Saturday, June 20, 2015 10:27 PM Local Time
Corrie Wunstell Wins Event #36 - $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha
EVENT #36: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha
ENTRIES: 978
PRIZE POOL: $1,320,300
FIRST PLACE PRIZE: $267,435
PLACES PAID: 117
CORRIE WUNSTEL GOES MARCHING IN
Baton Rouge Circuit Grinder Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet in Pot-Limit Omaha, Collects $267,435
Tournament Extends into Fourth Day, as Wunstel Defeats Kevin Saul Heads-Up
MEET THE LATEST WSOP GOLD BRACELET CHAMPION
Name: Corrie Wunstel
Current Residence: Baton Rouge, LA
Number of WSOP Cashes: 6
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 1
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories: 1
Best Previous WSOP Finish: 20th (2015 $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em)
Total WSOP Earnings: $393,595
Personal Fact: Wunstel has 23 WSOP Circuit cashes including a WSOP Circuit gold ring, won back in 2010.
[Note: All statistics above include the results of this tournament]
Corrie Wunstel defeated a field
of 978 players to win the $1,500 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha tournament
(Event #36) at the 2015 World Series of Poker. He earned first-place
prize money of $267,435 and the first gold bracelet of his career as a
longtime poker grinder.
Wunstel
survived a wild final table that had numerous ups and downs. During
five-handed play, the tournament hit a lull where the shortest stacks
continued to double-up time after time. Five-handed play was grueling
for all of the players and lasted nearly three hours long. Eventually
Matthew Colvin bowed out in fifth place when he flopped a pair of kings,
but ran into Saul's pocket aces in the hole. The pace of the
tournament then picked back up with Peter Levine (finishing 4th) and Jim
Karambinis (finishing 3rd) following Colvin out the door just a short
time later. The heads-up match was then suspended, and was forced into
an unscheduled fourth day of action, which was won by Wunstel, who
started the final session with nearly a 2 to 1 chip advantage, although
he lost his lead at one point and was forced to make a major comeback.
Indeed,
Saul won a series of key hands which hurt Wunstel, and flip flopped the
chip lead. Wunstel seemed to be getting just strong enough cards to be
forced into making calls, which were marginally below the strength of
Saul’s cards. However, the turning point of the match came when Saul
had Wunstel all in and covered with a made straight, only to see Wunstel
hit a full house on the river and the board paired. That swung the
tournament back in Wunstel’s favor and he won the victory a short time
later.
Afterwards, Wunstel shied away
from interviews and didn’t have much to say on his own behalf. He did
wish to say the following: “I became a Christian a few months ago.
This victory is all for him and his glory. I had nothing to do with
it. This victory really means nothing to me without him and his
blessing.”
The final table
did not feature any gold bracelet winners, but did have three WSOP
Circuit gold ring winners in Wunstel (1 win), Saul (1 win), and Colvin
(2 wins). It was the largest WSOP related financial score for every
final table participant, except for Kevin Allen and Kevin Saul.
Pot-Limit
Omaha has become a game of preference all over the world as a popular
alternative to No-Limit Hold’em, and it continues to grow here at the
World Series of Poker. Just last week, the $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event
broke the record for the largest live non-hold'em event ever. The
tournament, which was won by Aaron Wallace, drew a staggering 1,293
entries. There are three Pot-Limit Omaha events remaining on the 2015
schedule -- including the $3,000 PLO 6-handed event, the $10,000 PLO
Championship, and the highly anticipated $25,000 High Roller PLO event.
Following Wunstel’s finish in the top spot, the descending order of results was as follows:
Second Place:
Kevin Saul now has 19 WSOP cashes with his 2nd-place finish. He
collected $165,147. Saul won a WSOP Circuit gold ring at Foxwoods a few
years ago. His first WSOP cash was back in 2007.
Third Place: Jim Karambinis,
from Chicago, Illinois. This marks his second cash of the series and
third overall. Karambinis recorded his first career cash in 2013, which
was also a Pot-Limit Omaha event. He earns the third place money of
$103,537 for his third place finish.
Fourth Place: Peter Levine, a
marketing executive from Woodland Hills, California finished in fourth
place. This marks Levine's eighth WSOP cash and is his first final
table. This is Levine's first cash in Pot-Limit Omaha, but he has
recorded five cashes in Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better with the other two
cashes coming in No-Limit Hold'em.
Fifth Place: Matthew Colvin,
from Dallas, Texas finished inf fifth place. He is a two-time WSOP
Circuit gold ring winner. This marks Colvin's 27th related WSOP cash, 25
which have come on the Circuit. This cash of $55,479 is his largest and
pushes his total WSOP tournament earnings into six figures.
Sixth Place: Markus Cara
finished in sixth place. Kara is a financial analyst from Toronto,
Canada. This is the 27-year-olds second career cash, both coming this
year.
Seventh Place: Bryce Fox, a
41-year-old from Pittsburgh, PA cashed for the first time at the WSOP.
He has one Circuit cash to his name, which also happens to be seventh
place finish. Fox is a professional poker who previously worked as a
personal trainer.
Eighth Place: Kevin Allen,
from Romford, England, cashed in 8th place. This is the seventh time
Allen has cashed as the WSOP, all which have come the past three years.
He finished 222nd in the 2013 Main Event for just over $40,000.
Ninth Place:
Ke Chao Ni, not only does this mark Ni's first ever WSOP final table,
but it is also his first WSOP cash. Ni was born in China and now resides
here in the United States.
OTHER IN-THE-MONEY FINISHERS:
Aside
from the final table finishers, other notable players who cashed
included – Jonathan Little (25th place), Max Pescatori (45th), Noah
Schwartz (54th), Thor Hansen and Tom Schneider (57th).
EVENT DIRECT LINKS:
For this event’s results, visit:
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/results.asp?grid=1136&tid=14236
For Corrie Wunstel's official player profile page, visit:
http://www.wsop.com/players/playerprofile.asp?playerID=23119
For the Live Reporting Log for this event, please visit:
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates.asp?grid=1136&tid=14236
For photos from this event, please visit:
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/photos.asp?grid=1136&tid=14236
For the live stream archive of this event, please visit:
http://www.wsop.com/videos/
(Note: Will appear 48 hours after event concludes)