Stephen Chidwick Wins His First World Series of Poker Gold Bracelet

Stephen Chidwick was recently voted the best poker player in the world right by a group of over 60 of his peers in the high-stakes tournament scene. Despite having accumulated over $23 million in career tournament earnings heading into the 2019 World Series of Poker, the Chidwick had yet to win his title at the series. He had come close many times, notching 13 WSOP final-table finishes over his career.

Now, the 30-year-old from Deal, England can finally remove his name from the dreaded ‘best without a bracelet’ list. Chidwick overcame a field of 278 entries to win the 2019 WSOP $25,000 pot-limit Omaha high roller, securing his first gold bracelet and the massive top prize of $1,618,417.

After years of grinding every tournament he could play during the summer, Chidwick skipped much of the first half of the WSOP following the birth of his first child in the spring. He managed to emerge victorious with the title in the first event he played at this year’s series.

“It’s super ironic. Usually, I play every single tournament. Usually, I play a final table, bust and then register a $1,500 Stud immediately. Just like, play everything. I come in here halfway through, haven’t played any of the others and then just win the first one I play. Pretty funny,” said Chidwick after coming out on top. “It means a lot. It feels great. It’s obviously a good one to win it in. I’m in shock a little bit.”

In addition to the bracelet and the money, Chidwick was also awarded 1,512 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. It was his third title and ninth final-table finish of the year. As a result, he has climbed into third place in the 2019 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

Chidwick entered the final table as the chip leader with seven players remaining in this event. James Chen began with the third shortest stack, but got off to a great start by eliminating eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel in sixth place ($264,186). He then ran a multi-street bluff against Robert Mizrachi to climb even further up the leaderboard.

Chidwick regained control of the table by eliminating recent $10,000 short deck champion Alex Epstein in fifth place ($359,320). Epstein got his last chips in with the nut spade flush draw against Chidwick’s pair of aces and nut diamond flush draw. Chidwick’s pair ended up being enough to secure the pot and eliminate Epstein.

Four-time bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi was the next to hit the rail. He got his last chips in preflop with AQQ3 and was called by Chidwick, Chen and Matthew Gonzales. The flop came down A22 and the three players in the side pot checked. The J saw Chidwick bet 600,000 and Gonzales folded. Chen called and the 3 completed the board. Chidwick bet 1,000,000 and Chen folded. Mizrachi revealed his queens, but his hand was second best to Chidiwck’s KQJ5. With that, Mizrachi was knocked out in fourth place, earning $497,112 for his latest deep run at the WSOP.

Chidwick kept his knockout streak alive by busting Matthew Gonzales in third place. The two got all the chips in on a K74 flop, with Gonzales holding 9654 for a pair, flush draw and straight draw. Chidwick held K852 for top pair, a gutshot and backdoor spades. The turn was the J and the river the Q, completing Chidiwck’s backdoor flush draw to eliminate Gonzales in third ($699,364).

Chidwick took 25,300,000 into heads-up play against James Chen, who sat with 16,400,000. Chidwick extended his lead a bit before winning a massive hand with top set of aces to take a dominant advantage. Shortly after that Chen got all-in on a K76 flop. Chidwick checked and Chen bet 800,000. Chidwick check-raised all-in and Chen called with the AQ88. He was in rough shape against the KQ76 of Chidwick, The 10 turn and 2 river were no help, and Chen was sent to the rail in second place. He earned $1,000,253 as the runner-up finisher.

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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