The third time was a charm for Brent Wheeler who won his first WSOP gold bracelet on the heels of his third final table appearance early Thursday morning. In addition to the trophy, Wheeler was awarded $191,605 for his championship in the $1,500 Limit Hold’em event.
A poker pro from St. Charles, Ill., Wheeler previously finished 4th and 7th in limit and mixed-hold’em events at the WSOP. In Thursday’s victory, though, he crushed the hopes of the Canadian hopeful eying their fourth gold bracelet victory of the 2013 WSOP by outlasting Mark Mierkalns heads-up.
Mierkalns received a $118,300 consolation prize.
The event drew 645 players and generated an $870,750 prize pool. The top 72 finishers each earned a payday of $2,455. Some of the notables who finished in the money include bracelet winner Matt Hawrilenko (66th), 2007 WSOP Player of the Year Tom Schneider (59th), Nick Schulman (58th), Hoyt Corkins (37th), and Jeff Shulman (19th).
Two-time bracelet winner Eric Froehlich made it to the final table with a nice chip stack, but a run of bad luck saw him exit in ninth place shortly after official final table play began. This was his fourth career WSOP final table appearance.
Alex Queen continued the trend of players returning to the final tables they made in 2012 by matching his eighth place finish in last year’s event. This makes him the fifth player to make the same final table in 2012 and 2013 so far this year.
The final table also featured the second appearance of a woman, as Malissia Zapata posted a third place finish in the event worth over $75,000. She joins Julie Schneider on the list of female final tablists at the 2013 WSOP.
Here are the final table results from the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Event:
1st: Brent Wheeler – $191,605
2nd: Mark Mierkalns – $118,300
3rd: Malissia Zapata – $76,904
4th: Chiduziem Obi – $56,485
5th: Grayson Scoggin – $42,704
6th: William James – $31,747
7th: Brian Nichols – $24,232
8th: Alex Queen – $18,703
9th: Eric Froehlich – $14,585
