The final day of Event #46: $800 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack has been played to its conclusion. Day 2 started with 120 players that returned to action from a 2,053-entry field and after eight hours of play, it was Chad Norton who came out victorious to win his first WSOP bracelet, along with $214,830 in his first-ever WSOP event.
"This is surreal," Norton stated after his win. "It was a quick tournament with a lot of ups and downs like always but it was a lot of fun and I'm just really grateful to come out with the win."
The win wasn't an easy one for Norton, as he had an uphill battle coming into the final day with just over ten big blinds.
"In one of the final hands of Day 1 I lost pocket kings against ace-queen for 1.2 million," Norton continued, "It would have been nice coming into today with a nice chip stack but instead I came in with 380k and fought my way back somehow."
Norton, an ex-cars salesman turned online poker player hasn't played many live tournaments and told PokerNews that this in fact was his first-ever live WSOP tournament.
"To be honest I've only played in one WPT event and this was my first ever live WSOP tournament," said Norton. "I play mostly online but I came in on such a downswing so to be able to come in and win my first ever WSOP tournament feels amazing."
Event #46 Final Table Payouts
Place
Player
Country
Prize Money
1
Chad Norton
United States
$214,830
2
Steve Lemma
United States
$132,802
3
Andres Jeckeln
Argentina
$98,269
4
Narimaan Ahmadi
United States
$73,271
5
Ivan Uzunov
Bulgaria
$55,279
6
Kevin Wang
United States
$42,031
7
Jordyn Miller
United States
$32,254
8
William Blais
Canada
$24,982
9
Joshua Herman
Canada
$19,533
Day 2 Action
There were 120 players that returned to the felt for the final day with each of them looking to walk away a WSOP bracelet winner. With each of them already having $1,956 locked up, players started tossing their chips into the middle in hopes of amassing a nice lead.
That was the case for some but not all as a hectic start of play all-in fest began and the march to the final table was on. Among those to fall along the way, albeit with a payday, were Marc Masino (10th - $15,417), Day 1 chip leader Alejandro Andión (36th - $5,463), two-time WSOP bracelet winners Eric Baldwin (62nd - $3,305) & James Moore (70th - $2,853), and all-time WSOPC ring winner Maurice Hawkins (115th - $1,956).
Norton's Hot Final Table Run
Norton started the unofficial final table third in chips but it only took one hand for him to climb to the top after he turned a full house to double through Kevin Wang.
From there Norton continued to add to his chip lead after he eliminated Joshua Herman with ace-high in ninth place and then coolered William Blais, who was second in chips, in an aces-versus-kings hand to take a commanding chip lead.
Norton took a break from tossing players from the final table for a brief moment after Jordyn Miller's made hand of tens was rivered by Andres Jeckeln's ace-eight offsuit.
Shortly after Miller's departure, Norton climbed back aboard the elimination train to knockout Wang holding a dominating ace, and then he finished off Narimaan Ahmadi in a similar fashion.
From there, Norton held over half of the chips in play with only three players remaining, and it quickly got to heads-up after Jeckeln departed in third place after failing to win a race against Steve Lemma.
Norton held a 3:1 chip lead to start the heads-up battle, and it didn't take long for Lemma to take his exit after his queen-nine off came up short against the dead man's hand of Norton.
