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Monday, September 5, 2016 3:40 PM Local Time
Jim Willerson
San Antonio attorney adds ring to collection after winning bracelet in 2012.
Las Vegas, NV (September 5, 2016) — Before Monday evening, Jim Willerson only had one tournament win on his poker resume. It was a big one, earning $737,248 in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event at the 2012 World Series of Poker.
On Monday afternoon, Willerson added his second win to his list of poker accomplishments and added a ring to his trophy case to sit next to his bracelet. He bested a field of 68 players in the $580 no-limit hold’em event to take home $11,899.
“I know the expression,” said Willerson about winning a bracelet before a ring. “It always feels good to win a live event. It’s not the main, but it still feels good.”
Willerson resides in San Antonio and has his own law practice, but after his bracelet win in 2012, poker became a much bigger part of his life. About a month later, he earned more than $60,000 in a seventh place finish at the Legends of Poker main event in Los Angeles, just missing out on a televised final table.
After a bracelet win and a deep run in another big buy-in event, Willerson went through a long run without much success.
“I went through some times where I just wasn’t successful enough, so I slowed down,” said Willerson. “I went through kind of a time where if I cashed, it wasn’t very big or I would bust and not cash. I just wasn’t getting enough of a return on my money.”
Throughout his dry spell, Willerson’s confidence dropped and doubt about whether or not he could be a successful poker player grew.
“After the win and then I had a big cash in California, my confidence was real high,” he said. “But it did fluctuate for a little while and I was just wondering if I should just go back to where I was when I was first really going after tournaments or should I try to play a certain kind of way.”
But after making some adjustments in his tournament game, he found his way back on top and winning a ring.
“I’ve gotten a much better feel for how I need to play and I’ve gotten to understand the structures of each different tournaments and how the good players are going to attack you based on the structure,” said Willerson. “When you tweak the structure, it’s really a different tournament.”
Willerson still has his law practice and is more of a “semi-professional” in his own words. Instead of traveling all over the country, he sticks to coming to Las Vegas and going north into Oklahoma for tournaments.
He came out here for the main event, but failed to make Day 2. If it weren’t for busting the main event, he wouldn’t have ended up with his first ring. The win was anything but easy for him, though.
“I assume that the other players came out for the main and didn’t cash. So people were aggressive early and they were shoving on everybody and I was just trying to get chips early,” said Willerson. “Once it got to the point where there were 20 players or so, I had so many ups and downs that it’s too much to describe. I had times where my only move was shoving and I had times where I was the chip leader.”
Along with the win, Willerson earns 50 points towards the Global Casino Championship. Willerson won’t accrue enough points to win Casino Champion at this stop, but their points will rollover and could possibly earn enough to receive an at-large bid if they play more Circuit events in the future.
Monday, September 5, 2016 2:37 AM Local Time
After the scheduled 21 levels of play, the 68 player field has been trimmed down to the final two players. Bracelet winner Jim Willerson will square off against Jerry Robinson for the ring.
They get cards back in the air on Monday at 2 p.m. to play down to a winner. When they return, they will start level 22 with blinds of 6,000/12,000 and a 2,000 ante. They have both already locked up at least $7,354, but the winner takes home $11,899. They are both very even in chips and will be relatively deep with more than 33 big blinds each.
Here are a look at the chip counts for the start of Day 2:
Jerry Robinson - 411,000
Jim Willerson - 405,000
Sunday, September 4, 2016 10:13 PM Local Time
The $580 no-limit hold'em has trimmed the original 68 players down to its final 10 and there is a slight pause in the action while they redraw for seats at the final table. While they are the unofficial final table, only the top seven players will earn a payday.
They are in level 16 with blinds of 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante. Here is a look at the seating arrangement and chip counts for the final 10 players:
Seat 1: Jerry Robinson - 70,000
Seat 2: Joseph Cheong - 103,500
Seat 3: Alexander Shelton - 66,000
Seat 4: Brian Nerney - 165,500
Seat 5: Jason Schwartz - 53,000
Seat 6: Jim Willerson - 126,000
Seat 7: John Harman - 26,000
Seat 8: Jon Lactaoen - 131,000
Seat 9: Christopher Back - 41,500
Seat 10: Theron Eichenberger - 36,000
Sunday, September 4, 2016 4:51 PM Local Time
Level 9 is underway in the $580 no-limit hold'em and registration has closed. The field officially has 68 entrants, which generated a prizepool of $34,000. The top seven players will earn a payday.
A min-cash is worth $1,747, but first place takes home $11,899. A complete look at the payouts can be found in the "prizepool" tab above. The blinds are currently 300/600 with a 100 ante and there are 35 players remaining.
Sunday, September 4, 2016 4:04 AM Local Time
The first of two new ring events gets underway on Sunday. At noon, the $580 no-limit hold'em event gets underway. This is scheduled to be a two-day event and here are the details:
- Players start with 12,000 in tournament chips
- Day 1 is scheduled to play 21 levels
- Levels 1-12 are 30 minutes
- Levels 13-21 are 40 minutes
- Late registration and re-entries are open until the start of level 9 (~4:30 p.m.)
- There are 15-minute breaks after every two hours of play and a 60-minute dinner break after level 12
- Players that survive the day will come back on Monday at 2 p.m. to play down to a winner