High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em for the 50th Annual (Event #5)

In light of the 50th Annual World Series of Poker, there was always going to be a $50,000 High Roller tournament. With such a significant buy-in, the group of players able to give it a shot is limited. You could predict a final table full of recognizable faces, and that's precisely what happened.

After three days of play, just six players remained from the 110-entry field. Five bracelet winners, and Ben Heath. But Heath did bring the chip lead, a ton of experience playing high rollers, and seemingly immunity from feeling pressure in essential spots.

"It feels a lot better than I thought it would."

After not even five hours of play, Heath was indeed the one posing with the gold WSOP bracelet, his first. That makes it look like it was all easy going, which wasn't entirely the case. He had to battle with some of the best in the game, and more than once lost the advantage with others topping the counts.

Asked what it means to win his first WSOP bracelet, Heath said: "It feels a lot better than I thought it would."

Posing for the winner photo and answering questions from the press that rushed the stage upon completion of the last hand didn't seem to faze Heath too much. But, as he would soon explain, that hadn't always been the case: "When I was younger, I was shy and didn't really want to win the bracelet. I would have rather just taken second place. But now that it has happened, it feels great!"

Final Table Payout WSOP 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em

WSOP 50th Annual High Roller - $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Action

The final table got underway with an average stack of 40 big blinds for the remaining six players after David Einhorn, Cary Katz, and Elio Fox had already departed on the penultimate day of the schedule. The shortest two stacks, belonging to Dmitry Yurasov and Nick Petrangelo, were still over thirty big blinds deep.

Despite the room for play for all six finalists, the first casualty took place after only three hands. Chance Kornuth lost all three of them, bluffing the first one, raising the river with a worse hand in the second, and getting it in dominated in the last. Needless to say that it wasn't Kornuth's day. He lost the majority of his chips to Dmitry Yurasov and got eventually taken out by Andrew Lichtenberger.

"it's hard not think that it might be slipping away. But things worked out in the end, I guess."

Just a couple of hands later, Nick Petrangelo followed Kornuth out the door. Petrangelo got it in with ace-king against the queens of Ben Heath and found no help on the flop, turn, or river.

Ben Heath initially built out his lead only to lose a big pot to Lichtenberger to get about even in chips with him. The two battled in multiple pots that saw the lead change hands just as often. Lichtenberger took a sizable lead to distance himself from Heath and the rest not much later.

Asked if he felt like the victory was slipping away from him, Heath said after play had wrapped up: "I was up to fifteen million or so at one point and then fell down to eight [million], so it's hard not think that it might be slipping away. But things worked out in the end, I guess."

A Controversial Hand in the $50,000 High Roller

Heath turned things around winning a controversial hand against Dmitry Yurasov that meant the latter's demise.

With Soverel and Yurasov on equal stacks of twenty-five big blinds each, the former opened for a min-raise. Yurasov shoved all in, and Lichtenberger got out of the way from the small blind.

Heath in the big blind, though, asked for a count and contemplated his next action for a bit. With the tournament utilizing a shot clock, Heath was soon out of time, and he tossed in a small red time bank card to gain thirty more seconds to act. Soverel, still in the hand as the initial raiser, wasn't paying attention and tossed his cards in the muck right away, seemingly registering Heath's time bank card as either a muck of his cards or a call with a single chip. Now, not facing Soverel anymore, Heath instantly called.

To say that Yurasov wasn't happy is pointing out the obvious. Yurasov showed ace-ten of diamonds and lost to Ben Heath's ace-queen of hearts.

"It was definitely going in either way. [...] I genuinely think he did it by mistake."

When the floor walked over to see what was going on, Lichtenberger assured him that Soverel didn't intentionally muck out of turn and that it was instead an honest mistake.

Asked about the hand after he had won, Heath was adamant that the outcome would have been the same: "It was definitely going in either way. I think if I have a slightly worse hand then it could become a bit interesting, but I genuinely think he did it by mistake."

Soverel faced no penalty, but couldn't turn things around either. He succumbed a couple of hands later, getting it in and losing with king-jack suited against Ben Heath's ace-king.

Having knocked out Yurasov and Soverel, Heath started with an eighteen to fourteen million lead. Lichtenberger seemed to get the better of it initially and evened the stacks after only five hands. Over the next five hands, he took the lead but was trailing Heath again after the latter won the next batch.

The Final Hand

After a button raise from Lichtenberger, Heath three-bet holding ace-jack. Lichtenberger four-bet shoved for 56 big blinds with ace-king and Heath called.

"I have friends that understand what my goals are in life, so they've been great."

Heath flopped a jack to take the lead in the hand. The turn made things a bit iffy for him, but a blank on the river guaranteed Heath the bracelet and the accompanying $1,484,085.

Joining him in his winner photo were half a dozen friends that had railed him throughout the final table. "I have friends that understand what my goals are in life, so they've been great," Heath said. "They tell me to go play my best, which is what I try to do. Not 'Go win the tournament' because the results don't matter to me. It's all about how well I played."

With the WSOP only a week in, the summer is already a great one for Heath. But that doesn't mean he intends to rest on his laurels; "I'm probably not going to play too much of the small stuff, but I'll be around all summer, playing some events at Aria and still studying a lot."

Hand #168: Andrew Lichtenberger opened for 650,000 and Ben Heath called. The flop came     and Heath checked. Lichtenberger bet 425,000 and Heath called. The   hit the turn and both players checked.   on the river and another two checks later, Heath showed    and took down the pot.

Hand #169: Heath made it 575,000 and Lichtenberger called. On    , both checked. Lichtenberger checked the   on the turn and Heath bet 1.1 million. Lichtenberger called.   on the river and Lichtenberger checked. Heath thought about it for a bit but eventually checked behind in the 3.6 million pot. Lichtenberger showed    for the rivered two pair and Heath mucked.

Hand #170: Lichtenberger made it 650,000 and Heath called. The flop of     had Heath check-call 425,000 from Lichtenberger. The   on the turn saw both check and the   completed the board. They both checked again and Lichtenberger took it down with    having paired his five, Heath's    ended up in the muck.

Hand #171: Heath opened for 575,000 and Lichtenberger folded.

Ben Heath	19,000,000	-200,000
Andrew Lichtenberger	14,000,000	200,000

Hand #158: Andrew Lichtenberger made it 650,000 and Ben Heath three-bet to 2.4 million. Lichtenberger folded instantly.

Hand #159: Heath raised to 575,000 and Lichtenberger called. On the flop of    , Lichtenberger checked. Heath bet 475,000 and Lichtenberger called. The   on the turn had Lichtenberger check again. This time, Heath checked behind so the   on the river was seen for free. Lichtenberger bet 1.8 million into 2.35 million and Heath folded right away.

Hand #160: Lichtenberger made it 650,000 from the button and Heath called. The two got     to work with and Heath checked. Lichtenberger bet 425,000 and Heath folded right away.

Hand #161: Heath opened for 575,000 but folded to Lichtenberger's 2.2 million three-bet.

Hand #162: Lichtenberger raised to 650,000 and Heath called. They both checked on    . The   turn saw Heath bet 875,000 and Lichtenberger folded.

Andrew Lichtenberger	17,400,000	1,200,000
Ben Heath	15,600,000	-1,200,000

Ben Heath and Andrew Lichtenberger are taking a quick break before the heads-up match begins.

Ben Heath	18,850,000	0
Andrew Lichtenberger	14,150,000	0

Hand #147: Andrew Lichtenberger made it 550,000 from the button and Sam Soverel called from the big blind. The flop of     had Soverel check. Lichtenberger bet 425,000 and Soverel called. On the   turn, with 2.33 million in the middle, both players checked. The   completed the board and another two checks later, Lichtenberger took it down showing   .

Hand #148: Soverel in the small blind limped in for an additional 125,000, Lichtenberger checked his big blind. The flop brought the two     and Soverel checked. Lichtenberger bet 275,000 and Soverel called. The   hit the turn and Soverel checked once more. Lichtenberger bet 725,000 this time around. That was enough to win him the pot as Soverel folded.

Hand #149: After Soverel folded, Lichtenberger raised to 900,000 from the small blind. Heath committed the additional 650,000 to see a flop. On    , they both checked so the   on the turn was seen for free and they checked again. The   on the river saw Lichtenberger bet 1.8 million. Heath called almost instantly.

Lichtenberger showed   , Heath took it down with the   .

Hand #150: Lichtenberger raised to 550,000 from the button. Sam Soverel called from the big blind. Soverel checked on     and Lichtenberger bet 425,000. Soverel folded.

Hand #144: Andrew Lichtenberger raised to 475,000 on the button and Sam Soverel defended from the big blind. The flop came     and Soverel check-folded to a bet of 350,000 from Lichtenberger.

Hand #145: Ben Heath opened to 450,000 on the button and Soverel called from the small blind. The flop fell     and Soverel checked to Heath who checked it back. The turn was the   and both players checked to the   on the river. Soverel led out for 750,000 and Heath laid his cards down.

Hand #146: Lichtenberger limped in from the small blind and Heath checked his option. The flop fell     and both players checked to the   on the turn. Two more checks and the   appeared on the river. The two players opted to check it down and Lichtenberger tabled    for top pair to claim the pot.

Andrew Lichtenberger	14,600,000	800,000
Ben Heath	13,900,000	-900,000
Sam Soverel	4,700,000	200,000

Hand #138: Dmitry Yurasov limped in from the small blind and Andrew Lichtenberger checked his option. The flop came     and Yurasov led out for 300,000. Lichtenberger called and the   paired the board on the turn. Yurasov tossed in another large bet of 800,000 and Lichtenberger finally relinquished his cards.

Hand #139: Lichtenberger just called from the small blind and Ben Heath opted to see a flop. The flop fell     and both players checked to the   on the turn. Lichtenberger tossed in a bet of 250,000 and Heath called to see the   on the river.

Lichtenberger fired out another 450,000 only to have Heath raise to 1,600,000. Lichtenberger used up a time extension but finally came to the conclusion of folding and conceding the pot to Heath.

Hand #140: Lichtenberger raised it up to 475,000 on the button and Sam Soverel called from the big blind. The flop came     and Soverel check-folded to a bet of 250,000 from Lichtenberger.

Hand #141: Ben Heath jammed all in on the button and both of the blinds quickly folded.

Hand #142: Andrew Lichtenberger received a walk in the big blind.

Andrew Lichtenberger	13,900,000	-700,000
Ben Heath	9,400,000	1,300,000
Sam Soverel	4,900,000	-800,000
Dmitry Yurasov	4,900,000	200,000

Hand #128: Dmitry Yurasov opened to 400,000 in the cutoff and Sam Soverel called from the big blind. The flop came     and Soverel check-folded to a bet of 300,000 from Yurasov.

Hand #129: Andrew Lichtenberger raised to 450,000 in the cutoff and Yurasov defended from the big blind. Both players checked through the flop of     and the   on the turn. On the   river, two more checks led to Lichtenberger turning over    for the best hand.

Hand #130: Yurasov made it 600,000 to go from the small blind and Lichtenberger folded his big blind.

Hand #131: Yurasov limped in on the button which allowed Lichtenberger and Ben Heath to come along from the blinds. The flop fell     and the action checked to Yurasov who bet 400,000. Lichtenberger called and Heath got out of the way.

The turn brought the   and both players checked to the   on the river. Lichtenberger led out for 400,000 with four cards to a straight on the board and Yurasov called. Lichtenberger tabled    for a straight and Yurasov flung his cards to the muck.

Hand #132: Heath just limped in from the small blind and Sam Soverel checked with just 12 big blinds in front of him. The flop came     and Heath led out for 200,000. Soverel called and the   landed on the turn. Heath checked this time and Soverel bet 375,000 which earned him the pot.

Andrew Lichtenberger	12,900,000	1,700,000
Ben Heath	11,700,000	-900,000
Dmitry Yurasov	5,600,000	-600,000
Sam Soverel	2,900,000	-300,000

Hand #116: Andrew Lichtenberger limped in from the button again for 160,000. Ben Heath raised it up to 540,000 and Sam Soverel folded. Lichtenberger called and the two got a flop of     to work with. Heath bet 460,000 into 1.4 million and Lichtenberger called.

The   hit the turn and Heath got his foot off the pedal and checked. Lichtenberger checked behind. The   completed the board and Heath counted out 1.19 million before sliding it in. Lichtenberger contemplated his next action for a bit before he called. Heath showed    and Lichtenberger showed   . Chop for the two big stacks.

Hand #117: Sam Soverel limped in from the small blind and Dmitry Yurasov raised to 560,000 from the big blind. Soverel shoved for 5,720,000 and Yurasov asked for a count. Upon hearing how much it was, he eventually folded.

Hand #118: Andrew Lichtenberger got a walk in the big blind.

Hand #119: Lichtenberger limped in from the small blind. Big blind Heath checked and saw     as a flop. They both checked and they did so too on the   turn. The   completed the board and Lichtenberger bet 240,000. Heath called and showed the winner with    as Lichtenberger tabled   .

Hand #120: Lichtenberger limped in for 160,000 from the button and Ben Heath completed from the small blind. Sam Soverel in the big checked.

The flop of     was checked by all and the   hit the turn. Heath bet 585,000 and Soverel folded. Lichtenberger called.

With now 1.81 million in the middle, the   completed the board. Heath bet 425,000 and Lichtenberger committed a time bank card before raising to 2.38 million. Heath called but mucked upon being shown    for the turned set.

Andrew Lichtenberger	10,400,000	3,700,000
Ben Heath	10,000,000	-3,000,000
Dmitry Yurasov	6,300,000	-800,000
Sam Soverel	6,100,000	100,000