Matt Hawrilenko Wins Six Handed Event, Main Event Starts Today
As thousands of poker players await their fate at this year’s $10,000 Main Event, which starts in a couple of hours, Matt Hawrilenko can enter into the tournament with the satisfaction of having won a World Series of Poker bracelet in Event #56, the $5000 Short Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament.
928 players ponied up the $5,000 buy in to try to take the final championship of the 2009 WSOP (besides the Main Event) and the battle was fierce. As the final day began, sixteen players were still alive and fighting for the championship but, after only a few hours, had whittled their way down to the final six. With over $1 million and the WSOP bracelet on the line, the players began a final table that would last until after midnight.
Hawrilenko was aggressive from the start, maintaining the chip lead over Josh Brikis as the duo proceeded to eliminate the rest of the table. Matt Waxman came to the final table as the short stack and couldn’t push deeper into the tournament when his A-10 was crushed by Brikis’s pocket Kings. Waxman finished sixth and took away slightly over $138,000 for his efforts.
Brikis also was responsible for the departure of our fifth place player. Jonas Wexler had been one of the most methodical players at the final table but, low on chips, decided to make his stand with a suited K-Q. Brikis was more than happy to make the call with his A-Q and, once the board brought no saving King, Wexler was done in fifth place.
After the elimination of Wexler, Hawrilenko now stepped up his game and assumed command of the table. He eliminated Sean Keaton (fourth place) and Faraz Jaka (third place) as he reached the heads up match with Brikis. Holding a sizeable chip lead, Hawrilenko – known to the online world as “Hoss_TBF” and lauded for his poker mentoring skills – was able to make short work of Brikis.
On the final hand, Brikis moved in with a suited A-9 and Hawrilenko made the call with pocket Jacks. After the board didn’t bring any aid to Brikis, Matt Hawrilenko emerged as the champion of the $5000 Short Handed No Limit Hold’em event. For his efforts, “Hoss_TBF” took home $1,003,163 and the coveted WSOP bracelet.
With the final preliminary event finished and the “Ante Up For Africa” charity tournament completed, the poker world can now set its eyes on the Main Event. The $10,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, whose winner is recognized as the World Champion, is expected to draw over 7000 players, according to WSOP officials. If it was to draw that many, it would be the second largest live poker tournament of all time, only beaten by the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Peter Eastgate has the arduous task of defending his 2008 victory, where he became the youngest WSOP Main Event champion ever.
The Main Event also brings with it other competitions. The title sponsor of the WSOP, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, will be holding a competition called “Stacked Jacks Go Wild” and will award special prizes to players who make four of a kind with Jacks during the run of the Main Event. “Four of a kind with Jacks has always been a good hand. With Stacked Jacks Go Wild, it just got better,” said Jeff LeFever, director of marketing, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky. The prize pack, worth an estimated retail value of $100, will contain Jack Link’s jerky products and other premium items.
It is the event that poker players wait an entire year for – the World Series of Poker Main Event starts in just a few hours. Poker News Daily will have all the highlights as poker’s grandest event plays out over the next couple of weeks.
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Poker lexicon:
- DECLARE - In high/low games, declaring one's hand as high or low or both ways (usually done with chips in hand). Usually played in home games; casinos tend to play CARDS SPEAK.
- STRAIGHT - A hand consisting of 5 cards in sequence but not in suit.
- WIRED [PAIR] - A pair in the hole. In 5-card stud, a door card that pairs the hole card.
- RAINBOW - In flop games, a flop in which no two cards are of the same suit. "The flop was A 9 7 rainbow."
- CUT - To break the deck into 2 stacks of at least 5 cards each. Usually performed by the player to the dealer's right to insure that the the deck is not stacked.
- BET FOR VALUE - Betting a hand that, in the long run, is expected to win more than it loses. Antonym: BLUFF.
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