No one at the final table of the USD 5000 No Limit Shootout (Event 41) was older than 24. The average age was just 22.Peter Traply, 22, however, was able beat his younger opponent, 21-year-old Andrew Lichtenberger and some of the biggest names in the poker for his first World Series of Poker bracelet, USD 348,728 and the first championship for Hungary.
Traply bagged the championship when he moved all in with A K and Lichtenberger called with A J . An ace was in the door of the 5 3 A flop and the board paired queens on the next two streets, coming Q ,Q .
“Oh my God, I’m the happiest person in the world,” he said. “Winning a bracelet was one of my poker dreams and it came true.”
Lichtenberger was crippled when he moved all in against his Hungarian opponent with A K and Traply called with 6 6 . An ace hit on the flop with the A 8 9 and Lichtenberger’s freinds applauded, but the crowd at the feature stage erupted on the turn when the 6 peeled off the deck. The 2 came on the meaningless river and Lichtenberger was left with just under 300,000 in chips, while Traply had 7.1 million.
Despite the overwhelming chip deficit, Lichtenberger was able to come back to 3.4 million after doubling up three times. He was unable to complete the comeback, however, finishing second, earning USD 215,403.
“Andrew, of course, is a world-class player,” Traply said. “It was a tough final table, a tough field overall.”
Five players returned for the final day of Event 41 — Lichtenberger, Traply, Max Lykov, 21, Danny Wong, 24, and Nasr El Nasr, 23 — after outlasting superstars like Phil Ivey and David Pham on Monday for what might be the youngest final table in the history of WSOP. It is impossible to know the youngest, and oldest, final tables in history as the ages of the first WSOP contestants were never recorded.
After two hours without any big showdowns, El Nasr took a big hit when his aces were cracked by T 9 . Lichtenberger raised from under the gun with the suited connector before El Nasr re-raised with A A . The two moved all in with El Nasr having the chip and percentage advantage. The flop didn’t give Lichtenberger the best hand, but it made him a slight favorite as the 6 7 9 came off to give him a pair, a flush draw and a straight draw and a 53 per cent chance to win. The T on the turn gave the New York-native the best hand. El Nasr, from Germany, would need an ace, six or seven that wasn’t a diamond for the win or an eight for a chop, but the J came and gave the pot to Lichtenberger.
A few hands later El Nasr moved all in with 3 3 and was called by Traply called with 8 8 . El Nasr was never able to catch a three and was knocked out in the fifth place, earning USD 82,697.
The oldest player at the table, Wong, 24, was the next one eliminated. With the board reading T 2 2 7 , Wong made a push with top pair, holding A T , but Lichtenberger has the one holding aces this time. Lichtenberger slowplayed his two black aces perfectly, smooth calling Wong’s button raise from the small blind and checking on the flop and turn, when Wong eventually moved in. When Lichtenberger showed the A A on the turn, Wong would need to hit another ten on the river, but the 2 came, sending him to the rail. Wong left with USD 105,609 for the fourth-place finish.
Lichtenberger took out Lykov to face Traply heads-up for the championship. Lykov, who was the short stack with about 1 million in chips, moved all in with A T and Lichtenberger had two jacks. The Russian was never able to catch an ace and was eliminated. He took USD 145,063 for the third.
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