William Reymond wins first online bracelet of 2018 in his first WSOP cash, defeats biggest online field in WSOP history
Las Vegas, NV (4 June 2018) - Just 11 hours ago, William ‘twooopair’ Reymond tweeted that he was having the perfect Sunday. It’s much better now.
After defeating a field of 2,972 entries, Reymond won the first of four online bracelet events this summer. He takes the title in the $365 no-limit hold’em online event, earning $154,995.74 and his first bracelet in what was his first WSOP cash.
Reymond is a native of France, but left France for Texas to do research for a book he published about JFK’s assassination. He’s written multiple books about various topics, all in his first language, French. As if that wasn’t enough, he co-directed a documentary, and somewhere along the way, picked up some poker skills.
The tournament ran for just over 12 hours with cards getting in the air at 3:30 p.m. and wrapping up just before 4 a.m. in Las Vegas. They reached a final table just after 2 a.m. and by the end of the tournament, it was Reymond who earned a bracelet in the biggest online field in WSOP history.
Ryan ‘LoveMy11Cats’ Belz came into the final table with the chip lead and promptly extended it with an elimination of Jennifer ‘moistymire’ Miller. Miller got the last of her chips into the middle preflop with and was dominated by Belz’s .
Miller flopped an open-ended straight draw, but bricked off to become the first casualty of the final table.
Just a few hands later, there was a second casualty when a race situation arose in a battle of the blinds. Elliott ‘Ekampen05’ Kampen was in the small blind and got all of Michael ‘myapologies’ Hauptman’s chips into the middle from the big blind.
Kampen showed ace-jack and was flipping with Hauptman’s pocket eights. The flop was safe for Hauptman, but the jack on the turn left him drawing thin. He didn’t find a set on the river and was eliminated in eighth place.
The blinds went up and action stagnated for most of the next level until the last hand of it. Reymond was able to chip up to second in chips through several hands without a showdown, but the highlight of the level was Stephen ‘SteveSpuell’ Buell’s double up.
Buell was on the right end of a cold deck with his pocket aces getting all in preflop against Anthony ‘nowb3atthat’ Spinella’s pocket jacks. Spinella, who was in search of his second online bracelet after winning the first-ever online bracelet in 2015, couldn’t hit a jack and was left very short, just in time for the blinds to go up. The pot put Buell near the top of the chip counts.
A couple hands later, Spinella moved all in out of the small blind for about four big blinds and was called by Reymond in the big blind. Reymond showed ace-deuce and had the best hand against Spinella’s nine-eight.
The board came all bricks, giving nobody a pair, and Reymond won the pot to eliminate Spinella in seventh place and leave the table six-handed.
Six-handed play lasted for almost the remainder of the level. Through several hands without showdown, Belz fell out of the chip lead, being overtaken by Reymond and Buell. On one of the last hands of the new level, however, it was Shawn ‘sHaDySTeeM’ Stroke who took over the coveted position atop the leaderboard.
Stroke eliminated Josh ‘YoelRomero’ King in sixth. King moved all in on the button for about 16 big blinds with and was called by Stroke’s . Neither player flopped a pair, Stroke turned a queen, which also gave King a flush draw, and the river bricked. Stroke won the pot and King was eliminated in sixth.
Over the course of five-handed play, the once chip leader Belz became one of the short stacks without any big hand of note. He was able to rebound just before the first break of the final table, winning a flip with pocket sevens against Buell’s ace-queen. Losing the flip moved Buell from third in chips to fifth, while putting Belz back into contention for the chip lead.
After the break was over, Belz came back and continued his move up the chip counts. He pulled away from the pack when he five-bet all in out of the small blind for about 30 big blinds against Reymond in the cutoff.
Reymond was in great shape to win the biggest pot of the tournament thus far with pocket kings against Belz’s ace-king, but the window card was the , leaving Reymond with just one out. Reymond couldn’t hit the case king on the turn or river and Belz was the overwhelming chip leader with over 21 million in chips, nearly three times that of Stroke, who was second in chips after Belz’s double up.
Reymond’s status as a short stack didn’t last very long. Reymond got some of those chips right back when he got all in with pocket queens against Belz’s pocket fives. Reymond’s queens held up and he moved back into second chip position.
The string of double ups continued with Kampen doubling through Stroke with ace-jack against pocket 10s and Buell doubling through Belz. That evened out the playing field with everybody playing between five and 12 million chips.
After that, Buell made took his turn atop the chip counts, doubling through Belz again when Buell got his last 17 big blinds into the pot with ace-jack suited from the big blind against Belz’s ace-ten suited in the small blind.
After nearly two full levels of play, Kampen was the unlucky player to depart in fifth place. Belz min-raised from under the gun and Kampen moved all in out of the big blind. Belz quickly called and was in bad shape for the second time with ace-ten suited. Kampen showed pocket jacks and got a safe flop, however the ace on the turn put Belz in the lead. Kampen didn’t hit a jack on the river which sent him home in fifth for $37,530.
History repeated itself. And repeated it quickly.
Just a couple hands later, Belz was all in with pocket jacks against Reymond’s , which was the exact same hand suit-for-suit that Belz put a bad beat on Kampen with.
The flop brought an ace, which moved Reymond into the lead, and like before, there was no jack on later streets. Reymond won the pot and Belz was eliminated in fourth place.
With three-handed play underway, it was Reymond and Buell out in front, but they clashed quickly and three-handed play didn’t last long at all. It was a classic race with Reymond’s pocket queens up against Buell’s ace-king. The board ran out with 9h4h3d3c9d, sending the pot to Reymond, eliminating Buell in third and giving Reymond a 3.5-to-1 chip lead at the start of heads-up play with Stroke.
Stroke was able to get a few shoves through and win a couple pots, but never was able to put much of a dent into the lead that Reymond held at the outset of the match.
On the final hand, all the chips got in preflop with Stroke all in for about 15 big blinds from the big blind against Reymond on the button. Reymond turned over and was up against Stroke’s .
The board ran out , which sent the pot to Reymond, eliminated Stroke in second and gave the first online bracelet of the summer to Reymond.
The complete results will be posted later on Monday after all of the accounts that finished in the money can be linked to the proper WSOP profile page.
Other notables to cash this event include Taylor 'ZeroTo100' Von Kriegenbergh (11th), Ryan 'bitc0in' Riess (13th), Mark 'plodonkey17' Scacewater (20th), Chris '2fly2die' Hunichen (24th) and Wayne 'OmgVariance' Harmon (27th).
Final Table Results:
1st: William ‘twooopair’ Reymond - $154,995.74
2nd: Shawn ‘sHaDySTeeM’ Stroke - $94,264.70
3rd: Stephen ‘SteveSpuell’ Buell - $69,016.97
4th: Ryan ‘LoveMy11Cats’ Belz - $50,592.95
5th: Elliott ‘Ekampen05’ Kampen - $37,530.41
6th: Josh ‘YoelRomero’ King - $27,977.21
7th: Anthony ‘nowb3atthat’ Spinella - $21,250.98
8th: Michael ‘myapologies’ Hauptman - $16,279.42
9th: Jennifer ‘moistymire’ Miller - $12,477.64
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