EVENT #62: $1,500 buy-in Bounty (No-Limit Hold’em)
ENTRIES: 2,178
PRIZE POOL: $2,940,300
FIRST PLACE PRIZE: $333,351
PLACES PAID: 243
Jack Duong Wins Debut of Bounty No-Limit Hold’em Tourney
New Jersey Poker Player Scoops $333,351 and Earns a WSOP Gold Bracelet
Inaugural Event Draws 2,178 Entries
MEET THE LATEST WSOP GOLD BRACELET CHAMPION
Name: Jack Duong
Birthplace: Plainfield, NJ
Age: 26
Current Residence: South Plainfield, NJ
Marital Status: Single
Children: None
Number of WSOP Cashes: 3
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 3
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories: 1
Best Previous WSOP Finish: 4th Place (2014 $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout)
Total WSOP Earnings: $418,967
[Note: All statistics above include the results of this tournament]
Jack Duong topped a field of 2,178 entries to win the first-ever WSOP bounty tournament. He collected the top cash prize of $333,351 and a WSOP gold bracelet for his victory.
This bounty event was the first of its kind ever held at the WSOP. The way the tournament worked was part of the prize pool was withheld for bounties. Every time a player was eliminated, the knocked out player gave their bounty to the player who had the winning hand. In this particular tournament each bounty was worth $500. The remainder of the prize pool was distributed like any other tournament.
It certainly paid to collect bounties, especially early on in the tournament when payouts were still a long way away. As the tournament progressed bounties become less important because they were miniscule in value compared to the finishing payouts.
Duong was asked afterward how many bounties he accumulated and responded by counting out 11 in all, plus his own – which was $6,000 worth. However, Duong also revealed that he didn’t come into the tournament until Level 6, which meant he missed much of the hunt. Some players were reported to have gathered as many as 18 bounties.
The latest champion is a 26-year-old poker pro from Plainfield, NJ who is on leave from attending college. He studied for two years at Rutgers University where he studied psychology. That certainly put him in the right frame of mind for the inevitable swings of tournament poker.
“I was having a terrible series up to this point,” Duong said. “I bricked everything. I was tuck like $75,000 coming into this tournament.”
Things turned around fast for Duong in the eve of the 2015 Main Event Championship, which he now expects to play. This marks the second straight year Duong has attended the series. He cashed two times last year, but both were final table appearances. With this victory, his three career cashes now include a 5th, a 4th, and a 1st – which is pretty remarkable.
Following Duong’s finish in the top spot, the descending order of results was as follows:
Second Place: Vitezslav Pesta, was one of the two players from the Czech Republic at this final table. His second place finish earned him $206,734, which was his largest ever WSOP score.
Third Place: Adam Johnson, from Norwood, MA, finished in third place for $146,067. Both of Johnson's two career cashes have come at this year's WSOP. His first cash was a 92nd place in the $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event.
Fourth Place: Scott Sisler is a CPA from Novi, Michigan. This was Sisler's first career cash at the WSOP. He earned $105,024 plus any bounties he collected.
Fifth Place: Paul Warren finished in fourth place. Warren is a hardwood flooring contractor from Century City, California. This was Warren's second cash at the WSOP.
Sixth Place: R.J. Sullivan is a professional poker player from Sarasota, Florida. This marked Sullivan's second career final table. His first final table came last year when he finished runner-up in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em event for $258,695.
Seventh Place: Vojtech Ruzicka, from Prague, Czech Republic, was at his first career final table. Before becoming a professional poker player, Vojtech was a student studying mathematics. This cash pushes Ruzicka's total WSOP tournament earnings to over $100,000.
Eighth Place: John Myung finished in eighth place for $31,971. This marks Myung's 34th cash and sixth final table. Myung now has over $550,000 in WSOP related earnings.
Ninth Place: Peter Murphy was the first player eliminated from the final table. This marks Murphy's first career WSOP final table and 10th WSOP cash. Murphy has cashed in the Main Event three of the last four years.
OTHER IN-THE-MONEY FINISHERS:
Aside from the final table finishers, other gold bracelet winning players who cashed included – Sean Drake (56th), Allyn Shulman (66th), Robert Cheung (70th), Gavin Smith (84th), Leif Force (89th), JC Tran (192nd), Eric Baldwin (195th), and Takahiro Nakai (196th).
FUN FACTS:
The gender breakdown was 2,086 males and 92 females.
There were 73 first-time players who entered this event.
Players from 60 different nations participated.
EVENT DIRECT LINKS:
For this event’s results, visit:
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/results.asp?grid=1136&tid=14262&dayof=142623
For Jack Duong’s official player profile page, visit:
http://www.wsop.com/players/playerprofile.asp?playerID=139810
For the Live Reporting Log for this event, please visit:
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates.asp?grid=1136&tid=14262&dayof=142623
For photos from this event, please visit:
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates.asp?grid=1136&tid=14262&dayof=142623
(Note: Will appear 48 hours after event concludes)