It took Michael Gathy just two days to outlast the 1,629-player field in the World Series of Poker’s first-ever turbo event. Gathy earned $278,613 and a gold bracelet for besting the star-studded finale early Friday morning. The victory marks his second WSOP victory in as many years and catapults him well over the $700,000-mark in career earnings.
Gathy’s first gold bracelet win came in a standard $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event in 2012 and awarded him $440,829. He is a 24-year-old pro from Brussels, Belgium. Prior to playing the game professionally, he studied medicine. He joins Davidi Kitai as the second Belgian winner to pick up a bracelet this summer.
Event 34 marked the WSOP’s first time to host an event with a turbo format. Unlike most bracelet events, which last three days, this one concluded in just two, as Day 1 levels lasted 30 and 40 minutes compared to the standard hour-long levels in other events. The $1,000 buy-in drew 1,629 players generating a prize pool totaling $1,466,100. The top 171 players finished in the money with a min-cash awarding $1,935. Day 1 played 17 levels in roughly 12 hours and concluded with just 35 players left in the running for the bracelet.
Notables to finish in the money include Antonio Esfandiari (139th), David Peters (132nd), Huy Nguyen (99th), Eric Crain (98th), Shannon Shorr (95th), Melanie Weisner (93rd), Aaron Massey (23rd), Alexandru Masek (21st), Simon Charette (18th) and Jennifer Tilly (13th).
The final table included three gold bracelet winners in Jason Duval (6th), Jake Cody (7th) and Gathy. Duval earned his bracelet most recently, winning a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event less than one week ago. This repeat final table appearance also marks the fifteenth time someone has made multiple final tables this summer. Gathy won his in 2012 and Cody won the $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Championship in 2011 for $851,192.
Here’s a look at the final table results for the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo tournament:
1st: Michael Gathy – $278, 613
2nd: Benjamin Reason – $172,252
3rd: Yueqi Zhu – $113,358
4th: Sergey Rybachenko – $81,720
5th: Daniel Bishop – $59,816
6th: Jason Duval – $44,422
7th: Jake Cody – $33,456
8th: Noah Vaillancourt – $25,539
9th: Russell Crane – $19,748
