WSOP: Matt "mattg1983" Graham Wins Event No. 53Graham Defeats Jean Reobert-Bellande to Win a Gold Bracelet |
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He may not have been on the CBS reality show like his heads-up opponent was, but Matt Graham is a genuine “Survivor” at the poker table. And now he has the gold to prove it. Graham was one of 823 players who sat down to play in event no. 53, the $1,500 limit hold’em shootout. The tournament pace was slow, and after more than 17 grueling hours of play on the final day, Graham claimed his first World Series of Poker bracelet and the $278,180 first-place prize after coming back from a large chip deficit to beat Jean-Robert Bellande heads up.
Here are the highlights from the final table:
Note: All players began at the final table with 300,000.
FInal-Table Contestants:
Andrew Prock
Brandon Wong
Danny Wong
Jean-Robert Bellande
Joe De Niro
John Kranyak
Mike Kachan
Spencer Lawrence
Matt Graham
Kachan First To Go, Out in Ninth Place ($7,526)
Michael Kachan put in a raise preflop and was called by Brandon Wong, Danny Wong, Jean-Robert Bellande and Spencer Lawrence. The flop brought A
7
6 and Danny Wong led out. Lawrence got out of the way, and Kachan raised all in. Brandon Wong folded and Bellande put in yet another raise. Danny Wong called, and when the 4
fell on the turn both he and Bellande checked. The Q fell on the river and Wong bet out. Bellande folded and Wong showed A K. Kachan couldn't beat Wong's pair of aces and was the first player eliminated from the final table.
Prock Gets Outdrawn, Busts in Eighth Place ($10,335)
Andrew Prock got all in preflop and held A Q
, a favored hand over Joe De Niro's A J. The flop changed things fast, coming A J 3 to give De Niro two pair - aces and jacks. The K fell on the turn, giving Prock more outs. But the river 8 wasn't one of them and Prock was eliminated in eighth place.
Kranyak Has Lower Kicker, Gone in Seventh Place ($13,480)
Preflop action was raised until capped by John Kranyak and Joe De Niro. When 9 4 3 fell on the flop Kranyak bet and was called by De Niro. The A came on the turn, inducing action. Betting was capped again, getting Kranyak all in. He had connected with the ace on the turn and showed A J. However, De Niro showed A Q for a pair of aces with a better kicker. The Q dropped on the river to give De Niro two pair and the juicy pot, sending Kranyak to the rail in seventh place.
Lawrence Doesn't Connect, Eliminated in Sixth Place ($20,221)
Spencer Lawrence got all of his chips in the middle preflop against Jean-Robert Bellande and showed K 10. Bellande was the favorite, holding A 9. The flop came 9 6 3, giving Bellande a pair. Lawrence still had two overs he could connect with, but the 2 came on the turn and the Q river card eliminated Lawrence in sixth place.
Danny Wong Falls to Full House, Out in Fifth Place ($33,701)
After Bellande checked, Danny Wong bet a flop of A 6 5 and was called by Bellande. The 6 came on the turn and Bellande check-called Wong’s bet again. The river was the 6 and Bellande bet. Wong called and was all in, but mucked and was eliminated when he saw Bellande's A 8 for a full house.
Bellande Hits Straight, Takes Large Pot
After three-betting preflop, Jean Robert-Bellande bet every street on a Q 5 4 10 K board and was called down by Joe De Niro. Bellande showed that he had nothing until the river, where he completed a straight with his J 9. He scooped a large pot that put him around 1,700,000 in chips. De Niro's stack dropped to 650,000.
Bottom Pair Won't Do, Brandon Wong Gone in Fourth Place ($69,088)
Brandon Wong got all in preflop against Matt Graham and Joe De Niro. The flop came 10 8 2 and Graham bet, making De Niro fold. Wong showed A 2 for bottom pair and was against Graham's 8 9 for middle pair. Neither the 5 turn nor the K river improved Wong, and he was eliminated in fourth place.
De Niro Rivered, Out in Third Place ($107,845)
Joe De Niro got all in on a flop of J 10 8 and was called by Jean-Robert Bellande. Bellande showed A 9 for the but flush draw, but he was trailing De Niro's J 9 for top pair and an open-ended straight draw. The turn was the 10 and didn't help either player, but when the A fell on the river Bellande made top pair to eliminate De Niro in third place.
Graham Grinding Away, Takes Chip Lead
A large pot was brewed when it was three-bet preflop by Matt Graham and Jean-Robert Belalnde. They again three-bet the flop of A 10 4. Bellande then slowed down and just called Graham's bets on the 2 turn and 4 river. Graham showed A K to scoop the pot and take over the chip lead.
Graham Starts to Distance Himself
Jean-Robert Bellande check-called Matt Graham on every street of a 9 5 5 6 8 board, only to have Graham show 8h6c for a better two pair than Bellande's A-8. Down to 300,000 in chips at one point, Graham battled back to a 1,725,000 to 975,000 chip advantage over Bellande.
Matt Graham Wins Event No. 53 ($278,180)
Jean-Robert Bellande gradually lost his large chip lead and was suddenly all in as the short stack. He held 9c7h against Matt Graham's A J. The board ran K 4 3 K Q, missing both players but leaving Graham's ace-high as the best hand to give him the win, the bracelet and the first-place prize money of $278,180. Bellande took home $173,564 for second place.
It took nearly 17 hours to cut the final day's field down from 72 players to one. Nonetheless, there were plenty of sleepy-eyed railbirds there to see Matt Graham win his first WSOP bracelet. Graham, known as mattg1983 online, hails from New Orleans, LA. The $278,180 first-place prize is the 24-year-old rising star’s biggest cash to date. With it he now has nearly $600,000 in live tournament winnings and he has made thousands more playing online. Even when facing a large chip deficit heads up, Graham said he never lost confidence and that helped him come back to win. Jean-Robert Bellande earned the second-place prize of $173,564 for his efforts. The personable Bellande first burst into homes around the country when he made a ESPN-televised final table at a 2005 WSOP circuit event, and just last year he was a contestant on the CBS reality series, "Survivor: China". He now has just under $1 million in tournament winnings.
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