Leo Wolpert once went head-to-head with Jeopardy demigod Ken Jennings and got his ass handed to him like everybody else. Over the past four days, however, the 26-year-old Wolpert held his own against the best poker players at the World Series of Poker and walked away with his first gold bracelet and USD 625,682.Wolpert defeated his final opponent John Duthie two matches to one and claimed the title.
The first match, which Duthie won, lasted 96 hands and saw the 47-year-old Englishman consistently chip away at Wolpert’s early lead before finally getting all the chips in play. Duthie had the button and raised to 150,000 and Wolpert moved all-in behind him for 920,000. Duthie called and found himself in a dominating position with A Q against the K Q of Wolpert. The flop was dry for Wolpert and when the A fell on the river Wolpert was down one match to none.
If the first match was a marathon of epic proportions the second was a spring that Usain Bolt would be proud of, and may be too slow for. On the ninth hand of the match Wolpert raised from the button to 90,000 and Duthie called. The flop came A 9 6 , Duthie checked and Wolpert bet 130,000. Duthie then announced a raise to 300,000 and Wolpert checked. The turn was the [2] and Duthie checked once more. Wolpert took the opportunity to bet 420,000 and Duthie again check-raised this time putting all of his chips in the middle. Wolpert snap-called and revealed 6 6 for a flopped set while Duthie showed A K for top pair. The river was a meaningless 2 and with Wolpert having Duthie covered the match was even.
The win gave Wolpert some momentum heading into the winner-take-all third match and he carried it through the first 50 hands. Duthie was unable to muster any sustained momentum and the pots he did drag were small and inconsequential. Wolpert on the other hand took control of the chip lead and never let up until the 96th hand, when Duthie managed a double up.
After Duthie rasied to 125,000 the two players saw the flop of K 7 5 . Wolpert checked to Duthie who bet 300,000. Wolpert responded by moving all-in and Duthie called. Wolpert revealed K J for the top pair and Duthie showed 8 6 for an open-ended straight draw. The 8 on the turn gave Duthie more outs to the river and when the 4 hit he completed his straight and doubled through. The hand moved Duthie up to 3.18 million and dropped Wolpert to 4.25 million.
That was as close as Duthie would get though. It took a total of 191 hands before the two found a flop worth fighting over. Wolpert completed, Duthie checked and the flop came T 5 3 . Duthie checked, Wolpert bet 120,000 and Duthie responded by moving all-in. Wolpert called and showed 3 5 for two pairs and Duthie was behind with T 2 . The turn and river failed to give Duthie trips or a second pair and his tournament was over.
Duthie, who now has 10 WSOP cashes on his resume, is best known for being the creator of the European Poker Tour and many consider him responsible for the growth of the game there. He advanced to the finals by beating Steve O’Dwyer in the quarter-final and Nathan Doudney in the semi-final. On his opening day of action he eliminated Robert Starkey and Stuart Marshak. His three victims on Day 2 were Terrence Chan, Andrew Lichtenberger and Benjamin Sprenger.
Both players had support on the rail. Sweating Wolpert were Jeff “ActionJeff” Garza and Scott Seiver while Duthie had fellow Brits Victoria Cohen and Andy Black lending support. The event was originally scheduled for three days but with the semi-finals running late into Monday night tournament organizers decided to allow the final two players to return on Tuesday to play for the bracelet.
WSOP USD 10,000 Heads-Up World Championship Payouts
2. John Duthie - USD 386,636
3. Nathan Doudney - USD 214,289
4. Jamin Stokes - USD 214,289
5. Johnny Chan - USD 92,580
6. Bryan Pellegrino - USD 92,580
7. Steve O’Dwyer - USD 92,580
8. Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf - USD 92,580
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