It was folded around to Anke Berner in middle position and she moved all in for 384,000 total. Directly behind her in the cutoff, Niel Mittelman announced a call to put her at risk and everyone else got out of the way.
Mittelman:
Berner:
The board failed to improve Berner's hand and she was sent to the rail in seventh place.
Jason Everett recently lost a chunk of his stack when he three-bet folded to the four-bet of Rocco Palumbo. The very next hand and Everett would get his stack all-in holding and have to come up against the of Nelson Robinson.
By the time the turn fell on a board, Everett had outs to the flush draw, but it wasn't meant to be as the river gave him no help. For his fifth-place finish, Everett goes home with $107,411 - our first six-figure payout of the day.
Niel Mittelman was first to act and opened to 60,000. Directly behind him on the button, Nelson Robinson three-bet to 140,000. Undeterred, Mittelman re-popped it to 310,000 and Robinson didn't take long to announce he was all in. Mittelman called all in for less and hands were revealed.
Mittelman:
Robinson:
Robinson held a slight advantage going to the flop and the kept him in the lead - eliminating Mittelman in 4th place.
It was folded over to Rocco Palumbo, who went all in from the small blind. Thomas Conway quickly called off his remaining stack to put himself at risk.
Palumbo:
Conway:
The board ran out - giving Palumbo an unbeatable flush on the turn for the knockout.
A short-stacked Nelson Robinson pushed all in from the button and Rocco Palumbo called to put him at risk.
Palumbo:
Robinson:
The flop kept Palumbo in front, however a on the turn propelled Robinson into the lead with a pair of jacks. The river changed nothing and Robinson doubled through to 2.5 million.
Just a few hands after the dinner break and we have our champion. The last hand of the tournament began when Nelson Robinson opened the button to 120,000. Rocco Palumbo then asked how much Robinson had, before three-betting to 300,000. A few moments thought and Robinson would four-bet all in. Palumbo shrugged and made the call and the two players turned their hands over.
Palumbo:
Robinson:
Robinson was behind and in need of some help. The flop was the opposite of help and by the time the turn and the river had run out, it was all over for Robinson.
For his effort, Robinson takes home $288,448 which is added to the almost $250,000 he won for finishing in 33rd place in last year's World Series of Poker Main Event.
After three hard-fought days of Texas Hold'em, Event #44: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em is in the books with Rocco Palumbo standing tall as champion.
Day 1 began with 2,949 entrants, which marked the second-biggest field thus far during this year's World Series of Poker. (The Senior's Event drew a record-setting field of 4,128).
With a field this epic, you can be sure there was no lack of pros and notable names. Some who joined the action in Day 1 include Barry Shulman, Terrence Chan, Liv Boeree, Joe Cada, Jonathan Little, Jude Ainsworth, Ivan Demidov and Amnon Filippi.
Of those players, several would go on to make a deep run in Day 2, but eventually fall short of the final table. Some names that were unable to survive into Day 3 include Cada (112th), Little (104th), Soi Nguyen (88th), Ainsworth (78th), Demidov (76th), Maya Antonius (65th) and Amnon Filippi, who busted in 62nd after coming into Day 2 as one of the chip leaders.
Blair Hinkle would also make deep run, but he fell short of the final table after busting out in 24th place. This would mark another deep run for Hinkle, who managed a 4th place finish just four days ago in Event 38: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em.
When Day 2 was all said and done, just 16 players remained to compete for the gold bracelet in Day 3. Among them included bracelet winner Keven Stammen, who won a bracelet back in 2009 and the last woman standing, Anke Berner - who came into day two with just 7,600 in chips. However, Berner managed to build her stack and survive into Day 3 tied for fourth in chips.
Here is how the final two tables looked in their entirety going into Day 3:
Table
Seat
Player
Chips
440
1
Thomas Conway
880,000
440
2
Patrick Karschamroon
678,000
440
3
Francisco Azares
678,000
440
4
— Empty —
440
5
Jaspal Brar
551,000
440
6
Rocco Palumbo
382,000
440
7
Niel Mittelman
578,000
440
8
Darren Rabinowitz
760,000
440
9
Nelson Robinson
871,000
441
1
— Empty —
441
2
Paul Sokoloff
209,000
441
3
David Forster
437,000
441
4
Kevin Elia
503,000
441
5
Jason Everett
399,000
441
6
Travell Thomas
368,000
441
7
Keven Stammen
654,000
441
8
Anke Berner
655,000
441
9
Mario Delis
234,000
When Day 3 began, the eliminations came swiftly and we reached our final table within just two levels of play. These early eliminations included Delis, Solokoff, Brar, Thomas, Azares and Stammen, who all fell just short of the final table.
Shortly after the remaining ten players relocated to the main feature table, Darren Rabinowitz was eliminated when his pockets kings fell to Elia's ace-king after getting all in preflop.
And just like that - we had our official final table. Here is how it looked:
Seat
Player
Count
1
Jason Everett
620,000
2
Kevin Elia
1,600,000
3
Patrick Karschamroon
660,000
4
Anke Berner
600,000
5
Niel Mittelman
1,800,000
6
Nelson Robinson
650,000
7
Rocco Palumbo
850,000
8
David Forster
870,000
9
Thomas Conway
1,210,000
David Forster left our official final table first after getting into a preflop raising war with Palumbo. Forster ended up calling a Palumbo four-bet all in with , which was crushed by the of Palumbo. Forster couldn't pull the miracle and was sent to the rail in ninth place.
Next to go would be Karschamroon after getting all in preflop with pocket eights against the queens of Everett. Karschamroom didn't improve and he was sent to the rail in eighth place.
The sole-remaining lady, Anke Berner, was sent home next after pushing all in with and running into the of Niel Mittelman. The board failed to improve Berner's hand and she was sent eliminated in seventh place.
Out in sixth place was Elia, who pushed his short stack into the middle from the big blind on a flop after calling a preflop raise from Palumbo. Palumbo snap-called with and eliminated Elia after he failed to improve.
Everett hit the rail after running his into the of Robinson all-in preflop. Robinson was dominated and failed to get any help from the board - sending him home in fifth place.
Mittelman made his exit in fourth place after getting into a preflop raising war against Robinson. After the smoke cleared, Mittelman was all in with against the pocket eights of Robinson. Mittelman bricked out and was sent home.
Conway, who had not been involved in many pots during the final table, met his end after calling an all-in push from Palumbo with . Palumbo held the and the board kept Conway second best - sending him to the rail in third place.
When heads-up play began, Palumbo enjoyed a slight chiplead over Robinson and quickly put his chips to work. Palumbo played aggressively to slowly whittle Robinson down to just over one million in chips. However, Robinson proved resilient as he doubled through Palumbo not once, but twice as a short stack. However, Palumbo would not be denied. Shortly after dinner break, Robinson and Palumbo would get into a preflop raising war. Robinson four-bet pushed all in with for his remaining stack and Palumbo called with . The board ran out and Palumbo claimed Robinsons' remaining chips with aces and fours.
And just like that, Palumbo claimed his first WSOP gold bracelet and the $464,464 prize that went along with it!