News
SEAN DEMPSEY WINS EVENT 39 $3K NLHE
Jun 21 2014 11:36 PM EST
Sean Dempsey is the newest member of the gold bracelet club. Saturday evening, he managed to conquer the final table of the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em event. He earned $548,460 for the win, the largest live tournament cash of his career. This was Dempsey's second WSOP final table, his first coming last year in the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha event, where he finished seventh. Dempsey has been on a mission to earn a bracelet for the past ten years. Coming close last year and falling just short made him hungrier for one more than ever.
"It's been a long time coming. I moved out to Vegas ten years ago, and it was the first time I had ever played in the WSOP." said Dempsey. "Ever since then I have been trying to win a bracelet."
Originally from Chicago, the 40-year old Dempsey was the chip leader going into the final table. You may not have heard of Sean Dempsey, but Tom "Durrrr" Dwan has. This married father of one, a doctor by trade, claims to have taught Dwan how to play Pot Limit Omaha. With his win in this event, Dempsey has proven that he is not only talented at PLO, but can also hold his own in No Limit Hold'em.
It was not an easy road to the bracelet for Dempsey. He had to survive a heads-up battle against Ryan Jaconetti that lasted more than three hours. Dempsey found himself with all of his chips at risk and needing to catch a flush and only a flush on the river to survive. Dempsey found some good fortune, caught his flush, and used the momentum to go on and win the event.
"That was my goal. To play it long." said Dempsey about the marathon heads-up battle. "That was my game plan so I was all for it." And long it was. The tournament needed an extra day of play to reach a champion after Day 3 ended in a three-way stalemate.
This final table featured one bracelet winner, Layne Flack, who was actually going for his seventh career gold bracelet. It also included four players with prior WSOP final table experience as well. Sean Dempsey was at his second WSOP final table, Ryan LaPlante and Ryan Olisar were both making their third final table appearance, and Nam Le was at his fourth final table of his career.
The last final table Le made was this very event last year, where he took seventh place. He improved upon that finish this year, taking sixth place. It is also worth noting that Jake Schindler just missed out on the final table that year, taking tenth place. He more than improved on that finish this year, making his first final table, taking third.
This year’s $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event drew 992 players, producing a $2,708,160 prize pool. The top 117 finishers each collected a payday. Some of the notables who cashed include Blair Hinkle (103rd), Jason Somerville (99th), Greg Mueller (89th), Chris Bell (59th), and Matt Affleck (21st).
Here are the final table results for the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event:
1st: Sean Dempsey - $548,460
2nd: Ryan Jaconetti - $339,440
3rd: Jake Schindler - $212,373
4th: Ryan Olisar - $154,148
5th:- Ryan Laplante- $113,796
6th:- Nam Le - $85,307
7th:- Layne Flack - $64,887
8th:- Takashi Yagura - $50,019
9th:- Andrew Becker - $39,078
