Pelz on Top After Gladiators of Poker Battle for Bracelet
Ian Pelz won his first-ever World Series of Poker (WSOP) title in Las Vegas as he was the last man
Pelz on Top After Winning $300 Gladiators of Poker Event
Ian Pelz won his first-ever World Series of Poker (WSOP) title in Las Vegas as he was the last man standing in the $300-entry Gladiators of Poker Event. The 67th event of the 100 on offer in Las Vegas this summer saw an incredible 24,629 total entries and in the end, Pelz won the $420,680 top prize and a gold WSOP bracelet for the first time in his poker career.
A thrilling final table saw Ian Pelz beat Sang Sim to the gold in the $300 buy-in Gladiators of Poker Event #67 at the 56th annual WSOP. Claiming the biggest prize of his poker career, Pelz’ win cemented him as one of the biggest winners for ROI (return on investment) this series, as another hugely attended event saw drama close to the end of the action.
WSOP $300 Gladiators of Poker Final Table:
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Ian Pelz | United States | $420,680 |
| 2nd | Sang Sim | United States | $300,160 |
| 3rd | Manuel Reyes | United States | $219,410 |
| 4th | Jesus Rodriguez | United States | $167,730 |
| 5th | Yuanzhi Cao | United States | $128,970 |
| 6th | Roland Israelashvili | United States | $100,120 |
| 7th | Joseph Butler | United States | $77,580 |
| 8th | Santiago Trujillo | Argentina | $60,700 |
| 9th | Timothy Thorp | United States | $47,770 |
Four-Way Carnage on Final Table Bubble
There was a very exciting hand to decide which players missed out on the final table, as four players put their money in and only one survived as Timothy Thorp (11th for $37,820), Albert Felarca (10th for $37,820) and Ramond Takhsh (9th for $47,770) all busted, with the latter the only one to make the official final table of nine. Thorp shoved with ace-three, while Felarca (ace-queen) and Taksh (pocket eights) were happy to commit their chips. Roland Israelashvili spotted a chance for a triple elimination with pocket kings and that’s what he got when the board ran out T-2-2-3-7.
Israelashvili, who is inside the top five players for Hendon Mob cashes of all time, won that hand and crucially put himself in a great position to finally end the bracelet drought that has started to dominate the narrative around him in later years. Behind only Pelz and Joseph Butler, Israelashvili had both the men ahead of him in the counts to his left in the final table redraw, however, and things didn’t go to plan.
Santiago Trujillo was the next victim of variance, that poker end boss. Cashing for $60,700 in eighth place, Trujillo was all-in with king-ten but ran into the brick wall of Jesus Rodriguez’ pocket aces and while a king arrived on the flop, no further help came, reducing the field to seven.
At this stage, there was a short distance between the 11 big blind stacks of shorter players such as Rodriguez and Yuanzhi Cao and the new chip leader, Sang Sim, on 52 big blinds. Soon, Butler hit the rail, winning $77,580 in seventh when his ace-nine was crushed by San Sim’s aces. Israelashvili made the correct fold with pocket sevens, but the cruel board of J-8-7-2-6 revealed that he would have scooped a massive pot had he gone with his hand. On such vagaries of fortune do bracelet destinies change.
From Hero Fold to Zero Cold
Instead of sitting on over 220 million chips, Israelashvili had 70 million and soon, he had the roundest number of all. All-in with pocket nines, he ran into Pelz’ pocket tens and the eventual champion’s superior hand held up through the K-K-5-3-2 board, sending Israelashvili to the rail to collect $100,120.
Yuanzhi Cao was the next player to lose all his chips, cashing for $128,970 in fifth when his ace-queen dominated Manuel Reyes’ suited ace-seven only for the latter to catch the nut flush on the turn and send play four-handed. Soon, Rodriguez joined him on the rail with $167,730 after his dominated hand went down. King-four was no good against Sang Sim’s king-queen, a queen on the flop meaning the four that landed on the river came while Rodriguez was drawing dead.
Sang Sim was flying into the latter stages and soon, he had a chip lead with only one player between him and glory. All-in with the biggest stack holding pocket eights, Sim held against his caller Reyes’ ace-ten. That earned Reyes a score of $219,410 and gave Sim a stack of 539 million chips to Ian Pelz’ 200 million.
Pelz the Last Gladiator Standing
A series of smallball wins for Pelz put him into the lead heads-up, in particular the one where his king-queen hit a flop of K-J-T hard, forcing Sim to fold away the lead. It was a spectacular hand that decided the title, however, as a board of A-8-4-T-9 was on show when Sim moved all-in with a runner-straight holding queen-jack. Pelz, however, held eight-five of clubs, which matched up with the four on the flop and both turn and river cards to flush away Sim’s hopes of victory.
While the runner-up Sim cashed for $300,160, it was the euphoric Pelz who took home $420,680 and the gold bracelet he pursued for so long. The man who bought his ‘single bullet’ entry whilst hungover, was a WSOP champion.
“I just played my game and good things happened,” Pelz said after the event. “I definitely took advantage of the fact that some of these players have less experience and haven't been in these situations before. Until the final table, it wasn't really a stressful situation for me.”
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