Event #61: The Little One for One Drop - $1,111 No-Limit Hold'em

EVENT #61: $1,111 buy-in Little One for One Drop

ENTRIES: 4,555

PRIZE POOL: $4,099,500

FIRST PLACE PRIZE: $645,969

PLACES PAID: 468

DATES: June 30 to July 3, 2015

Paul Hoefer Makes a Big Splash in Little One for One Drop

24-Year-Old German Student Tops 4,555 Players, Wins First Gold Bracelet, and Collects $645,969

One Drop Charity Nets another Big Win at 2015 WSOP

MEET THE LATEST WSOP GOLD BRACELET CHAMPION

Name: Paul Hoefer

Birthplace: Leipzig, Germany

Age: 24

Current Residence: Leipzig, Germany

Marital Status: Single

Children: None

Profession: College Student / Part-Time Poker Player

Number of WSOP Cashes: 4

Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 1

Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories: 1

Best Previous WSOP Finish: 63rd (2015)

Total WSOP Earnings: $657,225

Personal Facts: This Hofer’s first year to attend the WSOP

[Note: All statistics above include the results of this tournament]

This year’s World Series of Poker included two “One Drop” events. The “High Roller for One Drop,” with a whopping $111,111 buy-in, was played and ended a week ago, crowning 2010 WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel as the champion. That marked his second career gold bracelet victory.

The far more affordable but just as meaningful “Little One for One Drop” tourney, with a more modest $1,111 buy-in was completed on Friday night at the Rio in Las Vegas, with Paul Hoefer coming out on top as the latest gold bracelet champion.

Hoefer, from Leipzig, Germany prevailed in one of the summer’s larger fields, as 4,555 players packed into the tournament arena three days earlier to participate in the prestigious tournament with a noble cause, which is to help people in developing countries gain access to clean water.

Hoefer did a bit of cleaning up himself, absolutely obliterating the final table played on Day Four, winning $645,969 and his first gold bracelet.

The final table included just two former gold bracelet winners. Brett Shaffer, a two-time champion who surprisingly went out early. John Reading, who won this year’s Hyper Hold’em title, finished 4th. From there, Hoefer took off and increased his stack to the point where at three-handed play he had 80 percent of the total chips in play. He then knocked out Senovio Ramirez III and Mario Lopez in quick fashion, who finished 3rd and 2nd respectively.

“I did make it look easy,” Hoefer said afterward. “There’s no question I ran super good. But I played good, I think. When you play good and the cards hit you, that’s an unstoppable combination.”

Hoefer is a college student who took some time off to play poker and has been doing quite well playing online tournaments. He decided to attend the WSOP for the first time this year and cashed in four events, so far. However, nothing came close to this monumental victory, either in financial gain or prestige.

“It’s really unbelievable to win and have all my friends here with me,” Hoefer said as he was surrounded by a mob of supporters. “The German poker community is super. We have been very tight-knit for a couple of years now. We are like a family.”

Following Hoefer’s finish in the top spot, the descending order of results was as follows:

Second Place: Mario Lopez, from Buenos Aires, Argentina finished as the runner up, which paid $399,455. He came close to being this year’s second WSOP winner from Argentina (and second in history). Lopez now has three WSOP cashes, all of which took place this year.

Third Place: Senovio Ramirez III, from Mission, TX finished in 3rd place, which paid $287,620. This now marks 14 career cashes at the series, and his highest finish, to date.

Fourth Place: John Reading, from Rochester, MN finished in 4th place, which paid $212,559. He hoped to win a second gold bracelet after his first win, which happened earlier this summer. This was his sixth time to cash at this year’s series and now gives him more than $500,000 in accumulated winnings at the 2015 WSOP.

Fifth Place: Carlos Chang, from Taipei, Taiwan finished in 5th place, which paid $158,404. All three of Chang’s cashes at the WSOP have taken place this year.

Sixth Place: Dustin Lee, from Waipahu, HI finished in 6th place, which paid $119,049. This was his first WSOP in-the-money finish.

Seventh Place: Rainer Kempe, from Berlin, Germany finished in 7th place, which paid $90,189. This marked his second time to cash this summer.

Eighth Place: Jason Caulk, from New Palestine, IN finished in 8th place, which paid $68,912. He is 33-years-old and works in sales. This was Caulk’s first time to ever cash in a WSOP event.

Ninth Place: Brett Shaffer, from Beloit, KS finished in 9th place, which paid $53,088. He won gold bracelets in 2013 and 2014, and was hoping to pull off the consecutive year trifecta, but was the first player eliminated from the final table.

OTHER IN-THE-MONEY FINISHERS:

Aside from the final table finishers, other former gold bracelet winning players who cashed included – Jordan Smith (53rd), Joey Weissman (78th), Craig McCorkell (85th), Dominik Nitsche (99th), Davide Suriano (123rd), Alex Bolotin (144th), Andy Frankenberger (190th), Jim Collopy (257th), Carlos Mortensen (311th), Ylon Schwartz (333rd), Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi (337th), Thor Hansen (404th), and Sam Greenwood (410th).

FUN FACTS:

There were 4,486 males and 215 females who entered this event.

The average age of participants was 36 years, with the range from 21 to 83.

There were 138 first-time WSOP participants in this event.

The number of unique players (single entry) was 3,214.

There were 3,014 American players and 1,509 from other nations. The top-five list with the most players included – U.S., U.K., Canada, Brazil, and Italy.

EVENT DIRECT LINKS:

For this event’s results, visit:

http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/results.asp?grid=1136&tid=14261

For Paul Hoefer’s official player profile page, visit:

http://www.wsop.com/players/playerprofile.asp?playerID=174174

For the Live Reporting Log for this event, please visit:

http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates.asp?grid=1136&tid=14261

For photos from this event, please visit:

http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/photos.asp?grid=1136&tid=14261

For official winner photo, please visit:

http://www.wsop.com/pdfs/reports/14261-winner-photo.jpg

For the live stream archive of this event, please visit:

http://www.wsop.com/videos/?vcat=61

Senovio Ramirez moves all in on the button for his last 7,325,000. Mario Lopez folds the small blind and Paul Hoefer snap calls from the big blind.

Ramirez:   
Hoefer:   

The board runs out       and Ramirez hits the rail in 3rd place, earning $287,620.

Paul Hoefer - 42,550,000
Senovio Ramirez - Eliminated

Paul Hofer moves all in from under the gun and John Reading calls all in for less from the button. Both Ramirez and Lopez get out of the way, as Hofer and Reading table their hands.

Reading:   
Hofer:   

The dealer fans out a flop of     and Reading remains ahead, but Hofer picks up a wheel draw. Sure enough the dealer burns and turns the   and Hofer improves to a straight. Reading is drawing dead to a chop, needing any five on the river. The   completes the board and Reading hits the rail in 4th place, earning $212,559. Paul Hofer has more than half the chips in play.

Paul Hofer - 34,225,000
John Reading - Eliminated

The action folds around to Paul Hofer in the small blind and he moves all in. Carlos Chang (above) quickly calls, and is all in for 3,925,000 with   . Hofer has Chang covered and holds   .

Hofer hits a pair on the     flop. The turn is the   giving Hofer trip eights, and Chang is looking for a queen, and a queen only, on the river. But the river is the  , eliminating Chang in 5th place.

Paul Hofer - 24,000,000
Carlos Chang - Eliminated in 5th Place ($158,404)

Paul Hofer opens from under the gun to 1,025,000 and action folds around to John Reading on the button who elects to call. Mario Lopez tags along from the big blind as well, and they are three-ways to the flop.

The dealer spreads a flop of     and the action checks through to Reading who fires 850,000. Lopez folds and Hofer calls, as the two see the   fall on the turn. Hofer checks for a second time and Reading continues for 1,825,000. Hofer tanks for nearly a minute and then calls.

The river is the   and Hofer checks for a third time. Reading thinks about it for a while and decides to give up by checking back. Hofer tables    to take down the pot.

Paul Hofer - 20,050,000
John Reading - 4,500,000

Action folds around to John Reading in the small blind who limps his option and Senovio Ramirez checks from the big blind.

The two see a flop of     and Reading leads out for 550,000. Ramirez calls and both players see the   hit the turn. Reading slows down with a check and Ramirez checks behind.

The   falls on the river and Reading quickly fires out 725,000. Ramirez folds and Reading takes down the pot.