Daniel Sepiol clinched his first WSOP bracelet in style in Event #23: $1,500 Shootout No Limit Hold'em after defying the odds and battling back from a colossal chip disadvantage during heads-up play to take home the $305,849 first prize.
Sepiol overcame Robert Natividad heads-up which saw the Filipino player collect $203,889 for his runner-up finish — a career-best score.
A total of 1,534 players entered the tournament which generated a prize pool of $2,047,890.
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2024 WSOP Event #23: $1,500 Shootout No Limit Hold'em Final Table Results
Place
Name
Country
Payout
1
Daniel Sepiol
United States
$305,849
2
Robert Natividad
Philippines
$203,889
3
James Davidson
United States
$148,196
4
Jeremy Ausmus
United States
$109,071
5
Daniel Strelitz
United States
$81,298
6
Richard Dixon
United States
$61,380
7
Sean Ragozzini
United States
$46,948
8
Scott Ball
United States
$36,385
9
Aaron Pinson
United States
$28,577
Winner's Reaction
"It feels amazing man," said Sepiol. "I've been chasing a bracelet for years now, it feels great."
Sepiol was asked what was going through his head when he was heads-up with around a seventeen-to-one chip disadvantage.
"It doesn't feel good, especially when you just bluffed off your entire stack but I kind of played my stack that was in front of me and just tried to make the best decisions,"
"Too much poker to celebrate. I'll play the $25k tomorrow, that's about it,"
"My first two [tables] both were smooth and I ran good. I had a big chip stack when we were short-handed and it was kind of cruise," said Sepiol in response to how his first two tables went in the Shootout Event.
Sepiol was then asked how he was going to celebrate.
"Too much poker to celebrate. I'll play the $25k tomorrow, that's about it," replied Sepiol, who couldn't stop smiling throughout the interview.
Final Day's Action
When the third and final day got underway, sixteen players were in contention after winning their table on Day 2. They included former bracelet winners such as Darius Samual, Scott Ball, Jeremy Ausmus, Daniel Strelitz, and Vitor Dzivielevski. The final sixteen players would no longer need to win their table to advance as Day 3 was played out in traditional tournament style.
Alexander Farahi, Dzivielevski, Matthew Rosen, Brad Albrinck, Elia Ahmadian, and Kyriakos Papadopoulos were all eliminated in the opening levels before Samual became the final table bubble boy after running his pocket kings into Natividad's pocket aces, with the eventual runner-up rivering quads which sealed Samual's fate.
Natividad picked up pocket aces again and eliminated Aaron Pinson in ninth, and the elimination train continued for Natividad as he sent Ball to the rail in eighth.
Sean Ragozzini had been short-stacked for most of the final table and got his chips in the middle holding ace-five and was put at risk by Ausmus who held queen-eight. Ausmus improved on each street and ended the hand with a full house which eliminated Ragozzini in seventh for $46,948.
Richard Dixon had laddered up the payouts but couldn't get anything going and eventually found himself on the rail after getting rivered by Strelitz. Dixon had shoved with ace-seven and been called by the jack-eight of Strelitz. The runout looked good for Dixon until an eight on the river ended his run in sixth for a payday of $61,380.
It was Strelitz who fell next after he ran his pocket jacks into the pocket queens of the eventual champion Sepiol, which left the former bracelet winner out in fifth for a payday of $81,298. Moments later, only three players were remaining as Ausmus was eliminated at the hands of Sepiol and collected $109,071 for fourth.
James Davidson was the short stack entering three-handed play and did double up to give himself a foothold in the tournament but eventually was eliminated by Natividad after running ace-ten into the runner-up's ace-queen. A great run from Davidson that saw him bank $148,196 for third.
When heads-up play began, Natividad held an over two-to-one chip advantage but soon extended that after he picked off Sepiol's bluff with third pair. It was at this point that Sepiol found himself at a seventeen-to-one chip disadvantage and it seemed certain the title belonged to Natividad.
Natividad was one card away from clinching his first bracelet but a devastating river card kept Sepiol alive and swung the pendulum in the opposite direction.
The pair would exchange pots back and forth until Sepiol finally gained the chip lead after some intense heads-up action.
In the final hand of the night, Natividad five-bet shoved the flop with ace-nine as a bluff, and Sepiol called holding queen-ten for top pair. The board ran out clean for Sepiol which meant Natividad had to settle for second.
A stunning heads-up performance from Sepiol who defied the odds and came back from a huge chip deficit to land his first-ever bracelet.
