2015 WSOP Quick Recaps: Events 26-30

The latest set of events from the 2015 World Series of Poker saw two familiar faces capture victory. And there were also three players who'd never tasted much poker success - let alone won a gold bracelet - who found themselves champions at the 2015 WSOP. Remarkably, one of these players was merely on a business trip when he satellited into the tournament that made him much richer. That said, let's discuss Events 26-30 from the 2015 WSOP.

Event #26: Aaron Wallace satellites into $1k PLO and wins $227k

Aaron Wallace is just your average recreational poker player with a 'real' job on the side that sees him travel around the U.S. for business purposes. And the Indianapolis native's most-recent business trip saw him on the West Coast, where he made a detour to the 2015 WSOP in Vegas. Wallace's story officially began when he played in a $175 satellite and won a $1,000 PLO seat. From here, the amateur battled through a 1,293-player field and on to the $227,985 first-place prize. Wallace, who always tries to satellite into live tournaments, previously had just $11k in in cashes before earning this huge payout.

Event #27: Brian Hastings wins Second WSOP Bracelet in $10k Seven Card Stud

When players think of Brian Hastings, they think of the guy who's won almost $5 million in online poker profits. But it's going to be hard to forget his live tournament success, especially since he recently won a second gold bracelet in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship. Hastings also collected a $239,518 payout for topping this elite 91-player field, which saw Scott Clements (2nd, $148,001) and Dan Kelly (3rd, $92,691) fall just short in seeking their third bracelets.

Event #28: Perry Shiao takes down MONSTER STACK and Monster $1.28m Prize

Perry Shiao is well versed in the poker world since he's both a dealer and player. And Shiao might think about dedicating a little more time to the latter after outlasting a massive 7,192-player field to win the MONSTER STACK. The giant amount of entrants created a $9.7 million prize pool, and Shiao grabbed the largest share at $1,286,942. This was far from an easy million for the 26-year-old, though, because he was never a clear-and-away chip leader, with the lead changing hands several times. Runner-up Eric Place ($796,834) had a 3-to-1 chip advantage when he faced off against Shiao, but he lost a few big hands that doomed him. As for Shiao, he plans on flying back to Florida pretty soon to return to his dealer job.

Event #29: Phil Galfond wins Second Gold Bracelet and $224k

Phil Galfond is definitely a pro's pro, having won over $8 million in online poker and become one of the world's biggest poker strategy experts. And he did nothing to hurt this reputation after topping a 77-player field in this $10,000 NL 2-7 Draw Lowball tournament. Galfond collected a $224,383 prize along with his second-career bracelet for the victory. In the process, he survived a brutal final table that included Nick Schulman (2nd, $138,665), Dan Smith (3rd, $87,898), Erik Seidel (4th, $59,532), Eli Elezra (6th, $31,463) and Jorryt van Hoof (9th, $17,067).

Event #30: Franco Ivan Luca becomes First Argentine WSOP Champ

In the 47-year history of the WSOP, there's never been a champion from Argentina. However, this all changed when Franco Ivan Luca fought through the Event #30 $1,000 NLHE tournament to win the $353,391 top prize. Luca definitely had his work cut out for him in making history, given that 2,150 players entered this event. Nevertheless, despite a marathon final table and heads-up session against the Czech Republic's Artur Rudziankov ($219,976), Luca emerged victorious. Before this win, Nacho Barbero had been the closest Argentine to earning a bracelet, having final tabled three different tournaments.