WSOP Event #23: The New 2-7 Draw Lowball Champion
The Event #23, one of the more exotic events of the WSOP 2009, has come to an end. The US American Nick Schulman can now finally complete his collection of two WPT titles with his first WSOP bracelet, as he took down the $10,000 NL 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship title.
With a mere 96 participants, the 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship was one of the smallest tournaments of this year's WSOP. As it seems, the victory of a Championship Event is worth more than first place in any of the numerous side events, though.
Ville Wahlbeck was well aware of this as he made his way into the heads-up of yet another Championship Event. In the end, the second bracelet slipped through his hand, and he had to be satisfied with adding second place to his notable record: after this effort and the recent win of the $10,000 Mix Championship, he can claim a total four cashes, including three final tables, in only four Championship Events.
However, even Wahlbeck couldn't stop Nick Schulman last night. After sending his fellow countryman Steve Sung to the rails on place 3, he entered the duel with a 2:1 chip lead - and never looked back. Even though Wahlbeck put a lot of pressure on the US American by contesting a lot of small pots at the beginning of the heads-up, he had to admit his defeat after almost one and a half hours of intense play.
In the deciding hand, Schulman (pictured left) open-raised to the standard 75,000 chips and Wahlbeck re-raised to 250,000. Schulman made the call and both players drew one card. First to talk, Wahlbeck shoved all-in and Schulman snap-called double-fist-pump style, flipping over el numero uno, 75432, for the nuts. He already celebrated his triumph as Wahlbeck revealed 99852 for an attempted bluff.
John Juanda had nothing to put up against Schulman's insurmountable force on that day, either. After a raise to 50,000 by Schulman, Juanda pushed all-in for another 219,000. Schulman called and both players took one card during the draw. Juanda's six helped him to a decent 96543, but Schulman was even better with his 87532 and thus successfully eliminated the four-time bracelet winner on fourth place.
Michael Binger on place 8 and David Benyamine on place 7 are another testimony on how tough the competition on this final table was. The following table gives you an overview of the results and pay-outs.
| WSOP 2009 Event #23: $10,000 Draw Lowball Result |
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| Place | Name | Prize |
| 1st | Nick Schulman | $279,742 |
| 2nd | Ville Wahlbeck | $172,864 |
| 3rd | Steve Sung | $112,042 |
| 4th | John Juanda | $75,964 |
| 5th | Archie Karas | $53,783 |
| 6th | Vince Musso | $39,697 |
| 7th | David Benyamine | $30,492 |
| 8th | Michael Binger | $24,545 |
