Lee Goldman brought it in with the , and Su completed on his direct left. Vinh tanked before calling, and Ranciato move all in for only 500 more. Goldman released, and both Su and Vinh called.
Vinh called a bet from Su on fourth street, and then Su slow down on fifth street, check-calling bet from Vinh. Both players checked on sixth, and on seventh, Su checked a third straight time. Vinh tanked before betting, and Su released his hand.
Stephen Su: / /
Huu Vinh: / /
Joe Ranciato: / /
Ranciato, who had stood up in defeat on fourth street, rolled over for a pair of sixes, but it was no good against Vinh's for two pair. Ranciato is eliminated from the tournament, while Vinh is now above 100,000 chips.
Scott Abrams brought it in with the showing, and the action folded to Caroline Hermesh, who completed with the . Abrams shrugged, and tossed in enough chips to move all in. Hermesh quickly called. Abrams tabled , and Hermesh showed for a pair of sixes.
The boards ran out like this:
Abrams:
Hermesh:
Hermesh's sixes were good, and Abrams was eliminated in ninth place.
David Williams brought it in with the showing, and Caroline Hermesh completed. Andy Bloch quickly raised, Williams released, and Hermesh called.
Hermesh led out on fourth, and Bloch called. Hermesh slowed down on fifth, checking to Bloch, who immediately fired. Hermesh tanked for over a minute before moving all in, and Bloch called.
Hermesh: () /
Bloch: () /
On sixth street, Hermesh spiked the , making a better pair. The bricked for Bloch. Seventh street was dealt face-down, and Bloch immediately flipped over , giving him two-pair. Hermesh needed to pair up or make trip aces, but she didn't. The was a brick, and Hermesh was eliminated from the tournament.
Stephen Su brought it in with the showing, Huu Vinh completed with the , and David Williams raised with the . Lee Goldman put in another raise with the , and the action folded back to Williams who called.
Williams check-called a bet on fourth street, and when he paired on fifth, he instantly led out. Goldman got the rest of his stack in the middle, and the hands were opened.
Williams - () /
Goldman - () /
Williams was in the lead, but Goldman had a ton of outs. Williams caught the on sixth street however, giving him a full house, and Goldman received the . He was drawing dead.
As Goldman was gathering his things, the dealer completed the hand. Williams improved to fives full of aces when he was dealt the , and Goldman was dealt the .
Goldman is eliminated in sixth place, while Williams now commands a very large chip lead.
Huu Vinh was just eliminated in fifth place at the hands of Andy Bloch. He took home $26,813 for his finish.
Bloch: / /
Vinh: / /
Vinh completed the bet on third and Bloch raised. Vinh called and then called a bet from Bloch on fourth. On fifth street, Bloch bet and Vinh raised. Bloch paused.
"How much do you have behind?" Bloch asked Vinh.
Vinh spread his hands so Bloch could see and said, "Send me home, I'm ready to go home." He had 51,000 behind.
Bloch took another minute to think, then fired back with a reraise. Vinh reraised and Bloch just called. On sixth street, Vinh picked up a pair of sevens and bet his last 11,000. Bloch called.
"I have three pair," said Vinh as he showed the from the hole. Bloch held the in the hole.
On seventh street, Bloch pulled the and that gave him aces and kings. Vinh now needed to improve to stay alive with a queen, jack or seven. He pulled the , though, and was eliminated in fifth place.
We missed the exact action, but according to a fellow reporter, Williams got the remainder of his stack in the middle with a gut-shot straight draw on fifth street. Stephen Su, who had him at risk, had two pair, and both players bricked on sixth. On seventh, Su flipped his card over immediately, and filled up. Williams was drawing dead, and threw his hands in the air.
Williams was unable to ship his second bracelet today, but banks $36,470 for his efforts.
When you're playing solid and running well there's often no match for you at the poker table. That was the story in Andy Bloch's case as he put on an extremely solid performance in this event and there wasn't much Barry Greenstein could do about it, especially after losing the recent big hand.
The final hand began with Greenstein bringing in and Bloch completing. Greenstein called and then called Bloch's bet on fourth street. On fifth street, all of the money went in as the two bet and raised back and forth. Greenstein turned over an eight-high straight and Bloch two pair with queens and tens.
Bloch: / /
Greenstein: / /
Bloch picked up the on sixth street to give him a gutshot to Broadway and some more outs. Greenstein just needed to dodge a king, queen or a ten to stay alive and double up.
Bloch turned over his seventh street card and revealed the to give himself Broadway. Now drawing dead, Greenstein's last card was the and he was eliminated in second place.
Greenstein earned $78,038 for his runner-up finish while Bloch has lifted King Kong off his back.
He finally did it! Andy Bloch has been playing at the World Series of Poker for more than a quarter of a century, and after reaching nine WSOP final tables and finishing runner-up twice, he is finally the owner of a shiny gold bracelet.
The day began with David Williams in the lead and three players with less than six big bets. Joseph Ranciato, Scott Abrams and Caroline Hermesh exited quickly, while Huu Vinh — who started the day with just two big bets — battled back into contention. Vinh won a very large pot during the first level of play where he got four streets of value off of two players, which allowed him to sit back and climb the money ladder.
Lee Goldman was the next victim. He made a pair of queens on fifth, but Williams had made two pair on fifth, and grabbed the lead. Williams was dealt a third five on sixth street, giving him a full house and Goldman bricked.
At that point, Williams had a commanding chip lead, and it was almost his tournament to lose. He made a full house against Bloch a few hands later and reached his peak chip count of 650,000. Williams started to slip however, and a level after taking a commanding chip lead, he only had 191,000 chips.
Vinh, who had been treading water since Goldman’s elimination, eventually bowed out with three pair against Bloch’s aces up and Williams, who tried to make a comeback, fell short as well. Stephen Su sent him to the rail, and it was his turn to take the chip lead.
Su, Greenstein and Bloch traded pots for the better part of two levels, until Bloch put the pedal to the metal. The former MIT black jack player soared to over 900,000 chips and eliminated Su. Su was ahead in his final hand with a pair of sevens on fifth street, but Bloch pulled a second ten, making a pair of tens and held.
Bloch entered heads-up play with nearly a four-to-one chip lead and eventually extended it to ten-to-one. On the final hand, Bloch had buried queens and made queens and tens on fifth street. Greenstein had made an eight-high straight, though, and was in prime position to double up. The on sixth and the on seventh gave Bloch Broadway, however, and he was finally a champion.
After winning, he said to himself, “Now nobody is going to talk about me." Lynn Gilmartin had a chat with him table side after his win:
Final Table Payouts
1
Andy Bloch
$126,363
2
Barry Greenstein
$78,038
3
Stephen Su
$50,332
4
David Williams
$36,470
5
Huu Vinh
$26,813
6
Lee Goldman
$20,001
7
Caroline Hermesh
$15,135
8
Scott Abrams
$11,618
9
Joseph Ranciato
$9,046
The next time you’re making a list of great players who have yet to win a bracelet, make sure you omit Mr. Andy Bloch. It took him more than 26 years, but today’s win was better late than never.