Matt Graham Wins 2008 WSOP Event 53
July 4th, 2008
Matt Graham has won his first WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout Event #53, the final bracelet up for grabs before the Main Event kicks off. He withheld the challenge of 823 players in total to claim his victory and a $278,180 first place prize.
A long Day 2 started out with 72 players still remaining and it took the best part of the afternoon’s play to get down to the final table:
Seat 1 - Jean-Robert Bellande
Seat 2 - Danny Wong
Seat 3 - Spencer Lawrence
Seat 4 - Matthew Graham
Seat 5 - Andrew Prock
Seat 6 - Michael Kachan
Seat 7 - Brandon Wong
Seat 8 - John Kranyak
Seat 9 - Joe De Niro
Michael Kachan was the first player to lose his seat at the final table when Brandon Wong showed his pair of aces. Kachan mucked his hand, and was soon followed by Andrew Prock, who was beaten by Joe De Niro’s two pair of aces and jacks. Next to go was John Kranyak, De Niro again hitting two pair, this time with aces and queens.
Jean-Robert Bellande eliminated Spencer Lawrence with a pair of nines, and then knocked out Danny Wong with a full house of sixes full of aces. As play moved into the early hours Brandon Wong was out in 4th place, Matt Graham’s pair of eights holding out to take the hand. With three players left to play and light seeping through the casino doors, Joe De Niro fell to Bellande’s ace on the river leaving heads-up play.
Graham was behind on the chip counts but managed to fight back to level it up. Once he took control of the chip lead, Bellande went all-in pre-flop but lost out to Graham’s ace high to take the title and the bracelet after a mammoth 17 hours of play.
Final Standings:
Matthew Graham - $278,180
Jean-Robert Bellande - $173,564
Joe De Niro - $107,845
Brandon Wong - $69,088
Danny Wong - $69,088
Spencer Lawrence - $20,221
John Kranyak - $13,480
Andrew Prock - $10,335
Michael Kachan - $7,526
