Byron Kaverman Wins 2015 WSOP $10,000 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em Championship

Poker connoisseurs know that Byron Kaverman has spent a few years now as one of the top dark-horse picks for major no-limit hold’em events. It seemed that for those in the know, it wasn’t whether the 29-year-old would win a bracelet but when he would, and for how much?

Today that question was answered when he topped a field of 259 players in the 2015 World Series of Poker $10,000 six-max no-limit hold’em championship, earning his first WSOP gold bracelet, the $657,351 first-place prize. The poker pro from Colombus, Ohio now has live tournament earnings of more than $4.9 million dollars, with 12 six-figure scores to his name.

In addition to the hardware and the money Kaverman also earned 1,020 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his seventh final table finish of 2015, including back-to-back wins in $25,000 buy-in high roller events at Aria in consecutive days. As a result of his numerous deep runs Kaverman has climbed into sixth place in the overall POY standings, with 2,780 total points and $1,608,839 in year-to-date earnings, with much of that coming from his win in this event.

“It was absolutely thrilling to win. This is one I was really motivated for,” said Kaverman after coming out on top. “It definitely has one of the toughest lineups
there is….I would rank this final table as definitely the toughest.”

Kaverman did indeed have a tough lineup to contend with at the business end of this tournament, including Mark Radoja (12th – $36,275), Chris Klodnicki (10th – $48,132), Olivier Busquet (8th – $65,125), Paul Volpe (6th – $89,934), Sam Greenwood (5th – $126,745), Thomas Muehloecker (4th – $182,448), and Fedor Holz (3rd – $268,463).

Kaverman’s final opponent was high stakes heads-up no-limit hold’em cash specialist Doug Polk, who won a bracelet himself last summer in a $1,000 turbo no-limit hold’em event. Polk also recently made the news when he participated in a heads-up match against a poker playing computer program designed by Carnegie Melon University professors and students. Polk and his fellow human participants won.

Despite the set up for a great battle, this heads-up match lasted only 10 hands, with Kaverman quickly putting Polk on the ropes when he made a straight on the third hand of their match up to take a huge 10-to-1 chip lead.

On the final hand Polk shoved from the button for just under 1 million in chips with blinds at 25,000 – 50,000 with a 5,000 ante with the QJ and Kaverman made the call with the A5.

The board ran out 107544 and Kaverman paired his five and held, sending Polk to the rail as the runner-up with $406,261.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2015 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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