Las Vegas poker pro takes a break from cash games to win first bracelet and $644,224
Las Vegas, NV (June 20, 2018) - Robert Peacock spends most of his time on the Las Vegas strip making a living playing high-stakes cash games. He took a break from the cash game grind to hop in the $1,000 no-limit hold’em double stack event and took it down for his first career World Series of Poker bracelet.
The 33-year-old defeated a massive field of 5,700 entries and has another $644,224 to his name after finishing off the event on an unscheduled fifth day of play.
“I mean, I ran so good to get here,” said Peacock. “I came in to Day 2 with like 12 big blinds and then just won all of my all ins for the tournament life. That’s the strategy, right? Play good, run good? I was ahead in almost all of them and the worst-case scenario was a flip. It’s crazy.”
Peacock was cool and collected for pretty much the entirety of the final table, even after the final card was dealt and the title was his. Playing for large sums of money on a regular basis will certainly help calm the nerves of playing at a WSOP final table, but the native New Yorker was more than calm. He was also pretty confident heading into what was supposed to be the tournaments fourth and final day.
“I felt pretty good coming into like Day 3,” said Peacock. “Once I hit Day 4, I felt pretty good that I was going to win. And there we are.”
Peacock started playing professionally in 2009 and moved from New York to Las Vegas about a year after Black Friday to play in Sin City full time. As a full-time cash game player in Vegas, he’s made friends with some of the brightest minds in the game.
Some of which, were on his rail, which was one of, if not the loudest support rail of the series. Armed with alcohol, a couple chants and some signs, they made the Amazon room sound more like a football game than a final table.
“It’s great. I mean, I met a lot of great people out here,” said Peacock. “A lot of friends, you know. Like ‘DMoon,’ Jesse Sylvia and some other great players. Yeah, it’s awesome.”
Cash game players tend to stick to the more consistent income and steady life schedule that those games tend to bring professional gamblers. Peacock fits that bill, but felt that with this being a new event on the schedule, the field would be soft enough to take some time away from the cash game area.
“For some reason this summer, I felt like playing a few more tournaments,” he said. “I cashed the Millionaire maker in like 800th something place and I saw this was going to be a new event. I thought it was going to be pretty good. My friends were telling me that, so I played it. And I won it.”
Even with a win under his belt, don’t expect Peacock to be a regular face in the tournament poker world.
“I’ll play a few here and there, but I still prefer cash,” he said with a laugh.
There were 20 players remaining heading into what was scheduled to be the tournament’s final day. They reached the final table about four hours into the day after Tomas Teran Paredes bubbled the final table in 10th place.
That was the last elimination of the event for quite some time as the final table played for nearly three hours before they saw someone lose their stack. Takao Shimizu was the unfortunate casualty when he got all in preflop with ace-seven against Ralph Wong’s ace-king.
A few minutes later, they hit the dinner break with eight players left and when they returned, the chips started to fly.
Pfizer Jordan busted in eighth place when his ace-ten couldn’t out run Josh Turner’s pocket tens. Turner, who started the final table with the chip lead moved further out in front with the elimination of Jordan.
About an orbit later, Turner struck again, busting James Ostrowski in seventh. Ostrwoski moved all in for his last 2 big blinds from the hijack and Turner called out of the big blind. It was a race this time with Ostrowski’s pocket nines and Turner’s queen-jack, but two queens came on the flop to give Turner another pot and knockout.
Just 20 minutes later, Daniel Eichhorn was following him out the door. Eichhorn moved all in for just shy of 11 big blinds in the small blind and Wong called out of the big blind. Wong showed pocket queens against Eichhorn’s king-eight. The runout sent the pot to Wong and Eichhorn home in sixth.
They played five-handed for the last few minutes of the level and most of the next level. Over the course of that level and change, Wong got short and Peacock started to pull away with the chip lead.
Just before the final break of the night, Wong moved all in for just over 10 big blinds out of the small blind and was called by Turner in the big blind. Turner tabled king-jack and had Wong’s jack-seven dominated.
Turner hit a king on the turn and didn’t have to sweat a river, eliminating Wong in fifth. When they took a break, Jacky Wong and Nicholas Salimbene were each right around 10 big blinds with Turner and Peacock pulling away with 35 and 55 big blind stacks, respectively.
Wong was the final casualty of Day 3 when he took a bad beat at the hands of Peacock. Wong was all in preflop with pocket sevens against Peacock’s ace-six. A six came on the flop and an ace on the river to eliminate Wong. The final three players battled for the last few hands of the level and the rest of the next level before they hit the hard stop and bagged up for the night.
They finished play for the night with Peacock holding a massive lead over Salimbene and Turner. They resumed play at noon on Thursday and Turner, who came into the fifth and final day as the short stack busted pretty quickly into the day’s action.
Turner lost a flip with king-queen against Peacock’s pocket three and was gone in third, while Peacock took a massive chip lead into heads-up play against Salimbene. Heads-up play lasted just 17 hands before Salimbene was all in preflop with king-deuce against Peacock’s king-queen.
Peacock survived the flop, turn and river to send him the pot, the tournament, a six-figure score and his first bracelet.
Final Table Results:
1st: Robert Peacock - $644,224
2nd: Nicholas Salimbene - $397,908
3rd: Josh Turner - $294,760
4th: Jacky Wong - $219,952
5th: Ralph Wong - $165,342
6th: Daniel Eichhorn - $125,215
7th: James Ostrowski - $95,538
8th: Pfizer Jordan - $73,446
9th: Takao Shimizu - $56,891
Full Results
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