Bulgarian-born Simeon Naydenov came out firing in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout tournament at the 44th Annual World Series of Poker Saturday night. The poker pro wasted little time making his way through the 10-handed final table, besting the field in about five hours.
He earned $326,440 as well as a WSOP gold bracelet for his efforts.
The victory came in what was Naydenov’s eighth career cash at the WSOP and his second final table. Impressively, Naydenov final tabled both Shootout tournaments in 2013, previously finishing 10th in the $3,000 variation just a few weeks ago.
The most recent No Limit Hold’em Shootout event drew 1,194 participants and generated a $1,611,900 prize pool. The opening round of action played out on nine- and ten-handed tables, the second round featured 12 ten-handed tables, and the final round began on two six-handed tables before consolidating to a single final table once the field got to ten.
Some of the notables who made it through Round 1, but failed to advance through Round 2 were Brent Hanks (11th), Ari Engel (92nd), Taylor Paur (89th), Jesse Sylvia (77th), Allen Kessler (35th), and Erik Seidel (14th).
The ten-handed final table featured no previous bracelet winners, but did feature some folks with WSOP final table experience, including Nacho Barbero, 2011 WSOPE Shootout runner-up Mike Watson and Naydenov, who became the 17th player to make multiple final tables this summer after taking tenth in the other Shootout event earlier this month.
This final table featured one of the more internationally diverse line-ups we’ve seen this summer, including players from Bulgaria, Germany, Canada, the Czech Republic, Argentina, Great Britain, and the United States.
Here are the final table results from the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout event:
1st: Simeon Naydenov – $326,440
2nd: Jake Schwartz – $202,035
3rd: Andrew Kloc – $126,250
4th: Tobias Wenker – $91,749
5th: Nacho Barbero – $67,732
6th: Mike Watson – $50,774
7th: Jan Kropacek – $38,621
8th: Salman Behbehani – $29,771
9th: Noah Bronstein – $23,259