Daniel Idema Wins Event #39: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better ($184,590)
Seventeen players, out of the 558 who entered, emerged from Day 2 of Event #39, and Daniel Idema has outlasted the other 16 runners to claim the World Series of Poker gold bracelet and $184,590 in prize money. He finished off runner-up Joseph Hertzog after about 90 minutes of heads-up play (and a few shots) on the 301st hand of the final table. Idema had been down as low as four big bets in heads-up play.
A couple of notable names fell early in the day: Kristy Gazes in 17th and Layne Flack in 15th. The elimination of Poker Hall of Famer Linda Johnson in ninth set up the official final table.
There, four-time bracelet winner Artie Cobb, who won all of his titles in stud variants, was the first to hit the rail when Hertzog made a wheel. Well-known pros Mike Leah (fifth place) and Matt Vengrin (fourth place) fell a few hours later, and three-handed play commenced.
Once there, Raul Paez held more than half of the chips in play at one time, but Hertzog showed him a bluff on one of the most memorable hands of the tournament. Paez never seemed to recover, dropping out in third a bit later.
Idema claimed his second bracelet. His first win came in the $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship in 2011, when he claimed a $378,642 first prize.
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, and he was the runner-up.
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for a seventy-six low.
, and mucked it.
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), then ripped over his seventh card, the 
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for aces-up.
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for king-high.
for a pair of jacks. "Now we're playing poker."
, Leah raised with the 
