Greg Mueller Wins His Third World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet

Greg Mueller has won the 2019 World Series of Poker $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship, defeating a field of 172 entries to secure his third gold bracelet and the $425,347 top prize. This win came 10 years after the 48-year-old Canadian poker pro secured his first two WSOP titles back at the 2009 series.

“I just felt like, ‘Do I still have it? Has the game passed me by?’ That type of thing,” admitted Mueller after coming out on top. He hadn’t been playing as many tournaments recently, but recommitted himself to fitness ahead of this year’s WSOP. “I put a lot of effort into not so much studying the game, but into my own physical and mental state. I got really fit and was able to endure the hours and do the right things.”

“I didn’t know it would come this quick and I didn’t know I would win the bracelet,” said Mueller. “It feels amazing.”

The former professional hockey player turned poker pro now has more than $3.3 million in career live tournament earnings, with the majority of those cashes coming at the series.

Mueller entered the final day of this event tied for fourth place with seven players remaining. With that said, he had only eight big bets in his stack, while Italian poker pro Dario Sammartino sat with 42.

Ultra-short stack Matthew Gonzales was the first to hit the rail. He managed to get his final few chips in with a sterling starting hand in Omaha eight-or-better, picking up the AKQ2. Mikhail Semin ended up making trips to win the high while Craig Chait made a better low on a A656J run out. Those two players chopped up the pot, while Gonzales was sent home in seventh place with $54,043.

Semin lost a showdown between himself and the other shortest remaining player in Chait. In seven card stud, Semin got his last chips in with split jacks up against the (K3) A of Chait. Semin failed to improve any further, While Chait made aces on sixth street to eliminate Semin in sixth place ( $71,505).

Chait was able to hand on for quite a while, but he eventually found his end in stud. He was all-in with a hidden A-K versus the split pair of fours of Colombian bracelet winner Daniel Ospina. Neither player bettered their hands with the next four cards and Chait was knocked out in fifth place ($96,378).

Just nine days after securing his third bracelet, Scott Clements was back at another big WSOP final table. His run in the event came to an end in limit hold’em. He got his last big bet in preflop with Q10 out of the small blind. He was up against the Q8 of Mueller and the K5 of Sammartino. The 997A3board saw Sammartino’s king high lock up the pot, sending Clements home with $132,288 for fourth place.

It took more than three and a half hours for the next elimination to take place. During that time Mueller battled his way from the shortest stack into the lead. At his low point, he got his final few bets in with bottom pair against the two overcards and a double gutshot straight draw held by Sammartino. The river gave Mueller the double, and from there he was able to steadily rebuild. Sammartino was ultimately the next to be eliminated. He got all-in with split sixes in stud eight-or-better and found himself behind the split nines of Mueller. Sixth street gave Mueller trip nines and left Sammartino drawing dead. He earned $184,854 as the third-place finisher.

Mueller took a 6-to-1 chip lead into heads-up play with Ospina. The two clashed in another big hand of stud eight-or-better, that ended upwith Ospina getting his chips in on sixth street with the hands sitting as follows:

Mueller: (KQ) Q823
Ospina: (Q8) 8210K

Mueller hit the Aon seventh street to make an unbeatable flush. Ospina’s 3 was a mere formality. He took home $262,882 as the runner-up.

In addition to the title and the money, Mueller also earned 780 Card Player Player of the Year points. It was his first POY-qualified score of the year. He now sits in 311th place in the 2019 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

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

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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