CHRIS BRAMMER WINS EVENT #45, 5,000 NO-LIMIT HOLD

LAS VEGAS (24 June 2017) – England's Chris Brammer has triumphed over a 505-player field in Event #45 of the 2017 World Series of Poker, $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Event #45 was fast-paced, two-day event featuring 30-minute levels, in contrast to the hour-or-longer levels found in most other WSOP tournaments.

This was the first WSOP gold bracelet for Brammer, who also earned $527,555 for the win. The payday was the largest to date of Brammer's WSOP career, and pushed his lifetime WSOP earnings to $1,121,185.

Brammer defeated Alabama's Jett Schencker after a brief heads-up duel to claim the title in Event #43. 

Brammer's knockout of Schencker occurred just one hand after the elimination of Yevgeniy Timoshenko in third. Brammer made it back-to-back knockouts when his    outflopped Schencker's   . That flop was    , and the turn and river brought the   and  , to the delight of Brammer's enthusiatic, Brit-heavy rail.

Schencker, from Birmingham, Ala., also claimed a career-best WSOP cash in this event. His runner-up payday of $326,051 swell his career WSOP earnings to $439,238.

Seattle resident and Ukraine-born Timoshenko's third-place run was worth $223,574.

Brammer credited his own run-well at the final table more than anything else. “It's a turbo tournament," noted Brammer. “The blinds went up fairly quickly and that creates a lot of all-in action. I won pretty much all of them.

“I got a lot of good cards as well. I could shove into them, put pressure on them. I was dealt a lot of good hands.”

“I came reasonably close before,” Brammer added, referring to his fifth-place showing in Event #57 of the 2012 WSOP, Event #57, the $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship. “That one hurt for a long time.”

Brammer also mentioned his other major fifth-place showing, also in 2012, in the WSOP Europe Main Event. “There hasn't been any since, and I've been coming here every year. It's been a while.” There's no better way to break a downturn, though, than by winning a WSOP bracelet.

49 players returned for Day 2 action in this turbo-style event, and only four hours later, with Richard Harroch's exit in 10th place, the official final table was set. Bustouts slowed at that point, but only slightly, and Mexico's Diego Sanchez pocketed ninth-place money when his    couldn't outrun Yevgeniy Timoshenko's   . Sanchez moved ahead on the     flop, but the   turn and   river gave Timoshenko the runner-runner straight and the knockout.

Just four hands later, Alex Foxen followed Sanchez to the rail, and again, it was Timoshenko delivering the final blow. Foxen moved his last 720,000 in with   , and Timoshenko called with   . The     flop paired Foxen's six, but the   turn gave Timoshenko a higher pair, and the   was a blank for both players.

Then, just two hands after Foxen's exit, Michael Brinkenhoff's run ended in seventh. From the small blind, Brinkenhoff called a pre-flop raise from Rui Ye, and he check-called Ye after a     flop. Brinkenhoff moved all in on the   turn; Ye pondered, called, and found himself ahead with    to Brinkenhoff's   . The   river completed a queen-high straight for Ye while Brinkenhoff headed to the payout window.

Germany's Oliver Weis was down to his last three big blinds in chips when, from the big blind, he called a raise from small blind Chris Brammer. Weis was all in with    while Brammer led, barely, with   . Brammer hooked a three on the     flop, and stayed ahead through the   turn and   river, sending Weis off in sixth.

Fifth then went to another German player, Tobias Ziegler, who called all in for his last 600,000 with   . Ziegler was up against Ye's   , and Ye stayed ahead as the board ran out      .

Ye, in his first-ever WSOP cash, made it all the way to fourth. Ye got the last of his chips in with pocker fours and was ahead of Schenker's A-2 through the     flop, but aces on the turn and river gave Schenker trip aces and trimmed the field to the final three.

Timoshenko, who finished as the runner-up in the 2011 WSOP Event #2, $25,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship, again came close to his own first WSOP win. With the blinds rising rapidly, Timoshenko moved all in over the top of a Brammer raise. Brammer quickly called, which was trouble for Timoshenko, as his    was well behind Brammer's   . Timoshenko was drawing dead by the river as the board brought      , which set the stage for Brammer to close out Schencker just one hand later.

Other Notables:

Among those running deep while cashing in this event were Jake Bazeley (17th), Chris Moorman (18th), Frank Kassela (19th), Michael Tureniec (33rd), Max Silver (34th), James Akenhead (35th), Kyle Julius (47th), David Sands (53rd), and Tony Dunst (58th). 76 players cashed in this event, which awarded a total prize pool of $2,348,250.

Click here for Full Results.
Click here for live updates from Event #45.

Final Table Payouts (earned POY points in parentheses):

1st: Chris Brammer, $527,555 (195.3)
2nd: Jett Schencker, $326,051 (166.3)
3rd: Yevgeniy Timoshenko, $223,574 (146.7)
4th: Rui Ye, $156,022 (130.1)
5th: Tobias Ziegler, $110,845 (116.1)
6th: Oliver Weis, $80,196 (104.2)
7th: Michael Brinkenhoff, $59,107 (94.1)
8th: Alex Foxen, $44,395 (85.6)
9th: Diego Sanchez, $33,933 (78.3)