Event #27: $400 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout
Day 1 Completed
Event #27: $400 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout
Day 1 Completed
On Sunday night, the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #27: $400 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout attracted 1,940 players and 2016 WSOP.com Online Player of the Year Ian “ApokerJoker2” Steinman capture the $110,556.72 first-place prize and his first gold bracelet.
“I really credit playing before playing online because I started playing when I was like 16 and I just got all those skills before I got my fundamentals,” Steinman said in the past regarding online poker. “Then I met some good players and I got some fundamentals because online, obviously, there are no live reads.”
A four-time WSOP Circuit ring winner, Steinman had $654,816 in WSOP-related series before the win. That included two prior final table appearances and 10 cashes in the online series. Steinman’s biggest live score was for $201,428 after he finished runner-up in the 2018 WPT Rolling Thunder (the same tournament in which he gained notoriety for folding a set of kings to Joe McKeehen).
After winning his last gold ring earlier this year, Steinman had told WSOP officials: “I’m just trying to play well honestly. I’d love to win a bracelet but that’s kind of a strange goal to have because I can’t control as much as I would like to. It is weird to have a goal if you can’t control the outcome … I want to win a bracelet, but I don’t want to make it my goal because I don’t want it to affect my mentality if I don’t do that.”
While he may not have explicitly set it as a goal, it doesn’t matter now as Steinman is a World Series of Poker bracelet winner!
Place | Player | Prize |
---|---|---|
1 | Ian “ApokerJoker2” Steinman | $110,557 |
2 | Satoshi "Godzillla" Tanaka | $68,373 |
3 | Mahyar “Psycho101” Ebrahimi | $49,796 |
4 | Nicholas “Got_The_Glow” Brancato | $36,526 |
5 | Cameron “crezident” Rezaie | $27,028 |
6 | Lokesh "lanku111" Garg | $20,254 |
7 | Alida “av1925” Veliu | $15,295 |
8 | Huiwen “HLM99” Liu | $11,663 |
9 | Cody “voltron12” Scherer | $9,009 |
After Mikey “Mn_2Die4” Wangh bubbled in 290th place, the in-the-money finishers included Event #26 champ Ethan “RampageP” Yau (217th - $698.40), Jamie “DanBilzerian” Kerstetter (163rd - $838.08), Blake “shampainpopn” Whittington (128th - $907.92), Marjorie “Cheetara” Davidovic (86th - $1,117.44), Mike “Mkspresident” Shin (30th - $2,793.60), Bryan “Pellepelle” Piccioli (14th - $5,517.36), and Shaun “ddtgg” Deeb (13th - $5,517.36).
Steinman, who was at his third final table of the online series, began the final nine with the chip lead, but it was Lokesh “lanku111” Garg scoring the first knockout when his king-queen held against the king-jack of Cody “voltron12” Scherer on a king-high flop.
Huiwen “HLM99” Liu exited in eighth place after losing with king-queen all in preflop against Cameron “crezident” Rezaie, who held with ace-nine suited. Following him out the door was Alida “av1925” Veliu, who got it all in preflop with pocket queens only to see them go down in flames against Mahyar “Psycho101” Ebrahimi's ace-six when an ace appeared on the flop.
Garg then lost a flip with pocket sevens to Nicholas “Got_The_Glow” Brancato’s ace-queen to bow out in sixth place, and Rezaie bowed out a short time later losing a race with ace-jack to Steinman’s two red nines.
Brancato took his leave after losing with ace-ten to Steiman’s ace-queen all in preflop, and then Steinman dispatched Ebrahimi in third place with ace-nine against ace-eight. That allowed Steinman to take a nearly 4:1 chip lead against Satoshi "Godzillla" Tanaka.
Tanaka put up a fight but wasn’t able to battle back, eventually falling in second place when his king-jack failed to get there against Steinman's ace-five.
Steinman's brother captured the moment of victory and shared it on social media:
@IanSteinman @WSOP @jeffplatt @NormanChad @espn @TuckonSports https://t.co/4BobrKAvYR
— Justin Steinman (@JTSteinman)
The next tournament on the schedule – Event #28: $1,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 6-Max– will take place at 3 p.m. PDT on Tuesday. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will once again be reporting all the action, so be sure to tune in then to see who captures the next 2020 WSOP bracelet!
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Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman raised all in for 26,974,082 and Satoshi "Godzillla" Tanaka called off his 11,700,948 stack.
Satoshi "Godzillla" Tanaka:
Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman:
Tanaka was behind holding live cards but couldn't finds a pair on the runout ending his tournament in second place.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman
|
38,800,000
12,235,948
|
12,235,948 |
Satoshi "Godzillla" Tanaka | Busted |
Level: 45
Blinds: 250,000/500,000
Ante: 62,500
Mahyar “Psycho101” Ebrahimi moved all in for 5,351,012 and Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman three-bet to 10,302,024 from the small blind. Satoshi "Godzillla" Tanaka folded from the big and the hands were turned up.
Mahyar “Psycho101” Ebrahimi:
Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman:
Steinman had the better ace and things looked good for him on the flop. The turn gave Ebrahimi a heart flush draw, but it didn't come in as the bricked on the river.
Steinman won the pot and took a solid chip lead into heads-up play.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman
|
30,900,000
3,797,374
|
3,797,374 |
Satoshi "Godzillla" Tanaka |
7,800,000
-1,296,362
|
-1,296,362 |
Mahyar “Psycho101” Ebrahimi
|
Busted |
Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman raised to 800,000 under the gun and then called Nicholas "Got_The_Glow" Brancato's 3,351,882 three-bet jam from the button.
Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman:
Nicholas "Got_The_Glow" Brancato:
Brancato was dominated and nothing changed after the flop.
The turn gave both players a broadway draw but the completed the board on the river ending Brancato's tournament in fourth place.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman
|
27,102,626
4,901,882
|
4,901,882 |
Nicholas "Got_The_Glow" Brancato | Busted |
Level: 44
Blinds: 200,000/400,000
Ante: 50,000
Cameron “crezident” Rezaie raised to 640,000 from the cutoff and then called off their 4,702,420 stack after Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman three-bet jammed for 12,530,824 from the small blind.
Cameron “crezident” Rezaie:
Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman:
It was a classic race with Rezaie holding two overs but he couldn't find a pair with the runout ending his tournament in fifth place.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman
|
17,753,244
6,022,420
|
6,022,420 |
Cameron “crezident” Rezaie
|
Busted |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mahyar “Psycho101” Ebrahimi
|
12,151,509
35,435
|
35,435 |
Ian "apokerjoker2" Steinman
|
11,730,824
1,560,000
|
1,560,000 |
Satoshi "Godzillla" Tanaka | 5,453,181 | |
Nicholas "Got_The_Glow" Brancato |
5,082,066
640,000
|
640,000 |
Cameron “crezident” Rezaie
|
4,382,420
-1,360,000
|
-1,360,000 |
Level: 43
Blinds: 160,000/320,000
Ante: 40,000