With the 2014 World Series of Poker winding down quickly, winning a bracelet when the opportunity arises is sweeter than ever. There are just a few more bracelets to be handed out this year before everyone will have to go home and wait another for a shot at the gold. Of course, Australia is always an option for more shots at bracelets, but for Mike Kachan, the time to win a bracelet was now.
Kachan saw his opportunity for a bracelet and took it by defeating Jeff Blenkarn heads up to win the last $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event of the summer, excluding the Little One for One Drop. A staggering 2,653 players ponied up the buy-in for the tournament, all knowing time was running out. Kachan is now one of the few that can go home satisfied knowing he is a 2014 bracelet winner.
"It feels great. It was a tough ride, but it was well worth it. I am really thankful for all of the people I have behind me," Kachan said about his bracelet-winning performance.
The 30-year-old from Woodbury, Minnesota came out to Vegas to play in the Main Event and decided to hop into this event last minute. It turned out to be quite the wise decision, as he takes home $403,483 for his victory. He is using the rest of his time here as a family vacation with his wife and 10-month-old son.
"When the tournament started, I was in northern Utah driving in and got here with 20 [big blinds]. The rest was history I guess." said Kachan.
History it was, as Kachan books a win, a bracelet and his second WSOP final table. He finished ninth in a $1,500 Limit Hold'em shootout in 2008. Kachan hopes to ride his momentum deep into the Main Event to get what he was really here for--a Main Event bracelet. However the Main goes for Kachan though, he forever has the right to call himself a bracelet winner.
For six of the nine final table participants, it was their first-ever WSOP final table. Only Kachan, Eric Shanks (3rd) and Steve Gross (7th) had made previous WSOP final tables and Gross was the only player to have a bracelet to his name. Gross won the $5,000 Six-Handed Pot Limit Omaha event last year.
The $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em event played at the Rio in Las Vegas and generated a $2,272,500 prize pool. The top 270 finishers made the money. Some of the notables who cashed include Hiren “Sunny” Patel (141st), Rep Porter (126th), two-time bracelet winner Andy Frankenberger (104th), Loni Harwood (46th) and Matt Salsberg, who ended up bubbling the final table in tenth place.
Here are the final table results from the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event:
1st: Mike Kachan - $403,483
2nd: Jeff Blenkarn - $250,815
3rd: Eric Shanks - $177,527
4th: Andrew Egan - $128,032
5th: Viktor Skoldstedt - $93,490
6th: Neo Hoang - $69,084
7th: Steve Gross - $51,676
8th: Richard Milne - $39,109
9th: Raymond Henson - $29,951
