Monday, June 8, 2015 11:37 PM Local Time
JOHN GALE WINS THE TURBO BRACELET AND $298K
John Gale wins his second gold bracelet and the first one for the Brits this year.
MEET THE LATEST WSOP GOLD BRACELET WINNER:
Name: John Gale
Age: 61
Residence: Bushey, England
Birthplace: London, England
Occupation: Retired
Marital Status: Married
Children: 4
Number of WSOP Cashes: 10
Number of WSOP final table appearances: 3
Number of WSOP gold bracelet victories: 2
Best previous WSOP finish: 1st (2006 $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em)
Total WSOP earnings: $954,900
The above stats include Gale's Event #18 victory
TOURNAMENT RECAP:
Las Vegas (June 8, 2015) — The fast paced turbo event has concluded with John Gale defeating Gary Luther heads up for the 18th bracelet of the series. As expected, the tournament was able to wrap up in just two days of play, even with a massive turnout of 1,791 players. Gale will take home the first place prize money of $298,290 and his second career gold bracelet. This marks Gale's 10th WSOP cash and third career final table. His WSOP earnings are now just shy of a million with $954,900 in tournament earnings
Gale's first bracelet came back in 2006 when won the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event. He won that bracelet one year after finishing runner-up in a Pot-Limit Hold'em event for his first ever WSOP cash. He becomes the first Brit to win a bracelet this year and sixth international player to win one. Last year the Brits earned just one bracelet, which was won by John Kabbaj in the O8/Stud 8 event. Joining Gale at the final table was fellow Englishman, Stuart Rutter. Rutter ended up being eliminated in fifth place by Gale. Gale then went on to knock out the remainder of his opponents on his path to the gold bracelet.
"It is still incredible. I cannot believe it, I am over the moon," said Gale about winning a second gold bracelet.
The first bracelet will always be special to Gale because it was the first, but winning the second one brought just as much excitement, if not more to Gale. Gale said that he has a full schedule of events planned for the duration of the series and that he cannot wait to get back on the felt. He hopes to play in tomorrow's $1k No-Limit Hold'em event and maybe earn himself a third gold bracelet.
This is now the second time Gale has cashed at the 2015 series. Before these two cashes, the Rio has not seen much of Gale in the recent years. His last previous cash before this year was in 2007 in a $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em event. Now that Gale is back, expect to see a lot more of him and a lot of strong results from the two-time bracelet winner. When he was playing in the mid-2000s, Gale cashed in bunches, racking up eight cashes from 2005-2007.
This turbo event featured 30 minute levels on Day 1 and 40 minute levels on Day 2. It is the only turbo event on the 2015 schedule. Earlier in the series there was a Hyper Hold'em event that featured even faster levels. That tournament was won by John Reading. Standard WSOP tournaments have 60 minute levels.
This year’s turbo event enjoyed an attendance increase of more than 30 percent over last year. The 1,791-player field generated a prize pool of $1,611,900 that paid the top 198 finishers. Those to cash but fall short of the final table included all-time Circuit wins leader Alex Masek (188th, $1,821), Justin Zaki (132nd, $1,982), bracelet winners Brent Hanks (123rd, $2,192) and John Reading (46th, $4,948), Sorel Mizzi (104th, $2,192), two-time bracelet winner Chris Bjorin (101st, $2,192), Colossus third-place finisher Ray Henson (95th, $2,450), Wisconsin’s Joe Kuether (26th, $8,704), five-time Circuit ring winner Mark “Pegasus” Smith (21st, $8,704) and Adam Bilzerian (12th, $17,053).
Day 1 of the event kicked off Sunday, June 7 at noon PT and by about 9:30 p.m., the field was in the money. Play wrapped a few hours later just after 2 a.m. with 29 players remaining. Day 2 resumed the following day at 1 p.m. and play concluded at around 10 p.m.
Here’s a look at the final table results:
1st: John Gale - $298,290 + WSOP gold bracelet
2nd: Gary Luther - $184,481
3rd: Matthew Vessier - $127,549
4th: Andrew "Bruce" Le - $91,991
5th: Stuart Rutter - $67,248
6th: Nitesh Rawtani - $49,807
7th: Mark Darner - $37,379
8th: Sean Rice - $28,417
9th: Tim Finne - $21,873
EVENT FUN FACTS:
- John Gale was the only gold bracelet winner at the final table while Nitesh Rawtani, Matthew Vessier, Gary Luther had never recorded a WSOP cash
- The 1,791-player starting field was comprised of individuals from 51 different countries (1,413 U.S. players, 378 international)
- The average age of a participant was 38 years nine months old
EVENT DIRECT LINKS:
Gale’s official WSOP player profile page is available HERE.
Final results, live reporting log, photos and official winner photo are available HERE.
Live stream archive of the event is available HERE.
Monday, June 8, 2015 10:00 PM Local Time
John Gale raises to 330,000 and Gary Luther moves all in. It takes a moment but Gale makes the call to give himself a chance for victory and the cards are on their backs.
Gale:
Luther:
The board runs out .
Gale wins, and he embraces his vanquished and gracious opponent to the applause of the crowd. Luther takes home $184,481 for second place. Gale wins his second WSOP bracelet and $298,290.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:49 PM Local Time
Gary Luther moves all in on the button, and John Gale shakes his head a bit before folding his hand.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:48 PM Local Time
John Gale calls and Gary Luther checks. The flop is
and they check to see the
turn and the
river. Gale has
for the win.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:46 PM Local Time
Gary Luther limps on the button, and John Gale raises it to 345,000. Luther calls, and the flop comes down
. Gale moves all in, and Luther quickly folds.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:45 PM Local Time
Level: 33
Blinds: 80,000/160,000
Ante: 20,000
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:45 PM Local Time
John Gale calls and Gary Luther checks. The flop is
and a 150,000 bet from Luther sees Gale call. The turn is the
and Luther shoves. Gale folds.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:43 PM Local Time
Gary Luther limps on the button, and John Gale checks his option. The flop comes down
, and both players tap the felt. The
hits the turn, and Gale checks to Luther, who bets out 170,000. Gale calls, and the river is the
. Gale checks a third time, and so does Luther. Gale tables
for two pair, and that earns the pot.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:41 PM Local Time
John Gale calls and they see a flop of
with no action. The turn is the
and the river is the
with no bets. Luther has
for the best hand
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:39 PM Local Time
Gary Luther makes the call on the button, and John Gale checks his option. The dealer fans out a flop of
, and both players check. The
hits the turn, and Gale fires 180,000. The
completes the board, and Gale bets out 250,000. Luther moves all in, and Gale rechecks his cards before folding.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:37 PM Local Time
John Gale calls and Gary Luther moves all in. Gale folds.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:36 PM Local Time
Gary Luther moves all in on the button, and John Gale releases.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:35 PM Local Time
John Gale makes it 250,000 and Gary Luther calls. The flop is
. Luther checks and Gale bets to take it down.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:33 PM Local Time
Gary Luther moves all in from the button, and John Hale gets a count. Once he gets the number, he releases, and Luther scoops the pot.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:33 PM Local Time
John Gale calls. They check it down on . The of Luther takes it.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:30 PM Local Time
Gary Luther raises all in, and John Gale flashes
before folding. Luther takes the pot.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:29 PM Local Time
John Gale calls on the button and Gary Luther checks. The flop is
. Gale bets and takes the pot.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:23 PM Local Time
Matthew Vessier bumps it up to 300,000 on the button, and John Gale moves all in from the big blind, easily having Vessier covered. Vessier makes the call, and sees he is well behind.
Gale:
Vessier:
The flop comes , and Vessier picks up some more outs. The on the turn means that Vessier can only win with a deuce now, but it doesn't come, as the completes the board. Vessier will have to settle for $127,549, and we are now heads up.
Gale holds a massive advantage right now, with 8.06 million to the 905,000 of Luther. The players are taking a short break while the stage is set up for the heads up battle.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:15 PM Local Time
John Gale opens for 250,000 and takes the pot.
Monday, June 8, 2015 9:14 PM Local Time
Gary Luther makes it 250,000 on the button, and Matthew Vessier three-bets to 650,000 in the big blind. Luther releases, and Vessier scoops another.