Winner's prize of $279,920 moves Zinno over $3.1 million in lifetime WSOP earnings
28 June 2019 (Las Vegas) – Las Vegas pro Anthony Zinno has claimed the second gold bracelet of World Series of Poker career by winning Event #60 of the 2019 WSOP, $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better.
Zinno, 30, a native of Cranston, Rhode Island, captured his second career WSOP win after already posting two near misses this series. Zinno finished as the runner-up in Event #20, $1,500 Seven-Card Stud, and was also part of the third-place team in the just completed Event #57, $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold'em.
Zinno's win also brought him a nice $279,920 payday, which boosted his career WSOP winnings to $3,111,792. Zinno has posted 51 career cashes in WSOP events.
The win by Zinno meant a runner-up finish for Vancouver, Washington's Rodney Burt, Jr. In just his fifth WSOP cash, Burt earned $172,932, which was more than five times his previous WSOP earnings.
Third place in Event #60 went to Lindau, Germany's Thomas Schröpfer, who collected $122,555 for his four days of play.
Las Vegas pro Jon Turner made another deep run but logged a near-miss in his own search for a long-sought first bracelet. made a deep run, finishing fourth for $87,967 in his 81st career WSOP cash. Fifth place and a $47,118 cash went to Henderson, Nevada's Scott Abrams.
While Zinno didn't rank this bracelet win on a par with his first such victory back in 2015, which came in the $25,000 high-roller pot-limit Omaha event and brought him a payday over $1.1 million, he was still plenty pleased with bracelet number two. “This one, I'm super-proud,” he explained, “because I've been practicing a lot of Omaha hi-lo... for the past two years, specifically. I was actually really excited to play this specific event and the $10K” version of the same event, which Zinno planned to enter this same night. “It's pretty cool when you work on one game particularly hard, and then it works.
Zinno also described this summer as being “the biggest grind of my career, by far. I've been playing live since '07, so over 12 years, and this summer has been nonstop.”
He also credits an off-table regimen with contributing to his poker success. “Maximum comfort – a good bed, and [] eight hours of sleep. If you don't get eight hours of sleep you're short-changing yourself. That's just science. Everything from the best mattress you can find, the best pillow you can find.” Later he credited a strict egg-whites-and-oatmeal breakfast routine with getting both his mind and body off to a ready start each morning.
Then he moved on to applying himself at poker as well. “Practicing when you can. Even in the tournaments, when I bust a tournament, let's say it was 6:00. I would go home and just hop online, and in fact, I was playing O/8 online. Last week, when I busted an online bracelet event, I played O/8. I love the game and trying to get better, and of course, looking forward to these tournaments this week.” He summed it all up as “relentless practice,” plus “rest, sleep... the brain needs sleep.”
It's the third time Zinno has the final three in an event this month, but perhaps just the first one he's felt that was really his to win. One of the other runs just happened in the tag-team, Event #57, but Zinno had to let his teammates do most of the playing because of his own deep run in this tourney. And earlier, when he finished second to Eli Elezra in Event #20, Seven-Card Stud, he admitted he might have had the worst of it. “To tell you the truth, I was heads-up with Eli, and I felt like I was going to get second. Eli's a much better stud player than I am and he went into the heads-up with a chip lead. I was really happy to be there and I fought my heart out, but in the end I was like, 'Yeah, that felt right.'”
Later, talk turned to Zinno's own growing list of major tournament successes and how he viewed himself and performances withing the greater poker scene. At first, he just credited his love of the game. “I just love poker. I used to just love no-limit, I fell in love with PLO – secretly, it was a lot longer than people think, and then it was like, 'I'll try these H.O.R.S.E. Games' and I wasn't very good.” Then he segued. “I love gaming. I think gaming is great for the brain. I think society underrates how much gaming can be good for people to learn how to learn.”
Zinno also asserts that he looks for respect, and not only at the table, but in hw he conducts himself within poker and throughout life. “I like when people are like, 'Hey, I like playing with you,' or 'I respect your work ethic.' Or, 'I heard you were really nice to my friend.' I get a lot of those compliments, and that means more than anything else. There are some poker players who are much better than I am – I won't name any names – but I don't like the way they treat other people, generally speaking, besides their close group of friends, who tend to be wizard poker players. I think that's a bad, cold vibe, and it's not good for the poker world.”
Zinno need not worry about that himself. He remains one of the game's most popular players, and with multiple bracelet wins plus major success on other tours, his own legacy is doing just fine.
Event #60 rolled into an extra day of play with a full official final table of nine players still in the bracelet hunt, led by Scott Abrams' 6.6 million chip stack, but it was a tale of the haves and have-nots. Five of the nine finalists had very playable stacks of between 22 and 41 (Abrams) big blinds, while the other had stacks measured in single-digit big blinds.
To no one's surprise, three of those four short-stacked players crashed out in Day 4's first half hour. The first to depart was eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel, who ended up all in before the flop against Rodney Burt in a battle of the blinds. Seidel had while Burt had , and the board brought to give Burt straight and the best low. Seidel collected $20,410 for ninth.
Arizona's Kyle Miaso followed Seidel to the cashier just moments later. Miaso moved almost all in before the flop with his opening pot-sized raise, and Schröpfer then re-raised, leaving Miaso no choice but to call off his remaining chips. Miaso had to Schröpfer's , but the high-only board ran out , giving Schröpfer tens up and the knockout. Miaso's eighth-place effort was worth $26,611.
Connor Drinan's seventh-place ($35,173) ouster completed the early-day bustout trifecta. Canada's Drinan opened for most of his stack from under the gun, Burt reraised, the other players folded and Drinan called for the rest of his stack. Drinan had , but that was no good against Burt's . An board gave Burt the nut low and queens up for high, trimming the final to six.
Six-handed action lasted for nearly three hours before another flurry of bustouts chopped the field in half. Tucson, Arizona's Jordan Spurlin departed next, collecting a $47,118 payout for sixth. Burt picked up this knockout as well after Spurlin re-raised all in before the flop, with initial raiser Burt calling. Spurlin while Burt had , and Burt rivered Broadway on a runout.
Abrams, the early chip leader, struggled on Day 4 and eventually busted in fifth, worth $63,961. Again Burt played the villain, with Abrams getting his last chips in with while Burt had . An unlikely flop gave Burt a lock on the high, and he dodged a chop for the low when a turn and river completed the board. Abrams' run was worth $63,961.
A short-stacked Jon Turner busted soon after, collecting $87,967 for fourth. This time Zinno delivered the knockout blow after his won out against an all-in-on-the-flop Turner's . A flop gave him plenty of draws, but a turn and river missed everything to trim the final to three.
Germany's Schröpfer dodged the other knockout hands while remaining in contention, but after a lengthy stretch of three-way play he busted to Zinno. The two engaged in a brief pre-flop raising war that left Schröpfer all in with to Zinno's . Both players hit the flop, though neither had the hearts, and a turn and river left Zinno's queens good. Schröpfer earned $122,555 for third.
Zinno began heads-up play with a narrow lead over Burt, and he expanded it before Burt fought back to take a temporary lead. Zinno soon pulled ahead again, and then scooped a major pot with a better low and a nominal high (a pair of queens) that still worked for the other half.
The end came soon after, in a hand where Burt was all in for his last four million in chips before the flop. He had , while Zinno showed . Zinno hit trip sixes on the flop, the turn and river weren't near enough help for Burt, and the Event #60 bracelet was Zinno's.
Event #60, $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better, drew 1,117 entries and offered a $1,507,950 prize pool. 164 players made the money, with a min-cash worth $2,249.
Event #60 cashers also included notables Ari Engle (10th, $15,871), David Prociak (11th, $15,871), Jameson Painter (13th, $12,515), Scott Clements (13th, $12,515), Matt O'Donnell (17th, $10,010), Phil Laak (26th, $8,122), Michael Mizrachi (27th, $8,122), Todd Witteles (30th, $6,687), Mike Matusow (31st, $6,687), Joey Couden (33rd, $6,687), Jeremy Harkin (36th, $6,687), Chris Bjorin (38th, $5,588), and Ray Henson (40th, $5,588).
Click here for Full Results.
Click here for live updates from Event #60.
Final-Table Payouts:
1st: Anthony Zinno, $279,920
2nd: Rodney Burt, Jr., $172,932
3rd: Thomas Schröpfer, $122,555
4th: Jon Turner, $87,967
5th: Scott Abrams, $63,961
6th: Jordan Spurlin, $47,118
7th: Connor Drinan, $35,173
8th: Kyle Miaso, $26,611
9th: Erik Seidel, $20,410