Event #14: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship

After a grueling day that went into the poker equivalent of overtime, Brian Yoon defeated Dan Shak heads-up to claim the title in World Series of Poker Event #14: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.

For his victory over the 131-entry field, Yoon earns the champion's share of $311,433 from the $1,209,000 prize pool.

More historically, though, Yoon becomes just the 33rd player in WSOP history to earn five bracelets, joining the likes of Hall of Famers Eli Elezra and John Juanda, perennial WSOP Player of the Year contender Shaun Deeb, and one of the most recent additions to the five-timers club, Adam Friedman, who got his fifth last year.

Yoon was humble about the achievement when asked about it after his victory.

"Honestly, I don't try to bracelet hunt or anything like that, I'm just trying to play the tournaments and enjoy playing the games. It feels great, obviously, to be the 33rd to get number five, so I'll take it and see what happens in the future."

Of Yoon's five bracelets, this is his second in a mixed game, having won the $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw event last year, a game he said is maybe his best. The well-rounded Yoon acknowledged that this bracelet was special because of the game that it came in.

"Stud, I've been working on this game a little bit, so it feels nice to break through in a game where you weren't sure where you stacked up, and then you're able to win. It feels good."

As for Shak, while a runner-up finish with a chance for his first-ever WSOP bracelet is surely disappointing, he can take solace not just in the $192,479 second prize but the fact that along with his seventh place finish in the $1,000 Mystery Millions event earlier in the series, he's well in the early mix for WSOP Player of the Year.

$10,000 Seven Card Stud Final Table Results

The Day's Action

The 13 returning players were thinned to the unofficial final table within the first couple of levels of the day, starting with Julien Martini's elimination in 13th, followed by maybe a somewhat surprising elimination of Chad Eveslage in 12th, considering he's already won two bracelets this summer.

Following the quick back-to-back eliminations of David "Bakes" Baker in 11th and Alex Livingston in 10th, the final nine were moved to the mothership to continue to a winner.

Johannes Becker, who fought back from fumes earlier in the day managed to ladder up to ninth, and from there, it took over two hours before Day 2 chip leader Max Hoffman was the next elimination in eighth place, with Leonard August following him out shortly after in seventh.

At this point of the final table, the two top stacks, Maxx Coleman and Yoon began to pull away from the rest of the field, with short stacks Ben Diebold and Ben Yu playfully needling each other about who would be the next to bust.

It turned out to be Diebold, who fell in sixth place just before dinner.

After the final five returned from their 60-minute break, Yu managed to ladder up as George Alexander was eliminated in fifth place. Yu battled back to a seven-figure stack, but his comeback was short-lived as Coleman finally took him out in fourth place.

Shak was the notable short stack at this point, but things took a turn three-handed as Coleman ran very cold, losing several key pots to Yoon that gave him a solid chip lead.

Things got even worse for Coleman as Shak passed him in the leaderboard, and before long, Coleman became the penultimate elimination of the day, leaving Yoon and Shak to battle for the bracelet, a matchup that Yoon even admitted he wasn't expecting.

"Honestly, I expected to get heads-up against Maxx because me and Maxx kind of had all the chips through the whole (final table). I respect Maxx's game a lot, I think he's a very good player, so I was kind of prepping myself to play him. Then we got three-handed, and I just coolered Maxx over and over and over, and he lost all of his chips."

Over the duration of their nearly two-hour-long heads-up battle that needed to go to an extra level to determine a winner, Shak fought back from the brink of elimination several times, at one point nearly overtaking Yoon.

But in the end, it was a Broadway straight for Yoon versus two pair for Shak that finally clinched victory for Yoon.

This concludes PokerNews' coverage of the WSOP $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship. Stay with us for continued coverage of every WSOP event throughout the summer from Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.

Dan Shak:    /    
Brian Yoon:        

Dan Shak completed, and Brian Yoon defended his bring-in.

On both fourth and fifth street, Shak checked and then called a bet from Yoon.

Shak took the betting lead on sixth and bet. Yoon made the call.

Shak bet again on seventh, and it was enough to force his opponent to relinquish his cards and allow Shak to once again regain some ground in this fiercely contested heads-up battle.

Brian Yoon	5,500,000	-1,400,000
Dan Shak	2,100,000	1,400,000

Brian Yoon:    /    
Dan Shak:    /    

Brian Yoon completed Dan Shak's bring-in, and Shak defended as has been a normal occurrence.

Yoon then bet every street, getting calls right until the end from Shak.

Yoon showed two pair, kings and tens, while Shak frustratedly showed his inferior two pair of jacks and eights to send a pot to Yoon that leaves Shak with just under five big bets.

Brian Yoon	6,900,000	700,000
Dan Shak	700,000	-700,000

Brian Yoon:   /    / 
Dan Shak:   /    / 

Brian Yoon had Dan Shak back under a million chips recently, but a big hand for Shak has him back in the mix.

After Shak completed Yoon's bring-in, Yoon came back to make it two bets to go. Shak made it three and Yoon called.

The players then checked fourth street, but on fifth, Shak began betting with the lead. Yoon called, and then called again on sixth after Shak paired his jack.

On seventh, Shak bet once more and Yoon elected to fold.

Brian Yoon	5,750,000	250,000
Dan Shak	1,850,000	-250,000

Brian Yoon:    /    
Dan Shak:    /    

Brian Yoon completed and then made it two bets to go after Dan Shak completed. Shak called and then checked fourth street with the betting lead.

Yoon bet and Shak called, and then Shak check-called another bet on fifth street.

On sixth, Yoon paired his nine and bet with the lead. Shak called and then both players checked the river.

"Jacks," declared Shak.

"Jacks no good," replied Yoon who showed two pair, nines and sevens to take a healthy pot from Shak.

Brian Yoon	6,150,000	1,250,000
Dan Shak	1,450,000	-1,250,000

Dan Shak:    /    
Brian Yoon:    /    

Dan Shak defended his bring-in after Brian Yoon completed and then called bets on fourth and fifth streets before pairing his door card deuce on sixth street.

Shak now led out and got called by Yoon. On seventh street, the duo played cautiously as they both checked.

Shak declared two pair and showed his fives and deuces which were enough to win the latest in a series of pots that have him close to overtaking Yoon for the chip lead.

Brian Yoon	3,900,000	-750,000
Dan Shak	3,700,000	750,000

Brian Yoon:    /    
Dan Shak:    /    

Brian Yoon defended his bring-in, and then called bets from Dan Shak on fourth and fifth streets.

On sixth, Shak slowed down and checked, and now Yoon began betting. Shak called to see seventh street and checked again.

Yoon bet a final time, getting one more call from Shak and then rolling over his flush to take the pot as the heads-up match goes back and forth with Yoon holding a roughly 2-to-1 chip lead.

Brian Yoon	5,100,000	400,000
Dan Shak	2,500,000	-400,000

Dan Shak:    /    
Brian Yoon:    /    

After taking the betting lead on fourth street, Dan Shak bet every street getting calls the whole way from Brian Yoon.

Yoon took a bit more time to think on seventh street, but he did make the call to see Shak show a flush that he hit on the end, saying that he still had a pair of aces from fourth street onward.

Brian Yoon	5,850,000	-350,000
Dan Shak	1,750,000	350,000

Brian Yoon:   /    
Maxx Coleman:   /    / 

Maxx Coleman completed with a queen and Brian Yoon defended his bring-in.

Both players checked fourth leading to Yoon making a bet on fifth which Coleman called. Yoon bet again on sixth and was called.

When Yoon bet again on 7th, an exasperated Coleman said that he started the hand rolled up and folded, revealing two queens and a ten as his down cards. Coleman was left very short-stacked about 150,000 after this hand.

Brian Yoon:    /    / 
Maxx Coleman:   /    / 
Dan Shak:   /  - Folded on third street

Coleman was all in against Yoon the next hand after an exchange of bets and raises between all three players. Dan Shak had made it two bets but got out of the way as the raising war escalated.

Coleman was in bad shape with a pair of fours against Yoon's pair of Aces. Yoon hit a third ace on sixth street to leave Coleman drawing dead.

Brian Yoon	5,900,000	950,000
Dan Shak	1,700,000	-275,000
Maxx Coleman	0	-1,105,000