World Series of Poker Bracelets for Volpe and Shchmelev

Ben Volpe and Vladimir Shchmelev won the Event 45 and Event 46 of the World Series of Poker competition currently held in Las Vegas following tough battles in the large and talented entry fields. Among the 678 competitors who entered Event 45: $1,500 buy-in Ante-Only No-Limit Hold'em, Volpe had to face some serious top poker pros including Blair Hinkle and Chris Moorman. Even though his play had a certain amount of ups and downs, Ben Volpe in the end managed to outplay all his opponents including Paul Lieu in the heads up. Lieu started with an almost 1.2 million chip lead and at one point held even a 4 to 1 lead on Volpe. However, Volpe recovered and staged some good performance to claim the WSOP bracelet and the $201,399 main prize. Lieu finished the competition as runner up taking home $124,352. Final table payout included also: 3. Louis Boniface $80,839 4. Blair Hinkle $59,375 5. Chris Moorman $44,227 6. Horacio Chaves $33,371 7. Adam Stone $25,472 8. Daniel Johnson $19,660 9. Samuel Panzica $19,660 The WSOP Event 46 $3,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low 8-or-Better was entered by 435 players who generated a prize pool of $1,187,550, guaranteeing at least $5,617 to the last 45 players. Some of the pros who cashed but did not get to show their skills in the final table game were Mike Matusow, Gavin Smith, Amnon Filippi and Joe Hachem. The Russian player Alexey Makarov held the lead over the 17 players remaining on the last day, but ended the competition on the ninth place on the star-studded final table, which included also four former bracelet holders Vladimir Shchmelev (St. Petersburg, Russia, former bracelet holder), Mel Judah (London, the United Kingdom, former bracelet holder), Ashly Butler (New Orleans, LA), Brian Hacker (San Diego, CA), Miami John Cernuto (Las Vegas, NV, former bracelet holder), Tyler Nelson (Rockford, IL), Andrey Zaichenko (Moscow, Russia), Allyn Jaffrey Shulman (Las Vegas, NV, former bracelet holder) and Alexey Makarov (Moscow, Russia). The final table action was led by Ashly Butler who personally eliminated at least four opponents before he was defeated at third by 40-year-old Russian player Vladimir Shchmelev, famous in the Pokerstars online gaming circles as GVOZDIKA55. In the heads up, Shchmelev faced the doble-bracelet holder Brit pro Mel Judah, who had almost 3:1 chip disadvantage but did not give up and was able to draw equal with the Russian just prior to the final hand of the short heads up. Shchmelev's triumph brought him a second piece of WSOP jewellery and a main prize of $279,094, while Judah left as a second placing with the prize of $172,361.