Level 38
: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000, 1,000,000 ante
Picking up the action on the flop, Ibrahim Tarim on the button was involved in a hand with Jie Fu in the big blind. With the board reading 6♠3♣2♥ Fu led out for 3,000,000. Tarim responded by moving all in with Fu quickly calling with the covering stack.
Ibrahim Tarim: A♠3♥
Jie Fu: 8♣6♥
Fu was ahead with his better pair and held on the Q♣J♥ runout to send Tarim to the payout desk in ninth place.
Level 38
: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000, 1,000,000 ante
Shannon Boone moved all-in from early position for 6,750,000 and was reluctantly called by Jie Fu.
Shannon Boone: A♠9♠
Jie Fu: 3♥3♠
Fu had the slight lead going into the flop, but the J♦7♣A♦ flop would put Boone way out front. The 10♣ turn and A♣ river would give Boone the full double.
Level 38
: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000, 1,000,000 ante
David Hirst went all in from early position and was isolated by Matthew Thom two seats to his right.
David Hirst: A♥Q♣
Matthew Thom: A♦K♥
Hirst's railed was on their feet and shouting for a queen before the dealer could put out the, 7♠2♣5♥. the 9♥ didn't change it and their wishes came up empty when the 7♥ rolled off on the river.
Thom is now amongst the chip leaders with only seven left.
Level 38
: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000, 1,000,000 ante
Jie Fu opened to 2,575,000 from middle position and was called by Shannon Boone in the big blind.
Boone thought for some time following the 5♦3♦Q♦ flop before deciding to move all in. Fu did not immediately call but ended up committing chips to put Boone at risk.
Shannon Boone: K♦J♣
Jie Fu: 7♥7♠
Fu was ahead but Boone did have many outs. The 5♥ turn was a blank with the 7♣ river confirming Boone's exit in seventh place.
Level 39
: Blinds 600,000/1,200,000, 1,200,000 ante
Byambajav Bandi went all in for just over 4,000,000 and when it folded around to Muaaz Gani, he isolated it by going all in himself.
Byambajav Bandi: J♥9♠
Muaaz Gani: K♠J♦
The board ran out 2♣10♣6♦J♠, making both players top pair, but Bandi had kicker problems and only a nine could save him. The 4♦ brought his tremendous tournament run to an end and he was sent to the payouts.
Level 39
: Blinds 600,000/1,200,000, 1,200,000 ante
Jie Fu opened to 2,500,000 from under the gun before Muaaz Gani moved all in from the cutoff for around 9,000,000. Jay Lockett then called in the big blind with Fu getting out of the way.
Muaaz Gani: 4♥4♠
Jay Lockett: 6♥6♣
Gani was in bad shape and things only got worse after the 9♥6♠J♠ flop. The 8♣ turn confirmed Gani's exit in fifth place prior to the A♣ river.
Level 41
: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
Matthew Thom went all in and Jie Fu stood up and animatedly made the call. The blinds folded and Thom was at risk.
Matthew Thom: K♣J♠
Jie Fu: A♦10♦
Thom saw the bad news but his two live cards still had a decent chance. The K♦5♥7♥ flop pulled Thom ahead but Fu was tenaciously calling for an ace, but when the 10♠ turned, he added a ten or an ace to his chant. The poker gods obliged and a 10♣ peeled off the river, giving Fu trips to beat Thom's pair of kings.
Jay Lockett and Diego Acquila shook Thom's hand while Fu celebrated the river.
Level 41
: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
Diego Acquila moved all-in with the shortest stack at the table and was called by Jay Lockett in the big blind.
Diego Acquila: K♣2♦
Jay Lockett: A♣7♥
Acquila would need to catch up, which is what he did on the K♦5♠3♦, but the 4♦ turn would give additional outs to Lockett and one of those outs hit the river in the form of the 6♥, to make Lockett a straight and send Acquila home with a six-figure pay-day.
Level 41
: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
On a board reading J♥8♣10♦, Jie Fu was facing a bet of 5,000,000 from Jay Lockett. Fu did his signature move by standing up and declaring himself all in. After some time Lockett made the call and Fu saw some bad news.
Jie Fu: 9♣4♣
Jay Lockett: 10♥9♦
Both players had an open-ended straight draw, but Lockett had a pair to go with it. When the A♣ turned, Fu was rooting for a club to come, as it was his only chance to scoop. When the 10♠ hit the river, Lockett burst into celebration this time, knowing he had just locked up the gold bracelet.
Congratulations to Jie Fu who had a spectacular run in this massive field.
Level 41
: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000, 2,000,000 ante
Event #46: $500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout at the 2023 World Series of Poker at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas attracted an enormous field of 5,342 runners, all hoping to capture a WSOP gold bracelet.
The majority of those hopefuls fell by the wayside on Day 1, with just 241 advancing to the second and final day. On Day 2 after nearly 12-hours of play, Austin, Texas native Jay Lockett was the only one left standing, having defeated Jie Fu in a short lived heads-up match to claim the $262,526 first place prize and the honor of being able to call himself a bracelet winner.
Incredibly, this was Lockett's second ever live tournament cash, with his only other score a $1,900 prize for cashing in the $600 Deepstack event at the 2021 WSOP.
"This wasn't supposed to happen" an emotional Lockett said after the win. "I was dead money coming in... This is amazing. You have to run so hot. I had quads twice at the final table. I had ace-queen that ended up beating ace-king earlier" he continued. Although luck was certainly on his side, in the end Lockett made a number of plays to help him get over the edge and is a deserving winner.
Event #46: $500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout Final Table Results
Position
Name
Country
Prize
1
Jay Lockett
United States
$262,526
2
Jie Fu
United States
$162,207
3
Diego Acquila
Argentina
$121,085
4
Matthew Thom
United States
$91,066
5
Muaaz Gani
South Africa
$69,007
6
Byambajav Bandi
United States
$52,690
7
Shannon Boone
United States
$40,540
8
David Hirst
Australia
$31,433
9
Ibrahim Tarim
Turkey
$24,562
Coming into the day, the average stack depth was at a shallow 25 big blinds and only got shorter from there. As a result, action was fast and furious with the final table of nine set after only eight hours. Nicholas Ronalds was the unfortunate player to fall just shy of that mark after losing a classic race with queens against the big slick of Muaaz Gani.
Final Table Action
Ibrahim Tarim was a short stack for much of the latter stages of the day so it was not surprising to see him fall first at the final table when his pair of threes came up short against Fu's sixes.
Next to go was Australian David Hirst, who only entered the event after the airline he was traveling on lost his luggage. Unlike Steve O'Dwyer, it is likely he will not be too upset with those responsible for the misplaced items.
The last woman standing, Shannon Boone, fell in seventh place after getting it in on the flop with a flush draw against Fu's sevens but failing to connect.
Byambajav Bandi demonstrated a good deal of patience while making several pay jumps but did end up hitting the rail with his top pair outkicked by Gani.
It was Gani who was next to be sent to the payout desk when his fours were crushed by the sixes of Lockett. Not long after, Matthew Thom hit the showers in fourth place, his flopped top pair outdrawn by Fu, who at that point had started to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field.
Diego Acquila had quietly stuck around, avoiding big pots for the most part and as a result was able to lock up a six-figure score by making it to three-handed play. His luck did run out when a seemingly invincible Lockett went runner-runner to make a straight. That elimination setup a heads-up showdown between Lockett and Fu, with the former, courtesy of making quads against Fu a few hands earlier, entering with a 2:1 chip lead.
It did not take long for Lockett to prevail when Fu bricked on straight and flush draws against Lockett's pair. Although he will no doubt be disappointed at coming up just short, Fu does walk away with $156,773, not bad for a $500 investment.
Lockett, meanwhile, was left with a look of disbelief at his incredible accomplishment. Congratulations to Jay Lockett on winning Event #46: $500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout!.
Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews as its live reporting team continues to provide comprehensive coverage of all bracelet events at the 2023 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.