This year’s first event without community cards being dealt, Event #5: $1,500 Seven Card Stud, brought a slew of top name pros. Non-Hold’em events traditionally have fewer players than the NLHE games, a point that held true in this event, with only 357 runners registering to play.
Your recreational players don’t tend to play stud events, so it is no surprise that those who cashed this event are mostly household names. Scott Seiver, Chad Brown, Shaun Deeb, and Ylon Schwartz all cashed, only to fall short of final table appearances. They all made at least the min-cash of $2,600 for finishing among the top forty finishers.
The final table also featured many players that have been featured on ESPN in the past, including Ali Eslami, November Niner Eric Buchman, and the eventual champion, who has also been on quite a tear the past year, Eugene Katchalov.
Katchalov went into heads-up play against Alessio Isaia at a 5-1 chip disadvantage. Isaia, who was at his third WSOP final table (with both of the others also coming from Stud events), looked as though he would simply waltz to his first WSOP bracelet.
However, Katchalov had his own agenda, wanting a new piece of jewelry. An early double up helped tremendously, and, after that, the PCA High-Roller champion kept marching until he had every chip in the tournament stacked in front of him. Winning the event earned him $122,909, a mere pittance when compared to the $1.5 million he won earlier this year.
Congratulations Eugene on getting your name off the infamous “best players without a bracelet” list!