Three days of competition brought a field of 1,168 entries to the final five of Event #62: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. But out of these five players, only one of them will be crowned as a WSOP champion today and win the gold bracelet that goes along with the top prize of $855,515.
Matthew Zambanini is the closest to the bracelet so far as he ended Day 3 as the chip leader with 20,775,000 chips, twice as much as Triple Crown winner Niall Farrell (10,475,000). In between them is Brandon Sheils, who’ll be back at the final table with 13,900,000.
Final Five Seating and Chip Counts
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big blinds
1
Brandon Sheils
United Kingdom
13,900,000
56
2
Matthew Zambanini
United States
20,775,000
83
3
Niall Farrell
United Kingdom
10,475,000
42
4
Adrien Delmas
France
8,475,000
34
5
Andjelko Andrejevic
United States
4,775,000
19
The two shortest stacks must not be forgotten as Adrien Delmas (8,475,000) and Andjelko Andrejevic (4,775,000) still have 20 big blinds or more that they will try to grow. Yet, they have already secured a minimum cash prize of $148,548.
Final Table Results/Remaining Payouts
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
-
-
$855,515
2
-
-
$570,284
3
-
-
$398,409
4
-
-
$282,471
5
-
-
$203,292
6
Marius Gierse
Austria
$148,548
Play is set to resume at 1 p.m. local time at Level 31 with blinds at 100,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante. Levels will be 60-minute long and will keep running until the winner lifts the WSOP gold bracelet.
Stay tuned to PokerNews to find out who the next champion and the next WSOP 5k 6-max champion will be!
The action folded around to Andjelko Andrejevic who limped in from the small blind. Brandon Sheils announced all in from the big blind and Andrejevic snap-called his stack of 5,350,000.
Andjelko Andrejevic: A♦K♣
Brandon Sheils: A♥8♦
The flop came 10♠8♠7♦ and it was some domination rotation as Sheils took the lead with a pair of eights. The 4♠ on the turn changed nothing but it was the K♠ on the river that gave Andrejevic a pair of kings and a double up.
Andjelko Andrejevic opened to 2,000,000 from the button. Brandon Sheils in the small blind three-bet all-in and Andrejevic called to be the player at risk for 4,425,000.
Andjelko Andrejevic: A♦3♣
Brandon Sheils: 10♦10♣
Andrejevic flopped top pair then hit trips on A♥8♣K♥A♣7♦ to secure a double up.
Adrien Delmas raised to 1,400,000 in the small blind and Andjelko Andrejevic reraised to 3,500,000 in the big blind. Delmas just called and the dealer fanned the flop of K♦2♣2♦.
Delmas checked to Andrejevic who continued with a bet of 900,000 and Delmas called. The J♥ landed on the turn and Delmas checked again. Andrejevic pushed all in for 4,850,000 and Delmas quickly called.
Andjelko Andrejevic: A♣K♠
Adrien Delmas: A♦J♦
Andrejevic had the best hand but Delmas had some outs with a pair and a flush draw. The river was the 10♣ and Andrejevic let out some emotion for the first time today as he doubled into the lead.
Brandon Sheils opened to 800,000 from the button. Niall Farrell in the big blind three-bet all-in and Sheils snap-called off his last 6,050,000.
Brandon Sheils: A♠K♣
Niall Farrell: A♥2♥
"We need a deuce," Farrell said before the flop of 5♥10♥2♦ gave him the deuce he needed. The 6♦6♥ runout completed the board. Sheils was slightly covered, so he was eliminated in fifth place for $203,292.
On the very first hand of heads-up action, Adrien Delmas limped in on the button and Andjelko Andrejevic raised to 2,200,000 in the big blind. Delmas responded by shoving all in for 24,500,000 and Andrejevic asked for a count. With the noise escalating around him, Andrejevic spent nearly two minutes in the tank before making the call.
Adrien Delmas: 5♠5♥
Andjelko Andrejevic: 7♠7♥
Andrejevic had the bigger of the two pocket pairs and had both of the suits covered which turned out to be key. The board ran out K♥6♥3♠10♥3♥ and Andrejevic made the best flush to eliminate Delmas in second place.
In what is deemed one of the hardest events to win on the summer schedule at the World Series of Poker, long-time poker pro Andjelko Andrejevic claimed his first gold bracelet in Event #62: $5,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold'em. Andrejevic came through a field of 1,168 entries, including a very brief heads-up match with Adrien Delmas, to reign victorious and pocket a healthy $855,515.
Coming into the day as the short stack, Andrejevic went on to win eight all-in showdowns throughout the final day, without dropping any along the way. He was known as the cockroach that wouldn't die at the final table, and eventually squashed the rest of his competition to return a long-awaited place in the winner's circle.
It had been almost a decade since Andrejevic captured a title and this will go down as the most memorable for the former Serbian. "It's something that every poker player dreams of. It's a breath of fresh air to finally be here."
It was a heart-stopping end to the tournament after what seemed like an extremely long and slow grind for the first few hours. Three eliminations in the final 20 minutes left Andrejevic in a whirlwind, gasping for air when it was all said and done. "I came in as the short stack and was just trying to hang on, won a couple of lucky all-ins. Three-handed, I turned up the aggression and made some hands. Heads-up was one hand, so it was great!"
Andrejevic already had other plans for his evening on his mind, with the rail encouraging him to hustle things along. "Ya, we're going to celebrate tonight. And then I'll be back to continue the rest of the series," Andrejevic continued in his interview with PokerNews. He will certainly be one to keep an eye on going forward into the later stages of the summer with hopes of making another deep run.
Andjelko Andrejevic
Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
Andjelko Andrejevic
United States
$855,515
2
Adrien Delmas
France
$570,284
3
Niall Farrell
United Kingdom
$398,409
4
Matthew Zambanini
United States
$282,471
5
Brandon Sheils
United Kingdom
$203,292
6
Marius Gierse
Austria
$148,548
Final Day Action
There were just five players who returned to the felt for the fourth and final day of this event, all with their sights set on WSOP glory. The stack sizes started out fairly deep with nobody in the danger zone in the early going. The action crawled along at a snail's pace with major pay jump implications and nobody wanted to make the slightest mistake.
The first all-in showdown came with Andrejevic at risk and it was the first of many double-ups for the American who consistently found himself digging out of a hole. On multiple occasions, Andrejevic had one foot out the door but managed to survive on the turn or river. At one point, he even managed to double up into the lead, but that didn't last as long he would have liked. Despite dropping back to the short stack, Andrejevic would eventually find himself at the top soon enough.
The first elimination came nearly three hours into the day when Brandon Sheils was actually favored to double up, but a painful flop versus Niall Farrell reduced his chances greatly. Sheils was unable to recover and became the first casualty of the day, bowing out in fifth place. The remaining four players passed chips around for the next hour but it was Matthew Zambanini who fell to the short stack.
Brandon Sheils
Coming back from the break, it didn't take long for Zambaninin to get his chips in the middle after flopping top pair. However, Andrejevic flopped trips and Zambanini couldn't find any help on the river. That was the start of an insane heater for Andrejevic, who went on to win nearly all of the remaining hands.
There was some brief talk of a chop amongst the final three players, but that was quickly put to a halt by the tournament director. Play continued on and Andrejevic continued to pick away at his opponents, mostly Farrell who lost consecutive hands. With the fan-favorite on the brink of elimination, his eight big blinds were no match for Delmas who had an ace in the big blind. Farrell was unable to connect on the runout and hit the rail in third place.
The stacks were close to even going into heads-up play but that proved irrelevant when all of the chips went into the middle on the very first hand. Both players were dealt a pocket pair, but it was Andrejevic who had the superior of the two, with both of the suits covered. Both players made a flush on the runout and it was Andrejevic who got to celebrate with his rail, while Delmas received an ovation from the French faithful.
That wraps up the PokerNews coverage for this event, but there is plenty more going on throughout the Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas, including the $50,000 Poker Players Championship that is now in full swing on Day 3.
