Jul 07, 2014
2014 WSOP Quick Roundup: Events #55, #56 and #57
By RTR Dennis
Event #55 - Amateur Asi Moshe wins $582k in $1,500 NL Hold'em Tourney
Asi Moshe has a pretty good track record at the WSOP so far. He's played in just four tournaments, and last year, he took fifth in a $1,500 NLHE event ($141,124). This year, he beat a field of 2,396 players to win a $1.5k NLHE tourney and $582,321.
What makes this victory even more impressive is that the Israeli only plays online poker part time and doesn't really play much live poker. That said, one can forgive his disbelief in becoming a WSOP champion. "Maybe the best feeling of my life," Moshi said. "One of the very few dreams that I really wanted to accomplish but didn’t think I really would, like going to the moon type of thing."
One thing that helped the Tel Aviv native combat his inexperience in the live poker arena was the support he received from his rail. Moshi's buddies cheered loudly as the 30-year-old battled through the 9-player final table and on towards his first gold bracelet.
Event #56 - Mike Kachan gets Late Start, but still wins $1k NL Hold'em Tourney
When Event #56 of the 2014 WSOP started, Minnesota native Mike Kachan was still hundreds of miles away on his drive to Las Vegas. "When the tournament started I was in northern Utah driving in and got here with 20 (big blinds)," he said. "The rest was history I guess."
Despite his late start and dwindling starting chip stack, Kachan was able to battle through a 2,525-player field and win a $1,000 NL Hold'em event. Kachan collected a very large $403,483 payout and his first gold bracelet after the victory.
Now that he's a WSOP champion, Kachan looks forward to spending some time in Vegas with his wife and 10-month-old son. He also plans to play in the 2014 Main Event with dreams of winning a second bracelet here.
Event #57 - Dan Colman tops Negreanu to win Big One and $15.3 Million
The end of the 2014 WSOP Big One for One Drop seemed like a dream scenario for Daniel Negreanu to further his poker legend. He was facing lesser-known poker pro Dan Colman heads-up and had the chip advantage on his side. But the exciting thing about poker is that victory doesn't always go to the more-experienced player, and Colman won out in this heads-up battle.
The 23-year-old, who previously had $2.9 million in live tournament winnings, collected the $15,306,668 top prize. Coupled with his EPT Grand Final Super High Roller title ($2,127,398) from earlier this year, Colman is having a real breakout party in 2014. As for Negreanu, he can't complain too much because his $8,288,001 runner-up prize moves him to $29,796,380 in career winnings, which is the most in poker history.
This edition of the Big One was another huge success as 42 players turned out for the event, creating a $37,333,338 prize pool. $111,111 of every $1 million buy-in went towards the One Drop foundation ($4.6m total), which provides clean drinking water around the world. In all, $11 million has been raised for the One Drop foundation.