ADAM FRIEDMAN WINS $10,000 DEALERS CHOICE 6-HANDED

Friedman's Event #35 win worth $312,417 along with third career WSOP bracelet

17 June 2019 (Las Vegas) – Adam Friedman has successfully defended his title in one of the WSOP events most resepcted by veteran poker players, $10,000 Dealers Choice 6-Handed. Friedman's repeat win, coming in Event #35 of this summer's World Series of Poker, was worth $312,417 and brought him the third WSOP gold bracelet of his gold career.

The big payday moved Friedman's career WSOP winnings to $1,801,773. Friedman, 37, of Gahanna, Ohio, has logged 31 total WSOP and Circuit cashes, with this being the single largest cash.

Friedman arrived at the fourth and final day of this event in second place behind eventual runner-up Shaun Deeb, who was looking for his own fifth career WSOP bracelet. Friedman had pulled ahead by a 3:2 margin by the time he and Deeb began heads-up play, then closed out the repeat win.

Deeb, the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year and a veteran pro now living in Las Vegas, earned second-place money of $193,090. That pushed Deeb's career WSOP winnings north of $4.5 million.

Philadephia's Matt Glantz, who has earned well over $3 million in his own WSOP career, again came up just short in his search for that long-sought first bracelet. Glantz's extended run was worth $139,126.

Two California-based players, David Moskowitz and Michael McKenna, finished in fourth ($100,440) and fifth ($72,653) respectively. New York's Nick Schulman earned a sixth-place cash worth $52,656.

Friedman offered a detailed breakdown of the event's final hand, when he had   , made a full house on the turn, and induced Deeb to call off his remaining stack with two pair, aces over jacks. “I min-raised the button, which I'd been min-raising every button. Shaun's been three-betting a wide array of hands – some strong, some not so strong. I just made up my mind that when I was in position, I was going to defend some of my weaker hands.

“I thought a medium connector seemed good enough to defend with. The flop went 8-7-4 rainbow.” The flop was    . “He led out small and I thought it looked stronger if I called, assuming I had a piece of the board, so I thought if I raised I could represent all sorts of hands – gutshots, bottom pairs – really marginal hands in those spots.

“He called, and I turned the second best full house with the seven. Now I'm pretty sure he's going to call, assuming he's going to barrel through a lot of my bluffs. If the turn had been a deuce I'd have bet a lot bigger than I did to keep him in with any overpairs, eights, any open-enders. So I bet 650,000, approximately.

“The river,” the  , “completed a lot of specific hands. In case he had one of those hands with the jack hitting, I thought it was very likely that he could call. I moved all in and he called, for like 1.5 million. And that was it.”

When asked how the repeat win in this event compared to his triumph in 2018, Friedman said, “This year definitely means more. Definitely the second best poker accomplishment I've ever had, being able to repeat in what I believe is the most difficult of the $10K's to play.

“I still think the $10K H.O.R.S.E. Is the crown jewel of the $10K's at the World Series, just because it's the one people play in the most. [But] this is unquestionably the most difficult of the $10K events. You've got to be able to play all 20 games and the ones that you're not experienced in, you have to have basic card [sense]."

Friedman says the pure depth of poker knowledge needed to play all 20 possible games makes it very unlikely that unseasoned players will “fluke their way” to a final table. “Simply because once you get a couple of the weaker players, everyone's a bunch of coyotes. They just prey on the weak. Once they see someone is absolutely weak [in a game], everyone's firing that game absolutely nonstop until that person's gone.”

Friedman himself figured that Deeb, one of the world's best in virtual any format, would still favor big-bet games such as hold'em. Yet Friedman also figured that Deeb might have had less of an edge there than he might have hoped for, since Friedman has worked extensively on hold'em over the past two years.

And as for that “second best poker accomplishment” aside, Friedman is still most proud of having never gone broke in the game, despite the ups and downs of a 14-year pro career.

Five players returned for the Day 4 conclusion of this dealers choice event, in which each player in turn selected one of 20 different poker formats which would then be played for a full table rotation. Deeb led the final five players after Nick Schulman busted in sixth ($52,656) late on Day 3, though Schulman was still credited with an official final-table appearance.

Less than an hour into Day 4, Michael McKenna exited in fifth ($72,653). McKenna's bustout came in a hand of pot-limit deuce-to-seven triple draw, which started with Deeb raising from under the gun and McKenna calling from the button. Deeb drew three cards to McKenna's two; Deeb then check-raised, McKenna bet 100,000, and Deeb check-raised to 500,000. McKenna then attempted to move all in, though he had more than the maximum pot-limit bet, but Deeb then moved all in himself, having McKenna's overage well covered.

Deeb stayed pat, while McKenna drew one on the second draw. Deeb stayed pat again, and McKenna threw away a   and pulled one again. Deeb then opened his      . McKenna was still alive with his     , but he pulled a   instead of the   or   he needed.

Fourth place and $100,400 went to David Moskowitz just a handful of hands later. Moskowitz was down to just 192,000 in chips when he got them all in against Friedman in a hand of pot-limit Omaha. Moskowitz had      but trailed Friedman's     . The         board offered hope but ultimately no improvement, with Friedman's kings good enough for the knockout.

Veteran pro Matt Glantz survived the other early exits, nursing his own short stack through to three-way play. He could climb no higher, though, and busted for his last 183,000 in a hand of deuce-to-seven triple draw against Deeb. The two were all in on the initial deal after a brief bettiing war, and on the first draw, Glantz took three to Deeb's two. Both players drew one in the second round, and, drawing first, Glantz again took one on the final draw while Deeb stayed pat. Deeb showed his      , while Glantz needed to connect to his     . Instead, he caught another deuce and exited in third.

That set the stage for the closing clash between Friedman and Deeb, in which Friedman held the lead the entire way until the full-house-over-two-pair ending.

Event #35, $10,000 Dealers Choice 6-Handed, pulled in 122 entries to create a $1,146,800 prize pool. 19 players cashed and a min-cash was worth $14,818.

Others making the money in Event #35, $10,000 Dealers Choice 6-Handed, included Phil Hui (7th, $36,238), Bryce Yockey (8th, $36,238), Jeff Lisandro (10th, $27,823), Matthew Schreiber (12th, $20,285), Max Pescatori (13th, $14,818), and Chris Klodnicki (16th, $14,818).

Click here for Full Results.
Click here for live updates from Event #35.

Final-Table Payouts:

1st: Adam Friedman, $312,417
2nd: Shaun Deeb, $193,090
3rd: Matt Glantz, $139,126
4th: David Moskowitz, $100,440
5th: Michael McKenna, $72,653
6th: Nick Schulman, $52,656