Event #81: $5,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em 8-Handed

Day 3 of Event #81 $5,000 Freezeout is now over after almost 12 hours of play that saw ten out of an original field of 746 enter and only one emerged as the victor of the $665,459 grand prize out of the total prize pool of $3,487,050.

Mo Arani won his first WSOP Bracelet after surviving a topsy-turvy heads-up battle vs Johannes Straver that capped off an exciting day of action.

Arani entered the day seventh in chips out of ten and was never the short stack or the big stack at any point; rather, he just coasted along in the middle for much of the day, largely avoiding big confrontations.

Event #81: $5,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results

Winner's Reaction

"It feels surreal to win. I was getting out-played heads-up, I don't have any heads-up experience, so I got some coaching and decided to take more spots and be ready to gamble more", as he referred to one of his poker friends and mentors Calvin Anderson who was supporting him on the rail the entire time.

"I never gave up. I was playing well when it was multi-way, the only time I felt like a worse player was during heads-up. But aside from that I was pretty comfortable in these spots."

Before this victory, Arani had a little over a million in career earnings, with his largest score being about $220,000 back in 2013. Mainly a cash game player, this win will increase his total winnings by 60% as he takes a huge prize in one of the twenty or so tournaments that he plays per year.

Arani wanted to give a couple of shoutouts to some people who have helped his game. "I want to shoutout to Jonathan Jaffe, my coach. He is really good, and I was talking to him on breaks on the phone and Calvin (Anderson) as well."

Action of the Day

The day began with ten players and actually got off to a slow start as it took an hour and a half for Valentin Oberhauser to be the first elimination of the day. Caio Almeida followed him out the door in ninth shortly after that to bring the field down to the official final table of eight.

Michael Katz would then become the first victim of the final table as he was sent packing in eighth place. Seven-handed play would then hit a snag as it would take about three hours before Cliff Josephy hit the rail in seventh.

The day was ended for Francois Pirault and his camera crew when he was eliminated in sixth place. Toby Lewis went from a big stack to out the door next in fifth place, and following him out a few minutes later in fourth was Adam Hendrix whose bid for his first bracelet came up just shy.

Three-handed play would commence with the players fairly close in chips, with none of them being very short, and it looked like a long contest was coming. Things sprung into life when Arani spiked an eight on the turn to crack ace-queen with ace-eight to take a huge pot away from Straver, but Straver would return the favor when he rivered a four with ace-four to overcome the same ace-eight.

Peter Turmezey's big stack would dwindle three-handed and the start-of-day chipleader would eventually bow out in third place to set up the heads-up play.

Heads-up was a wild affair that lasted three hours with several up and down changes in chips. Arani began with a huge lead before losing a few all ins to give Straver the lead. However, Arani would again take a big lead, but Straver would continue to stave off elimination. Eventually, Arani won two consecutive all ins to finish off the bracelet win.

That finishes the PokerNews coverage of this prestigious event. Thank you for tuning in for three days of action.

From the small blind, Johannes Straver jammed and Mo Arani called.

Straver led with the    against the    of Arani.

The flop came     to put Arani ahead. The turn was the   and the river came the   to send the big double to Arani.

Mo Arani	28,000,000	12,100,000
Johannes Straver	10,800,000	-11,100,000

All the chips went in preflop when Mo Arani was at risk for his last 13,000,000 and called by Johannes Straver.

Mo Arani:   
Johannes Straver:   

Arani got it in good against the ace-ten of Straver. The board ran out      , giving the ultimate sweat on the flop but secured the win on the turn with a full-house for Arani.

Mo Arani	27,200,000	9,500,000
Johannes Straver	10,600,000	-9,500,000

After a few hands where Mo Arani regained his chip advantage, there was a big pot in progress as the board read      . Johannes Straver jammed all in from the big blind for about 5,000,000. Arani considered it for a bit before he called.

Straver tentatively tabled the    and then pumped his fist when Arani mucked, but the hand was turned over in the all-in situation, which was shown to be    for king high and Straver regained the chip lead.

Johannes Straver	20,100,000	-300,000
Mo Arani	17,700,000	300,000

Mo Arani open ripped from the small blind and Johannes Straver called.

Johannes Straver:   
Mo Arani:   

Arani was pulling for a king or eight to end it but the board ran out       to whiff his holding and Straver took the lead heads-up for the first time.

Johannes Straver	20,400,000	6,400,000
Mo Arani	17,400,000	-6,400,000

The board read      . Mo Arani bet 4,000,000 from the small blind and Johannes Straver called.

Arani tabled the    boat to send Straver's stack tumbling down low.

Mo Arani	33,200,000	7,050,000
Johannes Straver	4,150,000	-7,500,000

Johannes Straver limped in from the button and Mo Arani made it 1,700,000 from the big blind, which Straver called.

The flop came     and Arani continued for 2,400,000. Without much thought Straver folded and another pot was sent to Arani who extended his lead even more.

Mo Arani	29,900,000	4,575,000
Johannes Straver	7,900,000	-4,575,000

The two remaining players are now on a break before heads up play starts.