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Greensboro, NC's Jeremy Perrin collects a quarter of a million dollars for winning $365 buy-in event.

1 July 2018 (Las Vegas) – Jeremy Perrin, from Greensboro, NC, has earned $250,000 and his first WSOP gold bracelet by winning Event #6 of the 2018 World Series of Poker, the Giant ($365 No-Limit Hold'em).

The $250,000 cash is by far the largest of Perrin's career. Previously, Perrin had earned $5,287 in two WSOP Circuit cashes.

Perrin, 38, came from behind at the final table to claim the win in this special three-day event, gathering most of the chips in play when he doubled through against chip leader Svetlozar Nestorov with pocket aces against Nestorov's A-K.

Perrin's final opponent in the Giant was Luis Vazquez, a 39-year-old trade show operator from Puerto Rico. Vazquez's second-place payday of $154,512 was also a WSOP lifetime best.

Nestorov finished third after losing most of his chips to Perrin in the tournament's largest hand, thus earning $117,531.

Fourth place in this big-field event went to Sao Paulo, Brazil's Renato Akio Kaneoya, who earned $89,686 for his efforts. Russia's Alexander Lakhov finished fifth for $68,605 in his second final-table appearance of the summer.

The Giant, which debuted at the WSOP last year, drew 8,920 entrants in its second edition while continuing to feature the lowest entry fee, at $365, on the WSOP's summer slate.

Perrin came to the final table as one of the shorter stacks, with just under 20 big blinds, yet surged to the win courtesy of several big hands. During four-handed action, Perrin shoved all in before the flop, for 51 million, over a Nestorov raise. Nestorov quickly called and showed to Perrin's , but Perrin spiked a five on the turn to stay alive. Later, trimmed down to under 40 million, Perrin was all in before the flop with to Vazquez's . This time Perrin caught the runner-runner flush on a runout to again double through.

The biggest hand, though, came late in three-handed action, after Nestorov had taken a narrow lead. With the blinds rising and each of the players weighing their options, Perrin quickly glanced at his cards, said, “,” and jammed for about 73 million. Nestorov quickly called with but Perrin opened . The board left Nestorov drawing dead by the turn and officially on crumbs one card later; he busted in third to Perrin soon after.

That left Vazquez in Perrin's path, but Perrin's juggernaut rolled on. Just 11 hands later, Vazquez moved all in with , and Perrin quickly called with . Vazquez stayed ahead through the flop and turn, but the river gave Perrin the higher pair and the win.

Perrin, who plays in plenty of private poker games around the Greensboro area, made his first bracelet event at the WSOP a memory of a lifetime. And he almost didn't enter. As he told the WSOP, "I feel pretty good. I actually thought it was the PLO Giant" -- a different event -- "and then I got two cards instead of four; I figured I might as well just ship it."

There was also an unusual prop bet involved, to which Perrin devoted a sizable chunk of his pre-final bio questiionaire. As he detailed it later, "If we play in a tournament together, a ring or bracelet event and we both play, and I win or he wins, I get to pick a tramp stamp for him that he has to keep for a year. That is in stone. That's all I have played for. The money doesn't matter, I gonna take the bracelet and melt it down into gold fronts. I'll take the money, put it into a shredder, and just want to get his tramp stamp." Thar brought uproarious laughter from his friends at the rail, one of whom is the intended stampee.

Perrin had to bide his time early on at the final table, waiting for a spot to get his chips into play. He didn't play a hand for two hours, he commented. "Honestly, I played for sixth place, then I wanted to make third, and then for the win." Perrin still needed a couple of key double-ups just to survive, before closing out the Giant win. 

Then there was the big aces-versus-ace-king hand against Nesterov. "I already looked at my hand, knew what I had. ... So fuck it, I am all in. Then he woke up with ace-king and popped it. That was bad for him."

The fast-paced format and the relatively short stacks of Sunday's nine survivng players guaranteed plenty of early action, and prior bracelet winner Daniel Fuhs was the first to bust, just seven hands in. Fuhs and Vazquez collided in all-in, pre-flop pot with Fuhs' in good shape against Vazquez's . The flop, however, moved Vazquez ahead and left Fuhs drawing to an ace or jack. Neither the turn nor the river worked, and Fuhs collected $24,353 for ninth.

Four more players busted in fast succession, with Coconut Creek, FL's Matthew Smith the next to depart. Smith got his last 11 million in chips in ahead with to Renato Akio Kaneoya's , but Kaneoya got the best of the / board, sending Smith off to collect a $31,403 payout for eighth.

Seventh-place money of $40,627 went to Diamond Bar, CA's Lawrence Chan soon after. Chan was down to 6.6 million when he moved all in with , and Kevin Rines called with , then got the knockout on the river as the board ran out .

Rines himself, though, ended up as the short stack after Alexander Lakhov doubled through with pocket sixes against Rines' pocket jacks. Lakhov spiked a six on the flop to take almost all of Rines' chips there, then finished off Rines one hand later when his topped Rines' . An flop left little doubt, and the turn and river sealed Rines' $52,721, sixth-place finish.

However, Lakhov was still among the shorter stacks, and he and Vazquez got their chips into the middle before the flop just nine hands later. Vazquez had Lakhov's roughly35-million stack covered, but not by a lot, and he called a Lakhov jam with , which was ahead of Lakhov's . The flop came and the turn gave Lakhov extra outs to the flush, but the missed and sent him off to collect $68,605 for fifth.

Four-handed play stretched longer, with 32 hands elapsing before the next knockout. That was Brazil's Kaneoya, who led at times during this final in a big hand against Nestorov. Action began with a Nestorov raise to 4.8 million and a call by Vazquez before Kaneoya jammed for 42.9 million. Nestorov pondered for minutes before calling, while Vazquez folded. Nestorov then showed , Kaneoya opened , and a dramatic runout of gave Nestorov the set and the pot. Kaneoya's fourth-place run was worth $89,686.

The big pot gave Nestorov a healthy lead, though he could not hold it in the face of Perrin's closing rush.

Event #6, GIANT - $365 No-Limit Hold'em, drew 8,920 entrants and created a prize pool of $2,676,000. 527 players made the money, with a min-cash worth $365.

Other Notables:
Among those cashing in Event #6 were Gregory Kolo (12th, $19,913), BJ McBrayer (33rd, $8,086), Lingling Zeng (38th, $6,703), and Shawn Fakhimi (40th, $6,586).

Click here for Full Results.
Click here for live updates from Event #6.

Final Table Payouts (POY points in parentheses):

1st: Jeremy Perrin, $250,000 (1,130.93)
2nd: Luis Vazquez, $154,512 (565.47)
3rd: Svetlozar Nestorov, $117,531 (508.92)
4th: Renato Akio Kaneoya, $89,686 (452.37)
5th: Alexander Lakhov, $68,605 (424.10)
6th: Kevin Rines, $52,721 (395.83)
7th: Lawrence Chan, $40,627 (339.28)
8th: Matthew Smith, $31,403 (311.01)
9th: Daniel Fuhs, $24,353 (282.73)