Lawrence Berg Wins 2016 World Series of Poker $1,500 Dealer's Choice Event

A total of 389 players turned out for the 2016 World Series of Poker $1,500 dealer’s choice six-max event, a tournament that allowed the player on the button to choose from 19 variants of poker, from no-limit hold’em and the H.O.R.S.E. games to more exotic options like badacey, badeucey and old fashioned five card draw. In the end Lawrence Berg emerged victorious, defeating a tough final table to capture his first gold bracelet and the $125,466 first-place prize.

“I called badeucy and badugi quite a lot and also Big O,” Berg told WSOP reporters afterwards in regards to his approach to this unique format. “I didn’t really like limit hold’em or no-limit hold’em.”

The 38-year-old poker pro came into the final day of the event as the chip leader with nine players remaining. Among those still in contention were a trio of WSOP bracelet winners in Randy Ohel (8th – $11,454), Paul Volpe (4th – $33,393) and Andrew Brown (3rd – $50,250). Four handed play made up the bulk of the final table, but eventually Berg was able to win a number of key pots, eliminating Volpe and Brown to set up a brief heads-up showdown against Yueqi Zhu.

The final hands played out with Omaha eight-or-better as the selected game. In the end Zhu was down to his last big blind and got it in preflop with the 9742 against the 10762 of Berg. The board ran out AQ485 giving Berg the eight-high straight and a 6-5-4-2-A low for the scoop. With that Zhu was sent to the rail as the runner up while Berg locked up the biggest win of his poker career.

In addition to the bracelet and the money Berg also earned 600 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year, so he is not quite yet in contention for the award, but fourth place finisher Paul Volpe earned 300 points at his second final table of the year, climbing to 33rd place in the standings as a result. Volpe had previously won the $2,500 no-limit hold’em main event at the Borgata Spring Poker Open for $356,255 and 1,260 POY points.

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

Winner photo courtesy of WSOP / Melissa Haereiti.

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2016 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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