WSOP 2019: Singapore’s Ong Dingxiang runner-up in event 16 as Femi Fashakin tops largest ever tournament field

The bracelets are finding wrists to call home thick and fast now with the 2019 WSOP entering the tail end of week two. Asian players have continued to put in strong showings, with Singapore and Japan almost getting a bracelet winner. No big names have picked up bracelets yet, but there are still many events yet to play.

Here is a roundup of the latest action.

Event 16: Isaac Baron wins to deny Singapore’s Ong Dingxiang

The $1,500 6-handed NLH saw 1,832 entries create a prize pool which grew to $2,473,200. As the final table beckoned, Singapore’s Ong Dingxiang was raising the optimism of Asian fans as he gradually strengthened his challenge for the bracelet. He would always find resistance in Isaac Baron however, who would certainly be high on the list of most talented players to have never won a bracelet. Baron was given the honour of Online Player of the Year back in 2007 and has been attending the WSOP for 12 years.

The resistance he brought to Dingxiang’s challenge, would eventually prove pivotal, as the two players found themselves heads up for the title. Baron held the chiplead and was perfectly placed to capitalise when he found AA against the QK of Dingxiang, and his opponent paired the flop. This put a premature end to the heads-up battle, sending the bracelet and $407,739 over to Baron. Dingxiang picked up $251,937 for 2nd place.

The final table payouts are as follows:

1st – Isaac Baron – $407,739
2nd – Ong Dingxiang – $251,937
3rd – Stephen Graner – $177,085
4th – James Hughes – $126,011
5th – Richard Hasnip – $90,791
6th – Cameron Marshall – $66,243
7th – Pierce McKellar – $48,954

Event 17: Brett Apter wins $1,500 Shootout, Japan’s Shintaro Baba Final Tables

The $1,500 Shootout event attracted 917 runners, generating a prize pool of $1,237,950. The final table saw several different nations represented, but all eyes in the Asian poker community will have been on Shintaro Baba as he sought to emulate Korea’s Steve Yea took 23rd place for $5,279. By the time the action reached the heads-up phase it was US player Brett Apter against Russian Anatolii Zyrin for the title. In a curious echo of event 16, the final hand saw AA come up against a flopped top pair of queens, with all the money being piled in on the flop. Zyrin could not improve, giving Apter his first ever WSOP bracelet.

The final payouts are as follows:

1st – Brett Apter – $238,824
2nd – Anatolii Zyrin – $147,594
3rd – Tommy Nguyen – $106,351
4th – Adrian Scarpa – $77,591
5th – Manuel Ruivo – $57,326
6th – Cary Katz – $42,897
7th – Shintaro Baba – $32,517
8th – Michael O’Grady – $24,973
9th – Kenna James – $19,436
10th – Marko Maher – $15,331

Event #15: Sean Swingruber takes prestigious $10K heads-up title; Ben Yu 2nd

112 players stumped up $10,000 to enter this heads-up event, creating a prize pool of 1,052,800. This event often attracts illustrious names and champions, but by the time the action had got down to 8 players, many of the names were lesser known players. Ben Yu and Kristen Bicknell are two of the better-known pros who made it to the final 8, and as the action came down to heads up, three-time bracelet winner Ben Yu was still in contention. His opponent in the final was Sean Swingruber, a player with no WSOP titles to his name who describes himself primarily as a cash game player. Despite being the less experienced of the two finalists, Swingruber battled away in a four-hour marathon match, hanging on for large periods of time. Despite being down 4 to 1 in chips at one point, Swingruber won a flip and rallied, and as stacks got shallower, variance struck a blow to Yu when he got his chips in good. Swingruber’s runner-runner flush netted him the bracelet and $186,356 in prize money.

The final payouts are as follows:

1st – Sean Swingruber – $186,356
2nd – Ben Yu – $115,174
3rd – Cord Garcia – $73,333
4th – Keith Lehr – $73,333
5th – Jimmy D’Ambrosio – $31,151
6th – Jake Schindler – $31,151
7th – Kristen Bicknell – $31,151
8th – Matthias Eibinger – $31,151

Event 3: Femi Fashakin tops largest ever live poker tournament as Indian players go deep

This event set new records in terms of field size, topping the 2015 Colossus and attracting 28,371 runners. This incredible number saw significant logistical problems for the Rio Casino, but there were no problems forFemi Fashakin as he stormed to victory in this $500 event. The prize pool finished up at a staggering $13,509,435 and $1,147,449 was set aside for 1st place. With eleven days of play now in the books, Femi Fashakin has emerged as the incredibly lucky winner of this mammoth WSOP event. He defeated Paul Cullen to lift his first bracelet and increase his previous lifetime cashes of $60,000 by quite some distance. Asian hopes had rested on India’s Sharavan Chhabria (18th place for $53,714) and Kartik Ved (29th for $34,279) and Chinese star Yang Zhang (93rd place for $8,539), but they were unable to go the distance, despite putting together great runs.

The final payouts are as follows:

1st – Femi Fashakin – $1,147,449
2nd – Paul Cullen – $709,183
3rd – Rafi Elharar – $534,574
4th – Nick Chow – $405,132
5th – Walter Atwood – $308,701
6th – Daniel Ghobrial – $236,508
7th – Adrian Curry – $182,192
8th – Morten Christensen – $141,126
9th – David Rasmussen – $109,922

Other winners

Event 13 – $1,500 NL 2-7 Lowball Draw
Prize pool: $399,600
Entries: 296
Winner: Yuval Bronshtein – $96,278

Event 14 – $1,500 HORSE
Prize pool: $1,013,850
Entries: 751
Winner: Murilo Souza – $207,003

Article by Craig Bradshaw