It was a very short final day in Event #72: $1,000 Mini Main Event at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. After just two hours of play, Japan's Daisuke Ogita outlasted a massive field of 12,560 entries, which generated a total prize pool of $11,052,800.
He captured the coveted World Series of Poker gold bracelet and the $1,000,000 top prize, the largest score of his poker career.
In a heads-up match that lasted only a few hands, Ogita defeated Canada's Jaehwa Son, who also recorded the biggest cash of his career with a $625,000 payday. Rounding out the podium was Jeffrey Evans, who earned $475,000 for his third-place finish.
Event #72: $1,000 Mini Main Event Final Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
Daisuke Ogita
Japan
$1,000,000
2
Jaehwa Son
Canada
$625,000
3
Jeffrey Evans
United States
$475,000
4
Amin Mostafavi
United States
$360,000
5
Richard Harris
United Kingdom
$275,000
6
Jaime Haletky
United States
$210,000
7
Ohad Enzel
United States
$165,000
8
Akira Ide
Japan
$130,000
9
Yunye Lu
China
$100,000
Despite the massive field that surpassed last year's results, Ogita had claimed that he had kept calm throughout the process to make it to the final table.
He continued to have this kind of attitude, when he returned for the final day, coming fourth in chips. With the composure required to make good decisions, he wasted little time making his presence felt.
Richard Harris
Strategically choosing his spots, he repeatedly opened from under the gun into Richard Harris's big blind. After seeing several such raises, Harris finally decided to push back, only to discover that Ogita had been holding legitimate hands all along.
The pot gave Ogita a significant boost and the bullets he needed to make a serious run at the title. He continued to build momentum when he picked off a bluff from Evans, who was caught trying to apply pressure with only queen-high.
The brief final table featured two dramatic double-elimination hands. The first saw Jaime Haletky and Ohad Enzelhit the rail in sixth and seventh place, respectively.
Shortly afterward, another hand resulted in the eliminations of Richard Harris in fifth place and Amin Mostafavi in fourth.
By staying out of those massive confrontations, Ogita quickly climbed the leaderboard and found himself among the final three players. From there, the path became much smoother, as he soon eliminated Evans to set up the brief heads-up duel that ultimately secured him the bracelet.
The heads-up battle was fast, with the chips changing hands quickly. In one crucial hand, Son fell short of forcing a fold from Ogita with an overbet. But Ogita unfazed pushed back. Soon after, the match came to an end when Son's king-jack failed to improve against Ogita's ace-ten, securing the victory and the bracelet for the Japanese champion.
When asked about his victory, Ogita said he was thrilled to have won the tournament. He explained that he had left his family in Japan for an entire month to travel to Las Vegas and compete at the WSOP, making the victory even more meaningful. According to Ogita, he felt he had to win for his family after spending so much time away from them.
Daisuke Ogita
Now that he has captured the title, the newly crowned champion plans to celebrate in fitting fashion. Ogita said "Alcohol. I love alcohol" to savor the biggest accomplishment of his poker career.
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