If you were looking to bet on someone to win Event 10: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em – Six Handed, you should have been checking to make sure Jeffrey Papola was in the field. Last year, Papola went heads-up for the bracelet not once in a 6-max event, but twice. While he took the consolation prize home in his first attempt, he walked out of the Rio after his second with a new piece of jewelry.
This event brought out 1,920 entries (including Papola) creating a prize pool of almost $2.6 million. This was a 3 day event, and players who made it just a bit into day two almost doubled their money. Only 15 players returned on the final day, all having locked up $20k and playing for the championship.
Who was surprised when, late in day 2, Papola began to make his presence known in the tourney? Not this guy. When chips were bagged for the night, Papola had more than anyone else in the room, one of two players over 1 million in chips.
Papola made a valiant run, but exited the Rio after busting out in third place. Eddie Blumenthal was left to battle Geffrey Klein. Blumenthal had the advantage of having 10x the chips of his opponent but could not put him away. In an Epic comeback Klein battled his way back to capture his first bracelet and $544,388.
The 42nd annual World Series of Poker officially begins today May 31, 2011 running through July 7 when the November Nine will be set to square off at the final table of the WSOP main event in November. This year’s series marks the most gold bracelet tournament events of any year in WSOP history, with 58 events in all. The grand prize for the 42nd annual WSOP main event is once again somewhere around $9 million.