Event #6: GIANT - $365 No-Limit Hold'em

Another champion has been crowned at the 2018 World Series of Poker and it was Jeremy Perrin that emerged victorious in Event #6: $365 GIANT No-Limit Hold'em, taking home his maiden bracelet and a payday of $250,966 for his efforts. The event with the smallest buy-in of the entire schedule had five separate starting days and drew 8,920 entries with a total of $2,676,000 in prize money. Players could earn several cashes in their respective flights, and it was Perrin that came out on top, defeating Puerto Rican Luis Vazquez in heads-up play.

"I feel pretty good. I actually thought it was the PLO GIANT and then I got two cards instead of four, figured I might just ship it," Perrin said, surrounded by his friends during the winner interview. It was the first bracelet event he entered, and there was an additional incentive for him to do well with a very specific prop bet.

"If we play in a tournament together, a ring or bracelet event and we both play, and I win or he wins, I get to pick a tramp stamp for him that he has to keep for a year. That is in stone. That's all I have played for. The money doesn't matter, I gonna take the bracelet and melt it down into gold fronts. I'll take the money, put it into a shredder, and just want to get his tramp stamp."

Perrin insisted to be very serious about this, much to the laughter of the friends right next to him.

It wasn't an easy ride to victory for the Omaha cash game player, as Perrin was one of the shorter stacks at the start of the final table with just 19 big blinds. After barely playing any hands early on, he doubled with pocket jacks in the first orbit and was essentially aiming for pay jumps.

"I didn't play a hand for two hours. Honestly, I played for sixth place, then I wanted to make third, and then for the win."

Several double-ups later, Perrin was suddenly among the last three and second in chips when he clashed with eventual third-place finisher Svetlozar Nestorov in a crucial hand that would define the outcome of the tournament. Perrin moved all in with pocket aces and got the call he wanted to take an overwhelming lead.

"I already looked at my hand, knew what I had. I told him I was thinking about a chop, and they didn't want to chop. So fuck it, I am all in. Then he woke up with ace-king and popped it. That was bad for him. That was actually a pretty good one."

Among the notables to reach the final day of the event were WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Fuhs, who was eliminated in nineth place for $25,319 and Russia's Alexander Lakhov (fifth place, $69,571). It was Lakhov's second WSOP final table of the summer and third in total, and he once again missed out on the coveted gold bracelet by a very small margin.

Final Table Result

The 2018 WSOP Event #6: $365 GIANT No-Limit Hold'em at a Glance

Action of the Final Day

Only nine players remained and the only former WSOP bracelet winner among the finalists was sent to the rail first in Daniel Fuhs. He three-bet shoved with ace-king and initial raiser Luis Vazquez called with king-queen to spike a queen on the flop, ensuring that a first-time champion would be crowned. Just over one hour later, the field was reduced to the final four after several short stacks ran out of chips in quick succession.

Matthew Smith doubled early on, then called a shove by Renato Kaneoya blind-on-blind with ace-king suited. Kaneoya only had queen-eight, but an eight on the flop awarded the pot to the Brazilian. Lawrence Chan lost a flip with pocket sixes against the king-queen of Kevin Rines when a king appeared on the river only to become the next casualty soon after.

First Rines lost almost all of his chips to Alexander Lakhov when his jacks failed to hold up versus sixes, and Lakhov finished off the job the very next hand with ace-seven suited against jack-eight. Lakhov then became the fifth-place finisher not even 20 minutes later when his ace-six suited ended up second-best to the ace-jack of Vazquez.

By then a large rail had built in the corner section of the Brasilia room. The location was a good omen for Brazilian Kaneoya, but it wasn't meant to be for the fifth gold bracelet for his home country and second of the 2018 WSOP. Kaneoya's run came to an end in a dramatic flip against Svetlozar Nestorov when his ace-ten flopped top two pair against the pair of eights of Nestorov. A jack on the flop gave the Bulgarian more outs and the eight on the rail sent his rail into ecstasy.

Down to the last three, double-ups were traded several times and Nestorov failed to hold onto a commanding lead and his downfall was almost complete after losing the vast majority of his stack when calling the shove of Perrin with ace-king only to run straight into pocket aces. Nestorov doubled once before ending up second-best with ace-five against Vazquez's ace-eight.

In heads-up, Perrin held an overwhelming lead and Vazquez doubled once, but eventually fell short in a coinflip with pocket fours against king-ten suited. Perrin was swiftly dubbed as "Jeremy the Giant" by his rail and even joked about jumping into the Pot-Limit Omaha version of THE GIANT soon after.

That brings an end to the PokerNews live reporting of this event, while the highlight of the annual summer camp is right around the corner with Day 1a of the $10,000 Main Event to kick off at 11 a.m. Local time on Monday, July 2nd, 2018.

Hand #125: Jeremy Perrin moved all in from the button and Luis Vazquez forfeited his big blind.

Hand #126: A walk for Perrin.

Hand #127: Perrin moved all in, and Vazquez let go once more.

Hand #128: Perrin got a walk.

Hand #129: A walk for Vazquez.

Hand #130: Vazquez folded his button.

Hand #131: Perrin shoved on the button and Vazquez gave up his hand.

Jeremy Perrin	175,000,000	15,400,000
Luis Vazquez	48,000,000	-15,400,000

Hand #122: Luis Vazquez moved all in from the button and Jeremy Perrin folded.

Hand #123: Perrin shoved out of the small blind and Vazquez called for his last 28.2 million.

Luis Vazquez:   
Jeremy Perrin:   

The board came       and Vazquez doubled with two pair.

Hand #124: Vazquez shoved and Perrin folded, he was shown the   .

Jeremy Perrin	159,600,000	-29,400,000
Luis Vazquez	63,400,000	29,400,000

Hand #116: Jeremy Perrin moved all in from the button and claimed the blinds and antes.

Hand #117: Svetlozar Nestorov moved all in for 32.5 million from the small blind, raking in the big blind and antes.

Hand #118: Perrin jammed out of the small blind and Luis Vazquez forfeited his big blind, flashing the  .

"Do you want to see? I will show you one time," Perrin said and showed his   .

Hand #119: Perrin's shove on the button went through uncalled.

Hand #120: A walk for Perrin.

Jeremy Perrin	150,000,000	11,000,000
Luis Vazquez	42,500,000	-8,500,000
Svetlozar Nestorov	30,500,000	-2,500,000

Hand #108: Svetlozar Nestorov raised to 12 million out of the small blind and won the big blind and antes.

Hand #109: Nestorov limped on the button, Jeremy Perrin did so out of the small blind, and Luis Vazquez checked in the big blind. On the     flop, action checked to Nestorov and his bet of 4.8 million won the pot.

Hand #110: First to act, Perrin moved all in and Nestorov in the big blind gave it brief consideration before he called with the superior stack.

Jeremy Perrin:   
Svetlozar Nestorov:   

The board of       left Nestorov with just shy of four big blinds, as Perrin doubled for 74.8 million and jumped into a commanding lead.

Jeremy Perrin	152,300,000	78,000,000
Luis Vazquez	54,900,000	-16,800,000
Svetlozar Nestorov	15,800,000	-61,200,000

Hand #99: Svetlozar Nestorov limped in the small blind and Jeremy Perrin jammed out of the big blind. Nestorov folded.

Hand #100: Nestorov raised to 6.3 million on the button and claimed the blinds and antes.

Hand #101: A walk for Nestorov.

Hand #102: Luis Vazquez raised to 10 million from the button and Nestorov asked for his stack size, which was around 90 million. Nestorov moved all in from the small blind and forced folds from Perrin and Vazquez. The latter flashed the  .

Hand #103: A walk for Vazquez.

Hand #104: A walk for Nestorov.

Svetlozar Nestorov	107,500,000	20,500,000
Luis Vazquez	79,100,000	-13,900,000
Jeremy Perrin	39,400,000	-3,600,000

Hand #88: Jeremy Perrin gave Luis Vazquez a walk and flashed the  .

Hand #89: Perrin moved all in from the button and scooped the blinds and antes.

Hand #90: Svetlozar Nestorov pushed all in from the small blind and Perrin called in the big blind.

Jeremy Perrin:   
Svetlozar Nestorov:   

Both players hit a pair on the     and Perrin remained in the lead, but Nestorov improved to two pair on the   turn. The   river paired the board and the preflop order was restored. Perrin doubled for 46.4 million.

Hand #91: Nestorov opened the action with a raise to 6.1 million on the button. Joint chip leader Perrin moved all in from the small blind and Vazquez reluctantly called all in out of the big blind, Nestorov folded.

Luis Vazquez:   
Jeremy Perrin:   

The board of       improved Vazquez to a pair of queens and he doubled for 37.4 million.

"You gotta gamble now that we are playing for the win," Vazquez shrugged while stacking the chips.

Svetlozar Nestorov	84,000,000	-50,400,000
Luis Vazquez	82,400,000	37,000,000
Jeremy Perrin	56,600,000	13,400,000

Hand #76: Svetlozar Nestorov raised to 4,800,000 from the under-the-gun position and was called by Luis Vazquez in the small blind. Renato Kaneoya shoved all in from the big blind and Nestorov asked for a count. The dealer confirmed the amount was 42,900,000 and Nestorov went deep into the tank. After a while, Vazquez called the clock on Nestorov. The floor came over and gave Nestorov a minute longer to consider his options. After the minute was over, the floor gave Nestorov 30 seconds to make a decision. The floor started counting down from five and Nestorov called. Vazquez snap-folded.

Renato Kaneoya:   
Svetlozar Nestorov;   

The flop came     to give Kaneoya two pair. The turn brought them the   which gave Nestorov some extra outs as any seven, eight, or queen would give Nestorov a straight or a set.

The   came on the river and the Bulgarian rail went crazy as Nestorov hit his set to eliminate the Day 2 chip leader in fourth place for $90,599.

Svetlozar Nestorov	130,000,000	48,500,000
Renato Kaneoya	0	-44,000,000