769 |
| 7 | Ariel Soffer | $107,638 |
| 8 | Brent Ditzik | $83,540 |
| 9 | Nicolas Levi | $59,442 |
