Event #47: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em MONSTER STACK

In just the 106th hand at the final table of Event #47: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em MONSTER STACK, Brian Yoon earned his third World Series of Poker gold bracelet along with the first-place prize of $1,094,349.

This four-day event attracted 6,717 players to combine for a prize pool worth $9,066,600, paying 1,008 spots. It was only fitting that the "MONSTER STACK" ended up with just over 100,000,000 chips in play, boasting over a million dollars for first place.

Yoon defeated a worthy competitor in Ihar Soika, who pocketed $675,995 for his runner-up finish. Soika busted the first five players at the final table, and Yoon took over to bust the next four before clinching the title. In the final hand, Yoon raised it up on the button, as he had been doing as often as possible to push the action, and Soika moved all in for his last 19,800,000. Yoon asked for a count and eventually called. Soika put himself at risk with ace-eight of spades, up against king-ten of hearts for Yoon. Soika flopped a spade draw, taking away some of Yoon's outs to pair up and improve. The turn was a brick, but the river was a magical, off-suit ten to give Yoon his third bracelet.

A 27-year-old professional poker player from Torrance, California, Yoon has now amassed over $4.2 million in earnings, and can say this is his biggest career cash. Today's win is also his fifth cash of the summer, and his fifth-career win.

One of the highlights of the final table was when Yoon busted Yuliyan Kolev (5th place - $281,800) and Ryan Mcknight (4th place - $374,515) in a double knockout hand. Yoon shoved from the cutoff, and Kolev and Mcknight called from the small and big blinds, respectively. Kolev had king-jack, Mcknight had ace-queen, and Yoon had ace-eight. Yoon flopped an eight and held to bring the field down to three players. When asked about that scenario he said, "I put a lot of pressure on the blinds. Got a lucky flop."

Yoon's first bracelet came in the $1,111 No Limit Hold'em Little One Drop, topping a field of 4,756 entries. When he was asked about his success in large fields, he responded that his skills and style of play is "really well-suited for this type of tournament." Yoon continued that he felt this bracelet means much more than his first two, because it came a few years after his last win. He also took the last nine months off because he didn't feel like playing, so it's extra special. Yoon says he's quite a boring guy, so he will likely put a lot of this money into investments, and he is unsure if he will continue to play after the Series is over.

Soika is a well-respected professional from Belarus with $2,590,020 in career earnings. He may not have a gold bracelet just yet, but he does hold a European Poker Tour title after defeating Jason Mercier and winning the 2014 €10,300 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller event for USD $989,263, which remains his top score for now.

Final Table Results

Stanley Lee booked a career-best cash for just over a half-million dollars for third place, but that isn't really the most impressive part about his run. He has now gone deep in four tournaments in a row where the first-place prize is guaranteed to pay out at least a million dollars. In the Millionaire Maker, he finished 24th ($45,275) in 2015, final-tabled in 2016 for a ninth-place cash worth $96,091, and came in 39th place this year for $28,160. He has now added today's cash in the Monster Stack, so he will certainly be one to watch as he continues to gun for his first bracelet.

There were many faces that did find the cash cage on their way out such as Joe McKeehen (26th place - $37,831), Paul Volpe (56th place - 16,665), TJ Cloutier (70th place - $13,849), Men Nguyen (124th place - $7,164), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (177th place - $6,202), Ole Schemion ($6,202), Ari Engel (263rd place - $5,415), Scotty Nguyen (271st place - $5,415), Scott Davies (388th place - $4,235), and Loni Harwood (544th place - $3,124).

Some of the notables that joined the field on Day 1 but were unable to make it into the money include Tony Dunst, Annette Obrestad, Joe Cada, Layne Flack, David Sands, Jeff Madsen, JC Tran, Nick Petrangelo, Barry Greenstein, Kenny Hallaert, Antonio Esfandiari, and Marvin Rettenmaier.

Final Table Action

The unofficial table began at the beginning of Level 36, and it didn't take long before Soika eliminated Salvatore DiCarlo (10th place - $75,915). DiCarlo had pocket queens against Soika's ace-king, and Soika hit a king on the river. Soika was running wild at the final table as he eliminated Will Failla (9th place - $97,223) on just the 14th hand. Soika had pocket jacks, and Failla held    but couldn't find any help.

Richard Ma (8th place - $125,451) was at risk in the first hand back from dinner break with pocket jacks but ran into the pocket aces of — who else, but Soika. The board ran out eight-high, and they were down to seven. Seven-handed play lasted the longest, with many of the short stacks finding numerous double-ups. Eventually, Thomas Ryan (7th place - $162,087) was all in and dominated against Soika. Ryan wasn't able to connect with the board, and Soika eliminated yet another opponent.

Lee found himself very short but managed to find several double-ups to spin his stack up to something that was workable. He first got it in with king-jack off-suit and beat out Maurice Hawkins' ace-jack, then won a flip with king-queen to beat Yoon's jacks. He managed to lock up another pay jump after Hawkins committed most of his stack in a hand against Soika, then decided to fold and leave himself with two big blinds. Soika showed a bluff, and Hawkins put the rest of his chips into the middle with jack-ten, up against Soika's seven-five of diamonds. Soika turned trips, and it was all over for the ten-time WSOP Circuit champion. He took home $213,591 for his deep run in sixth place.

In the very next hand, Yoon moved all in from the cutoff, clearly applying pressure on the Kolev and Mcknight short stacks. As it turns out, both players called, and Yoon was slightly ahead of Kolev but looked like he was going to double Mcknight up. Kolev held king-jack, Mcknight had ace-queen, and Yoon had ace-eight. The flop brought an eight, and Yoon managed to hold to bust Kolev in fifth place ($281,800) and Mcknight in fourth ($374,515).

Three-handed play began with Yoon holding the chip lead, but Soika was close behind in second. Lee was very short but found a double up with ace-king of diamonds, beating out Soika's ace-jack off-suit. Soika flopped two pair, but Lee turned a flush draw and rivered a bigger two pair to stay alive. It was just a few short hands later when Lee got it in with pocket sixes, flipping for his tournament life against Yoon's ace-king off-suit. The flop brought both an ace and a king, and Yoon was able to hold, sending Lee home in third place for $501,353.

Heads-up play lasted just 28 hands, with Yoon starting the match with a two-to-one lead. Soika managed to bring things to even, but Yoon turned up the heat and took his lead back. He continued to apply pressure and eventually got it in with king-ten of hearts, rivering a ten against Soika's ace-high, as mentioned earlier.

Thank you for following along with PokerNews for yet another popular event at the WSOP. Keep reading as the Live Updates team continues to write about all of the exciting tournaments leading up to the Main Event.

Hand #100: Brian Yoon raised to 2,000,000, and Ihar Soika called. The flop came    , and Soika check-called a bet of 1,400,000. Both players checked the   on the turn, and the   fell on the river. Soika led out for 4,100,000, and Yoon called. Soika showed   , while Yoon tabled    for the best hand.

Hand #101: Yoon got a walk.

Hand #102: Yoon raised to 2,000,000, and Soika folded.

Hand #103: Soika raised to 1,600,000, and Yoon re-raised to 5,000,000. Soika laid his hand down.

Hand #104: Yoon raised to 2,000,000, and Soika folded.

Hand #105: Soika raised to 1,600,000, and Yoon three-bet 5,000,000, getting Soika to fold again.

Brian Yoon	80,700,000	13,300,000
Ihar Soika	20,000,000	-13,300,000

Hand #91: Ihar Soika raised to 1,800,000, and Brian Yoon folded.

Hand #92: Yoon raised to 2,000,000, and Soika mucked.

Hand #93: Soika raised to 1,800,000, and Yoon called. The flop was    , and both players checked to the   on the turn. Yoon led out for 2,500,000, and Soika called. The river was the  , and Yoon bet 5,200,000. Soika tossed his cards away.

Hand #94: Yoon raised to 2,000,000, and Soika called. Both players checked to the turn with the board reading     , and Yoon bet 2,500,000. Soika called, and the river was the  . Soika checked again, and Yoon bet 6,500,000, finally getting a fold from Soika.

Brian Yoon leads heads-up play with just shy of 60 million in chips, up against Ihar Soika. Yoon is going for his third WSOP gold bracelet, while Soika seeks his first.

Brian Yoon	59,600,000	0
Ihar Soika	41,200,000	-800,000

Hand #73: Ihar Soika raised to 1,200,000 from under the gun, and Stanley Lee moved all in from the big blind. Soika called.

Lee was at risk with   , up against Soika's   . The flop came    , and Soika took the lead with top two pair. The turn was the  , and Lee picked up some more outs to improve. The river was the  , and Lee got there, giving him a bigger two pair to double up.

Hand #74: Soika got a walk.

Hand #75: Lee raised to 1,300,000 on the button and got no action.

Hand #76: Soika raised to 1,300,000 on the button and raked in the pot.

Hand #77: Brian Yoon raised to 1,300,000 on the button, and Lee defended his big blind. The flop came    , and both players checked to the   on the turn and the   on the river. Lee checked, Yoon bet 2,300,000, and Lee folded.

Hand #78: Lee raised to 1,300,000 on the button, and Yoon called from the big blind. The flop came    , and Yoon check-called a bet of 1,100,000 from Lee. The turn was the  , and both players checked to the   on the river. Yoon led out for 3,700,000, and Lee snap-called. Yoon tabled    for trip kings with a queen kicker, and Lee flashed    for trip kings with a seven kicker before mucking.

Hand #79: Soika raised to 1,300,000 on the button and got no action.

Ihar Soika	42,000,000	-14,200,000
Brian Yoon	41,000,000	8,000,000
Stanley Lee	17,000,000	2,900,000

Hand #71: Ihar Soika raised to 1,200,000 on the button, and Maurice Hawkins put his last 975,000 into the pot from the small blind. Yuliyan Kolev also called in the big blind.

The flop came    , and Soika bet 600,000, which got Kolev out of the pot.

Soika showed   , and Hawkins had   . The turn was the  , and Hawkins was drawing dead to the   on the river.

Hawkins packed up his bags and took off with his rail after finishing in sixth place.

Ihar Soika	56,200,000	5,400,000
Maurice Hawkins	0	-7,800,000

Hand #60: Ihar Soika raised to 1,200,000 from the hijack and got no action.

Hand #61: Brian Yoon moved all in from the hijack and got no action.

Hand #62: Yoon raised to 1,250,000 from under the gun, and Soika defended his big blind. The flop came    . Soika checked, Yoon bet 1,050,000, and Soika folded. Yoon showed the  .

Hand #63: Maurice Hawkins raised to 1,500,000 from under the gun, and Stanley Lee moved all in for 2,500,000 on the button. Hawkins called. Lee was at risk and way behind with   , up against Hawkins'   . The flop came    , and Lee took a commanding lead with trip kings. The turn was the  , and Hawkins was drawing dead to the   on the river.

Hand #64: Stanley Lee moved all in for 6,400,000 from the cutoff, and Yoon called from the small blind. Lee was behind and flipping with    against Yoon's   . The board ran out      , and Lee doubled up yet again.

Hand #65: Yuliyan Kolev got a walk.

Hand #66: Lee raised to 1,400,000 from under the gun, and Ryan Mcknight moved all in from the big blind. Lee called. Both players had the same hand, with Mcknight being at risk with    against Lee's   . The board ran out      , and they chopped it up.

Stanley Lee

14,100,000

11,550,000

Hand #55: Ihar Soika raised to 1,200,000 from under the gun, and everyone folded.

Hand #56: Ryan Mcknight raised all in for 4,375,000 in the cutoff, and Stanley Lee pushed all in over the top on the button. The blinds folded, and the cards were tabled. Mcknight showed    against Lee's   . The flop came    , giving Lee a set of eights and Mcknight a flush draw. The turn was the  , and the river landed the  . Mcknight made his flush and doubled up, leaving Lee with 1,350,000.

Hand #57: Soika raised to 1,200,000 from the small blind, and Brian Yoon folded the big blind.

Hand #58: Lee shoved all in for his remaining 1,150,000, and Soika re-raised to 1,800,000. The blinds folded, and the hands were face-up. Lee held   , and Soika showed   . The board ran out      . Lee doubled up through Soika and stayed alive.

Ryan Mcknight	8,900,000	3,450,000
Stanley Lee	2,550,000	-4,150,000

Hand #51: Stanley Lee moved all in from the hijack and got no action.

Hand #52: Ihar Soika raised to 1,100,000 from the cutoff and took it down.

Hand #53: Sioka raised to 1,000,000 from the cutoff and raked in the pot.

Hand #54: Ryan Mcknight moved all in from the small blind, and Lee folded his big blind.