2019 WSOP Day 37: Vieira and Helppi Claim WSOP Gold

Last updated on July 6th, 2019

Affiliate Disclaimer Please note that some links on legaluspokersites.com are affiliate links. We may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you click through our links and make a purchase from one of our partners.

On Thursday, the Fourth of July, this is an overview of all tournaments that played out at the 50^th Annual World Series of Poker.

Event 70: $5K NLHE Six-Handed – Final

Total entries: 814
Prize pool: $3,785,100
Players paid: 123
Final table payouts:
1^st place: Joao Vieira (Portugal) – $758,011
2^nd place: Joe Cada (USA) – $468,488
3^rd place: Jamie O’Connor (UK) – $317,956
4^th place: Pierre Calamusa (France) – $219,468
5^th place: Olivier Busquet (USA) – $154,112
6^th place: Barry Hutter (USA) – $110,127

Event 71: $500 NLHE Salute to Warriors – Day 2 of 3

Total entries: 1,723
Prize pool: $723,660
Players paid: 259
Minimum payout: $699
Winner payout: $121,161
Day 2 players remaining: 8
Final table chip counts:
Taylor Carroll (USA) – 13 million chips
Susan Faber (USA) – 8.4 million chips
Dean Yoon (USA) – 6 million chips
Chris Canan (USA) – 5.6. million chips
Kulwant Singh (USA) – 3.3 million chips
Uriah Grossglauser (USA) – 2.2 million chips
Jose Annaloro (Venezuela) – 1.9 million chips
Jordan Knackstedt (Canada) – 1.7 million chips
Final table payouts thus far:
9^th place: Taehyung Kim (Korea) – $9,486
Day 3 starting time: Friday at 12noon

Event 72: $10K LHE Championship – Final

Total entries: 118
Prize pool: $1,109,200
Players paid: 18
Final table payouts:
1^st place: Juha Helppi (Finland) – $306,622
2^nd place: Mike Lancaster (USA) – $189,505
3^rd place: Tommy Hang (USA) – $133,718
4^th place: Anthony Marsico (USA) – $96,272
5^th place: Kevin Song (USA) – $70,750
6^th place: Josh Arieh (USA) – $53,095
7^th place: Kyle Ray (USA) – $40,709
8^th place: Qinghai Pan (USA) – $31,902
9^th place: Robert Como (USA) – $25,566

Event 73: $10K NLHE Main Event – Day 2A

Day 1A entries: 1,335
Day 1B entries: 1,915
Prize pool: TBD
Players paid: TBD
Minimum payout: TBD
Winner payout: TBD
Day 1A players remaining: 960
Day 1B players remaining: 1,417
Day 1A chip leader: Bryan Campanello (USA) – 417,500 chips
Day 1B chip leader: Adam Owen (UK) – 351,800 chips
Day 1C starting time: Friday at 12noon
Day 2A/B starting time: Saturday at 11am
Day 2C starting time: Sunday at 11am

Notable Information

Two players well-known in the poker community outside of the United States took down their inaugural bracelets on Thursday.

The first was Joao Vieira of Portugal, who won the $5K NLHE 6-Handed event for $758,011. He took down 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada to do it. He had been working on live reads in his tournament game, and he said that a crucial hand of the tournament depended on that and paid off. “I found a call based on all the hard work I have done over the past four years,” he said.

All in all, it was a great tournament for Vieira. “I’m very happy,” he noted. “I don’t think it has settled in yet. I’ve been having a lot of patience, and the road hasn’t been easy. I don’t believe in justice, but I believe in hard work.”

Portugal's Joao Vieira wins his country's second-ever gold bracelet by posting the victory in Event #70 of the 2019 @WSOP, $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed. Vieira (@Naza114_oficial) collects a WSOP-best $758,011 winner's payout. https://t.co/7vjmuZbjWT pic.twitter.com/mPW1ZUXtiL
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP)
Portugal's Joao Vieira wins his country's second-ever gold bracelet by posting the victory in Event #70 of the 2019 @WSOP, $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed. Vieira (@Naza114_oficial) collects a WSOP-best $758,011 winner's payout. https://t.co/7vjmuZbjWT pic.twitter.com/mPW1ZUXtiL
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 5, 2019

?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 5, 2019

Next up was Juha Helppi of Finland, who won the $10K LHE Championship for $306,622. As a result of a long career and many tournaments, he was able to grab the gold. “I’ve been close to winning a bracelet many times,” he commented. “That’s why it was so exciting because it happened to me many times in the past. Finally getting that bracelet that I’ve been looking for, like for 16 years, is amazing.”

To get it done, Helppi had support. “My rail helped me so much. It helped me through the bad times; it helped me play my A-game.”

Congratulations to @juhahelppi on winning the $10K Limit Holdem for his first bracelet. He wins $306,622 after topping a field of 118.https://t.co/NAdtJuPsMc pic.twitter.com/y6tn9ZyC5n
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP)
Congratulations to @juhahelppi on winning the $10K Limit Holdem for his first bracelet. He wins $306,622 after topping a field of 118.https://t.co/NAdtJuPsMc pic.twitter.com/y6tn9ZyC5n
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 5, 2019