The first two events at this year’s World Series of Poker were all about the poker players from Wisconsin, but the first big field event was all about a player from a little further north.
Charles-Andrew Sylvestre of Quebec, Canada joins Daniel Negreanu as the second player this year to win a bracelet after taking down Event 3 of the 44th Annual WSOP. Sylvestre beat a large field in a $1,500 re-entry event to earn $491,360.
Sylvestre had some impressive company on his rail, as 2010 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel was on hand to cheer his friend and fellow countryman on at a final table that featured notable Circuit success stories like Ping Liu (9th), Darren Rabinowitz (7th), and Ryan Olisar (6th), who managed to remarkably final table this event for the second year in a row, having finished 4th in 2012.
When the guy who won poker’s biggest event just three years ago commends you as a beast, the world listens. "Beast" is probably a good word to describe Sylvestre’s poker style, as it took him just three and a half hours to play from a full nine-handed final table to a victory that both he and the country of Canda will remember.
The first large field event of the 2013 WSOP drew 3,164 entries and generated a prize pool of $2,847,600. This event featured two starting sessions and, in a relatively unusual move for the WSOP, both played out on the same starting day. The opening day of this event began with Flight A at 11am, then many players opted to exercise their option for a single re-entry in the Flight B session, which began at 5pm.This event drew almost as many players as last year’s $1,500 re-entry tournament, which drew 3,404 players. While this event drew slightly fewer entries, it nonetheless performed very strongly considering it took place in the middle of the week without the benefit of poker’s "weekend warriors."The top 324 players finished in the money in this event. Notables who cashed include Kevin MacPhee (277th), Kyle Cartwright (275th), Kathy Liebert (257th), Erick Lindgren (219th), Jake Balsiger (201st), Eric Baldwin (109th), last year’s runner-up in this event, Amanda Musumeci (71st), Josh Arieh (66th), Scott Seiver (33rd), and Nam Le (17th).
This event is one of three re-entry events on this year’s WSOP schedule. The second, the Millionaire Maker, is already well underway and setting records. The third is the unlimited re-entry Little One for One Drop, which will run from July 3rd-6th.
Here are the final table results from Event 3, the $1,500 Re-Entry Event:
1st: Charles Sylvestre – $491,360
2nd: Seth Berger – $303,952
3rd: William Guerrero – $215,107
4th: Michael Cooper – $155,706
5th: Binh Ta – $114,017
6th: Ryan Olisar – $84,459
7th: Darren Rabinowitz – $63,273
8th: Ruben Ybarra – $47,925
9th: Ping Liu – $36,705
