Event #32: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed

After more than four hours of heads-up battle with Men Nguyen, Jeffrey Papola has finally won his first WSOP bracelet. This is his second shot at it in four days as well. He finished second in the previous six-handed event, a $2,500, outlasting 1,243 people. Then he turned around and started all over again in the $5,000 six-handed tournament. And this time, the law student/poker pro from New York City bested all 567 opponents and closed the deal. The $667,443 he gets for first boosts Papola to more than $1.1 million in career WSOP earnings. Men Nguyen refused to go quietly but after surviving a remarkable number of all-ins, he simply couldn't hang on any longer. Though he didn't pick up a second 2010 bracelet, Nguyen earned enough points for his second place finish to tie Michael Mizrachi and James Dempsey for the top spot in the WSOP Player of the Year race.

Twelve players returned for Day 3, meaning six had to hit the rail pre-final table. Lucas Greenwood was the first to go in 12th place, followed by French pro Anthony Roux. Evan Panesis, Paul Sheng, and Darren Elias were also eliminated to bring the field down to seven. Taylor McFarland and Erick Lindgren had been tangling in big pots all day, and it seemed inevitable one would take out the other. On the final table bubble, McFarland picked the wrong spot to test Lindgren and wound up out in seventh.

Lindgren outlasted McFarland to get to the final table, but he didn't make it any further than that. Lindgren picked up queens and came very close to folding to Men Nguyen's cold four-bet, but E-dog made the call and was eliminated in sixth place at the hands of Nguyen's pocket kings. Orlando Delacruz was next to go in fifth, followed minutes later by Bruno Launais in fourth. After all that action, Nguyen, Papola, and Mark Radoja played three-handed for three hours without an elimination before dispatiching a disappointed Radoja in third place.

Papola held a better than 3:1 chip lead when heads-up play began. Two hours later, Nguyen took over the chip lead. And for the next two hours, they traded it back and forth until Papola finally finished off the Master.

The next six max event, the much anticipated debut of the $25,000 Six Handed No-Limit Hold'em tournament, will begin on Wednesday, June 30th. Can Papola final table that one too? Stay tuned to PokerNews for live coverage of that event and every one in between.

Jeffrey Papola raised to 300,000 preflop, and Men Nguyen called. The flop came out  , and Nguyen checked. Papola bet 375,000, and not surprisingly, Nguyen check-raised. But his 900,000 bet was much larger than usual. Either Papola had a monster or sniffed out the sizing, because it only took him a minute to announce "all in." Men froze. He started the tanking process, but this was different. He looked miserable, counting down what was left of his stack, his eyes darting around the room as if hoping help would come from somewhere. After three minutes, he acknowledged the inevitable and gave up his hand.

Nguyen is down to 2.5 million, and Papola is back to a commanding lead with 6 million.

Jeffrey Papola bet 175,000 on a   board, and Men Nguyen called. The river was the  , and Nguyen bet out 400,000. Papola called the large bet but mucked when he saw Men's   for top pair with a jack kicker. With that hand, Nguyen took back the lead.

Jeffrey Papola raised to 320,000 with the button and Men Nguyen called.

The two checked all the way down and the board read  .

Nguyen opened   and Papola mucked.

Men Nguyen limped in with the button and Jeffrey Papola checked.

The flop fell   and the two checked. They both checked the   on the river as well.

After the   rivered Nguyen led for 200,000 and Papola called.

Nguyen showed the   and Papola mucked his hand.

Jeff Papola was waiting by the table to restart play as soon as break started. He'd been willing to skip it all together, but Men Nguyen wanted a break and had actually been asking to take it sooner. As soon as Men decided he was ready to resume play, he marched up to the table and looked impatiently at Papola. "Let's go. It's too late already." Papola held is tongue and got back to the action.

Despite how late it is, Men still complained about the blind jump from 60k/120k to 80k/160k. "What? There's no 70?" The TD just shook his head. There are now 53 big blinds in play.

Jeffrey Papola has taken the last three hands and is now back in the lead over Men Nguyen:

Papola - 4,420,000 chips

Nguyen - 4,080,000 chips

Jeff Papola limped in on the button and Men Nguyen checked.

The flop fell   and Nguyen check-called 120,000 from Papola.

Both players checked the   on the turn and the river brought the  . Nguyen checked, Papola bet 275,000 and Nguyen folded.

Papola took the next two pots as well, and is now back up to 4,700,000 chips.

This is becoming familiar. Men Nguyen gets short, then he doubles up, no problem. This time, he was down to 2.3 million when Jeff Papola raised to 240,000. Nguyen moved all in for another 2.1 million or so, and Papola looked him up.

Showdown

Nguyen:  

Papola:  

The   flop added a straight draw to Nguyen's better kicker. And with the   turn and   river, Nguyen successfully doubled up to 4.1 million. That dropped Papola down to 4.4 million, making the two opponents closer than they've been the entire match.

Jeffrey Papola raised to 200,000 with the button and Men Nguyen called.

The flop fell   and both players checked.

The turn was the   and Nguyen check-called 250,000 from Papola.

After the   rivered Nguyen put out a tiny, 150,000-chip bet. Papola quickly folded.