Sunday, June 7, 2015 2:10 AM Local Time
BARRY HUTTER LAST PLAYER STANDING IN NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM SHOOTOUT
Hutter comes out on top in battle of the Floridians, bests Benjamin Zamani heads up to earn $283,546 and his first gold bracelet.
Tournament pro records third cash of the 2015 WSOP, complements previous 14th- and 13th-place finishes with a victory.
MEET THE LATEST WSOP GOLD BRACELET WINNER:
Name: Barry Hutter
Age: 29
Residence: Hollywood, Fla.
Occupation: Professional poker player
Number of WSOP Cashes: 14
Number of WSOP final table appearances: 3
Number of WSOP gold bracelet victories: 1
Best previous WSOP finish: 5th (2010, $2,500 no-limit hold’em)
Total WSOP earnings: $643,135
The above stats include Hutter's Event #14 victory
TOURNAMENT RECAP:
Las Vegas (June 6, 2015) — The 2015 World Series of Poker forged on Saturday night at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas as Event #14 of the 68-tournament series, a $1,500 no-limit hold’em shootout bracelet event, played out in the famed Amazon Room. In the end, Barry Hutter stole the tournament’s headline becoming the series’ most-recent champion defeating fellow Floridian Benjamin Zamani heads up to earn $283,546 along with poker’s most coveted prize — a gold bracelet.
“I think [a bracelet] is what most people play poker for,” Hutter said following the victory. “I’m speechless, really […] I’ve had a lot of chances to close out some big tournaments and have failed. I finally got one. [This victory] will kind of be a landmark of my poker career.”
The win proved to be hard-fought as the final table took the better part of 11 hours to finish and saw the likes of Grayson Ramage (ninth), Daniel Strelitz (eighth) and 2008 WSOP Main Event third-place finisher Dennis Phillips (third) each leave their mark before ultimately falling short of victory. Other notable final table participants included Elizabeth Montizanti and Kitty Kuo. Both hoped to became the first female champion of the 2015 series but ultimately finished fifth and fourth respectively.
After the dust settled, Hutter’s performance stole the show as it marked his third cash of the 2015 WSOP through the first 14 events. He previously finished 14th in Event #2, a $5,000 no-limit hold’em tournament, and ran deep against an elite field in Event #10, the $10,000 heads up, before finishing 13th. With a gold bracelet to complement those performances, Hutter’s resume at the 2015 WSOP is arguably second to none a mere two weeks into the two-month festival.
Event #14 was the second of two shootouts on the 2015 WSOP schedule. With a $1,500 price point, it drew more than three times as many competitors as its $3,000 predecessor. The 1,000-player field allowed an even 100, 10-handed tables to play to a winner on Day 1, and 10, 10-handed tables to play to a winner on Day 2. Day 3 (the final table) kicked off Saturday, June 6.
“My first two rounds were both pretty tough — my second round table was really tough,” Hutter said of the format. “The stars aligned I guess. I ran really well and I think I played pretty well, too.”
Never was Hutter’s play put to the test more than it was against heads-up opponent Zamani. He began the duel as the underdog holding about a third of the total chips in play. Over the course of about 50 hands, he checked and raised his way to the chip lead before ultimately turning the nut flush to send Zamani home with a $174,771 consolation prize.
“When I got heads up, [Zamani’s] really tough to play against,” Hutter said of the battle. “Fortunately I made some hands and won the big pots.”
While the final tablists were all who returned Saturday, they weren’t the only players to head home with a score. Each of the top 100 finished in the money and all those outside the top 10 earned a score of $5,413. Among this group was three-time bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche, two-time bracelet winners Rep Porter and Mark Radoja, bracelet winner Justin Bonomo, WSOP Circuit champions Joseph McKeehan and David Tuthill as well as 2011 WSOP Main Event fourth-place finisher Matt Gianetti. Last year’s champion, Simeon Naydenov, came up short of an in-the-money berth.
Here’s a look at the tournament’s final table results:
1st: Barry Hutter - $283,546 + WSOP gold bracelet
2nd: Benjamin Zamani - $174,771
3rd: Dennis Phillips - $113,265
4th: Kitty Kuo - $82,890
5th: Elizabeth Montizanti - $61,560
6th: Orson Young - $46,332
7th: Anton Smirnov - $35,302
8th: Daniel Strelitz - $27,216
9th: Grayson Ramage - $21,208
10th: Randy Pfeifer - $16,740
EVENT FUN FACTS:
- The final table featured no gold bracelet winners
- The field was comprised of 970 males and 30 females
- The average age of participants was 36 years three months old
- The total number of countries represented by the field was 32 (812 American players, 188 international)
EVENT DIRECT LINKS:
Barry Hutter's official WSOP player profile page is available HERE.
Final results, live reporting log, photos and official winner photo are available HERE.
Livestream archive of the event is available HERE.