After a roller coaster of a ride at the final table, Abhishek Mhatre navigated his way through a fast and furious final day in Event #56: $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em to take home $492,050 and claim his first World Series of Poker bracelet and largest career cash to date.
“I should probably give a shout-out to Kristen Foxen; she gave me some of her chips early in the tournament, and she said, like, ‘Put them to good use,’” said Mhatre after his win.
“I didn’t prepare at all because I like having a job. I actually didn’t mean to prepare because I haven’t really studied anything for tournaments ever.”
The $3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em attracted a field of 1,150 runners, generating a total prize pool of $3,075,500.
53 players returned to battle it out in Day 2 for the title, with Mhatre entering heads-up play against 2014 WSOP Main Event Champion Martin Jacobson with a near 6:1 chip lead, before closing out victory under the lights of the Paris Ballroom Las Vegas.
$3,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abhishek Mhatre | Canada | $492,050 |
| 2 | Martin Jacobson | Sweden | $327,370 |
| 3 | Naseem Salem | United States | $226,350 |
| 4 | Paulina Loeliger | Austria | $159,050 |
| 5 | Kevin Rand | United States | $113,620 |
| 6 | Christopher Vitch | United States | $82,530 |
| 7 | Maxim Lykov | Russian Federation | $60,970 |
“Just for Fun”
Mhatre is a relative newcomer to the poker scene, having only two recorded live cashes to date, as per The Hendon Mob, with this first-place finish being over ten times his largest recorded live cash, again as per The Hendon Mob.
On winning his first bracelet and largest career cash to date, “It feels great, this is just for fun, but you know, it’s only my second series.”
Coming into the tournament with minimal experience and preparation, it was always going to be a long shot for Mhatre, “I guess when I bagged on day one, like what my ICM chance of winning was like, I think 20-1ish. So I was like, alright sick, possible to run (good) in this one.”, were his thoughts on when he realised he could be in with a chance of running deep.
Being a spring chicken in 2014 and not knowing much about poker at that time, when asked about his heads-up clash with Jacobson, “Well, I knew we were playing with him at the final table, but it just didn’t really register that (he) was like the last guy.”
In closing, whilst talking about where this will rank in his poker career Mhatre joked, “If it doesn’t rank among the top it (just) means that I’ve run even better!”
Mhatre Runs Like a God
53 players returned for Day 2 after a Day 1 starting field of 1,150 was massively thinned out during the long Day 1’s play.
Naseem Salem came into Day 2 as the chip leader and the only player to pass the two-million chip barrier on Day 1. Salem continued his solid play during the day and reached the final table, but unfortunately, the cards didn’t fall for him, and he finished in third place.
As would be expected in a six-max event, the action was fast and furious from the off. The start of the day’s 53 players was whittled down to three tables before the second break of the day.
Some huge names fell by the wayside before the final table of seven was formed. WSOP crushers such as Faraz Jaka, Joey Weissman, Anthony Spinella, Barak Wisbrod, Maria Konnikova and Colin Robinson all fell by the wayside at various points of the day.
WSOP Hall of Famer Nick Schulman and 2024 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Tamayo were also sent to the rail before they could even think of another WSOP final table appearance.
Just prior to the players going on their dinner break, the final table of seven was reached, with Mhatre as the starting chip leader.
Mhatre didn’t hold onto the lead long, though, as Paulina Loeliger started to climb the counts and Mhatre went into freefall. Loeliger eventually took the lead after making probably the call of the tournament with her Jack high flush, picking off Kevin Rand’s bluff.
Mhatre started to bleed chips further after doubling up Salem and then Christopher Vitch in close succession after which he was left on the short stack. He scored a much needed double up through Salem when his pocket Queens held against Salem’s pocket sixes.
First to be sent home in seventh place was Maxim Lykov, unlucky that his ace-King was outdrawn by Mhatre’s Jack-nine suited that flopped a flush to leave Lykov drawing dead by the turn.
Sending Lykov to the rail put Mhatre on a semi-heater, and he climbed back up to sit in the middle of the chip counts at the next break of play.
Mhatre steamed into the chip lead with a huge double up through Loeliger when his pocket eights flopped a set to crack Loeliger’s pocket Queens.
Sent to the rail in relatively quick succession were Vitch and Rand in sixth and fifth places respectively.
Loeliger was next to be sent to the cage in fourth place, having put up a gallant effort and holding the chip lead at multiple points during the final table. Her crucial hand was losing to Mhatre with pocket Queens, as detailed above.
Loeliger was sent to the rail when her jam with Jack-eight suited was called off by Mhatre holding Jack-nine, and she couldn’t improve.
Finishing in the bronze position was the opening day chip leader, Salem, his jam with King-Queen unfortunate to run into Mhatre with ace-ten and getting no help at all.
Heads-up play lasted approximately ten hands and began with Mhatre holding a near 6-1 chip lead. Jacobson could not get anything going in the heads-up battle.
In the final hand of heads-up play Mhatre’s ten-nine out-flopped Jacobson’s Jack-nine hitting a nine to send the 2024 WSOP Main Event Champion to the rail in second place and claim his first WSOP bracelet along with the $492,050 first-place prize money.
