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Phil Galfond defeated an extremely tough final table on his way to winning the second bracelet of his career in the $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship. He defeated Nick Schulman (who already has two 2-7 Championship titles) in heads-up and earned $224,383 for his efforts.
Day 3 of Event #29 $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship saw the final 6 players battling it out for the $224,383 first place prize and the bracelet. A total of 77 players entered the event and most of them were stars of the game, so it was no surprise that the final table looked like this:
Seat 1. Erik Seidel - 265.000
Seat 2. Phil Galfond - 255.000
Seat 3. Nick Schulman - 554.000
Seat 4. Jon Turner - 439.000
Seat 5. Dan Smith - 661.000
Seat 6. Eli Elezra - 160.000
Elezra couldn't increase his short stack and was eliminated during Level 21 (8,000-16,000-4,000). In his final hand he shoved all-in for 37,000, Schulman raised to 82,000 from the small blind and everyone else folded.
Schulman stood pat and Elezra drew two cards.
Schulman: T-9-8-4-3
Elezra: 6-4-2
Elezra drew a Jack and a Deuce and was eliminated in sixth place.
A few hands later Schulman opened to 40,000, Turner shoved for 183,000 and Schulman called. Both players drew one card.
Schulman: 9-6-5-4
Turner: T-4-3-2
Schulman drew a 7 and with that Turner was drawing dead and eliminated in fifth place.
Seidel finished in fourth place after running his J-8 low into Dan Smith's T-9 low. Smith couldn't enjoy his new chips for long, he was eliminated in third place.
In his final hand he shoved for 451,000 over Schulman's raise of 50,000 (Level 22, 10,000/20,000-5,000) and Schulman called. Both players drew one card.
Schulman: 8-6-5-3
Smith: 7-6-4-2
Smith drew a Jack and Schulman drew a 7, winning with 8-7 low.
Nick Schulman - 1.795.000
Phil Galfond - 515.000
Schulman, who has won the the No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship twice already (2009,2012) started the heads with a significant lead, but he couldn't get his third title.
Schulman lost several big hands, in one instance the players got all the money in and he stood pat J-9-7-4-3 while Galfond drew one for 8-4-3-2. Galfond received a 7 and doubled up with 8-7 low, evening out the stacks.
After this, Galfond was mostly in control, in the last hand of the tournament he raised to 50,000 and called Schulman's shove of 649.000.
Both players drew one card:
Galfond: 8-6-5-2
Schulman: 9-6-4-3
Galfond drew a 7 and Schulman drew an Ace.
With that, high stakes pro Phil Galfond won the second WSOP bracelet of his career (the first one came in a $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha rebuy tournament in 2008) and $224.383.
Event #29 $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship results
1. Phil Galfond - $224.383
2. Nick Schulman - $138.665
3. Dan Smith - $87.898
4. Erik Seidel - $59.532
5. Jon Turner - $42.298
6. Eli Elezra - $31.463