New WSOP Events Get Their Winners!

More events finished this week in the 2013 World Series of Poker where four new winners scooped victor's jewelry for their accomplishments. One of these is Victoria, British Colombia restaurant owner Calen McNeil, who bested a field of 1,013 players in the $1,500 buy-in Omaha Hi-Low event (Event 20) to earn $277.274. He easily made it to a final table where he faced pros like John Monette and Todd Brunson, Can Kim Hua, Joe Ford, Tony Ma, Stephen Chidwick, Won Goag and Dao Bac, while the heads-up brought much excitement as McNeil and Can Kim Hua battled for the victory. In the end, McNeil eliminated his opponent and sent him home with a runner-up prize of $171,577. Another significant win was scored in event 21, a $3,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed competition where 22-year-old German poker pro Martin Finger achieved one of his biggest career goals - winning a WSOP bracelet. He didn't do just that, he earned $506,764 at the same outplaying the field of 807 entrants, including top pros such as Eric Froehlich (69th), Allen Cunningham, Brock Parker, Dan Kelly (who recorded another cash), Antonio Esfandiari, Erik Seidel and Nick Schulman. At the final table, he was seated with Matt Stout, Matt Berkey, David Pham, Nikolai Sears and Andrew Dean, while the grand finale in the heads-up was set between Finger and Matt Stout. As exciting as it was, Finger managed to defeat his final opponent and leave him with the second-placing paycheck to$313,370. The following event, a $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha competition, saw Josh Pollock (29) win the event after an intense heads up against Noah Schwartz, who was holding a 3–to-1 chip lead, but in the end ended up with the runner-up prize of $172,931. The impressive final table that preceded the grand finale included James Parks, Shawn Silber, Eric Shanks, KT Parks, Eddie Blumenthal, David Greene and Brandon Crawford. Finally, in Event 23: $2,500 buy-in Seven-Card Stud, poker pro David Chiu claimed his fifth WSOP winner's bracelet, besting a field of 245 hopefuls which included WSOP bracelet holders and popular pros such as Stu Ungar, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, Scotty Nguyen, and Jeff Lisandro. This is Chiu's fifth bracelet, won after seven years. However, to win it, he had to defeat some formidable competition, especially in the final table which comprised Mike Mizrachi, Freddie Ellis and Frank Kassela, along with Scott Seiver (who holds a WSOP bracelet), Gary Benson, Matthew Ashton and Adam Friedman. The heads-up resulted in a clash between Seiver and Chiu, but it was the latter's significant chip lead that allowed him to get his hands on the first prize of $145,520, leaving Seiver with the runner-up paycheck to $89,980.