Brian Green Wins First Bracelet Of 2019 World Series Of Poker

Brian Green won the first bracelet of the 2019 World Series of Poker by taking down the $10,000 no-limit hold’em super turbo bounty event on Thursday afternoon.

The Texas native defeated a field of 204 entries, most of which were top pros. He earned $345,669 along with $3,000 for every knockout he scored, and took home his first career bracelet. In addition to the bracelet and the money, Green was also awarded 900 Card Player Player of the Year points.

This was his first final table and title of 2019. He now sits in 182nd place in the POY race sponsored by Global Poker.

Green is a high-stakes veteran with now over $3.3 million in live tournament earnings, but before Thursday, all he had to show at the WSOP were close calls. He had a runner-up finish in a $5,000 limit hold’em event in 2002, a third-place finish in that same event in 2001, and a fifth-place finish in the 2016 High Roller for One Drop, earning over $1.1 million.

“To finally in one kind of gets the monkey off my back,” Green told WSOP reporters after his win. “Now I can play poker and not really have that on my mind.”

Green came into the final day with the shortest stack of the final six. He held just nine big blinds compared to chip leader Asher Conniff’s 53. On just the fourth hand of the final table, Green was all in with KJ against Loren Klein’s 43 and doubled up. It was off to the races from there.

About an orbit later, Daniel Negreanu hit the rail and was the first casualty of the final day. The six-time bracelet winner fell shy of his seventh when his A10 fell to Klein’s QJ. A queen on the turn sent Negreanu home in sixth place for $52,099.

Ping Liu finished in fifth 10 hands later. He moved all in from the small blind and was called by Klein the big blind. Liu was dominated with his J10 against Klein’s A10, but a KQ9 gave Liu a big advantage in the hand.

The J came on the turn, however, and Klein won the hand with Broadway to send Liu home with $71,614 for fifth.

Throughout the early stages of the final day’s action, Conniff extended his chip lead, but after Green won a flip with JJ against Klein’s AQ to double up, he took the chip lead away for good.

After doubling up Green, Klein was the short stack and finished in fourth when his A9 couldn’t best Conniff’s AQ. Klein was just a few spots shy of winning his fourth bracelet in as many years and earned $100,775.

Green eliminated Conniff on the very next hand when they were all in preflop with Conniff’s A9 up against Green’s KQ. A king came on the flop and Conniff was out in third for $145,097.

Green took a better than 2:1 chip advantage into heads-up play against 24-year-old high roller regular Ali Imsirovic. The two are good friends and were joking throughout the day about a possible heads-up battle.

“We hang out a lot,” Green told reporters about his relationship with Imsirovic. “So we were joking a lot that I didn’t have a chance because he runs so great. I actually kind of believed it a little bit. In the end, I got lucky. I think either one of us was going to be happy if the other had won.”

Green certainly did get lucky. On the final hand, Green’s chip lead was not nearly as significant as when the match started and Imsirovic was all in with KK against Green’s A9.

The flop brought a nine and the river brought another one to eliminate Imsirovic in second.

The final table was reached on Wednesday night, but the tournament played down to the final six, who came back on Thursday to play to a winner.

Final Table Results:

For more coverage from the summer series, check out the 2019 WSOP landing page, complete with a full schedule, results, news, player interviews, and event recaps.

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