Princeton, NJ's Dan Zack collects WSOP-best $169,447 payday in Event #6 victory
3 June 2019 (Las Vegas) – Dan Zack has earned the first WSOP gold bracelet of his career by taking down the first mixed-games event of the 2019 World Series of Poker, $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw. The victory was worth $160,447.
Zack, 26, a native of Princeton, New Jersey whose past accomplishments include a WSOP Circuit ring, ran away from his final-table foes to win Event #6. This event featured rotating rounds of three triple-draw games: deuce-to-seven, ace-to-five, and badugi.
The big payday was the largest cash of Zack's WSOP career and boosted his Series lifetime earnings to well over $730,000.
Zack's rout in this event's six-player final reached its end when he busted Sumir Mathur in a hand of ace-to-five. Muthir, of Scottsdale, Arizona, pocketed runner-up winnings of $99,153 while posting his first-ever WSOP cash.
Third place went to another resident of Scottsdale, Arizona, Brayden Gazlay, who earned $65,217 for the deep run.
Zack endured two and a half days of short-stacked danger before the cards finally turned midway through Monday's Day 3. His was among the shortest of the 13 stacks making it to Day 3, and early on, he was twice down to just 30,000 in chips, just a couple of big bets at the time.
Then the cards came his way. Zack made his first run while eight players battled at two separate tables, and by the time an unofficial final table of seven gathered together, Zack had moved up to mid-pack status.
From there, in his new seat at the “Mothership”, also known as the primary feature table, Zack's cards were on fire. “I won like nine of 11 hands at one point,” he told the WSOP, and he soon had a stack more than twice as deep as his nearest foes, who fell in rapid fashion to Zack's late heater.
Zack is eyeing something early in the 2019 WSOP: the Player of the Year race. “When I've come here for the last three years, I always came in, for the first week or so, with the plan to do that. And then if I didn't do anything the first week, I usually ended up in cash games.”
This year will be different, he promised, even if that means he might miss one of his favorite events, the $10,000 mixed triple-draw championship. He'd like to play it, but if he's busy making a deep run in a different points-awarding event, he'll take a pass on a shot at another mixed triple-draw bracelet.
Thirteen players returned for Day 3 play in Event #6, $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw. A little under four hours later, David Gee's bustout set the official final table, with Zack emerging from a tightly bunched pack to take a healthy lead into the final six.
That six became four in a double-knockout hand an hour into the official final table. During a round of badugi, Gazley was dealt a pat hand – , which held up against the all-in short-stacked hands of both Jake Schwartz (sixth place) and Jesse Hampton (fifth).
Only minutes later, when the action rotated to deuce-to-seven, Jon Turner busted as well. Turner was down to just a couple of big bets when he made a last stand against Zack, but Zack made a seven-six on his second draw, while Turner drew one to an eight-high on his third draw, not knowing he was already drawing dead. Turner's fourth-place effort was worth $43,984.
Meanwhile, Zack's run was in full gear. He reached three-handed play with a little over 50 percent of the chips in play. Little more than a half hour later, he was up to 80 percent, seemingly leaving Mathur and Gazlay to outmanuever each other for runner-up honors.
Gazlay's exit came first. He'd already survived multiple all-ins but ran out of lives in hand of badugi against Zack. Gazlay was all in pre-flop, and had by the final draw. Zack, though, had , meaning Gazlay needed a club for a badugi just to have a chance in the hand. Instead he pulled the , giving Zack the pot and the knockout.
That left Mathur between Zack and his long-awaited first bracelet, and it was over soon after the format switched to ace-to-five. Mathur was all in after the first draw, where he drew one while Zack pulled three. Both players took one on the second draw, and then both stood pat on the third. Zack announced he had a seven-five, and showed it, and Mathur mucked his hand and congratulated Zack on the win.
Event #6, $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw, drew 296 entries and built a $666,000 prize pool. 45 players cashed, and a minimum cash in Event #6 was worth $3,737.
Other Notables:
Among those cashing in Event #6 were Mike Gorodinsky (8th, $15,787), Andrew Brown, (11th, $9,154), Bryce Yockey (12th, $9,154), John Racener (15th, $7,283), Loren Klein (20th, $5,973), Andrey Zaichenko (21st, $5,973), Benny Glaser (22nd, $5,973), Brandon Shack-Harris (25th,$5,055), Julien Martini (28th, $5,055), David “ODB” Baker (29th, $5,055), Andrey Zhigalov (31st, $4,419), Vladimir Shchemelev (33rd, $4,419), Randy Ohel (36th, $4,419), and Steven Wolansky (39th, $3,994).
Click here for Full Results.
Click here for live updates from Event #6.
Final Table Payouts:
1st: Dan Zack, $160,447
2nd: Sumir Mathur, $99,153
3rd: Brayden Gazlay, $65,217
4th: Jon Turner, $43,984
5th: Jesse Hampton, $30,437
6th: Jake Schwartz, $21,625