Phillip Hui has overcome an 835-player field and defeated Daniel Mayoh heads-up to claim his fourth WSOP bracelet and $193,545 first-place prize in Event #35: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.
Hui’s victory came after a marathon day at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas that lasted right up until the closing minutes before a hard stop would have been implemented.
At one point during his heads-up match, Hui was out-chipped over 10:1, but coming from behind proved no obstacle for Hui, who now sits in the elite company of four-time bracelet winners.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phillip Hui | United States | $193,545 |
| 2 | Daniel Mayoh | United Kingdom | $129,052 |
| 3 | David Avina | United States | $89,485 |
| 4 | Christian Gonzalez | United States | $63,114 |
| 5 | Kevin Cote | United States | $45,291 |
| 6 | Xixiang Luo | China | $33,078 |
| 7 | Daniel Strelitz | United States | $24,595 |
| 8 | Bryan Jolly | United States | $18,625 |
| 9 | Thanhlong Nguyen | United States | $14,368 |
Winner’s Reaction
“This is my favourite event — my favourite variant of poker,” he said. “I have a second, a third, maybe a fourth? (In H.O.R.S.E. events). It feels really good.”
In fact, over the course of his career, Hui has four runner-up finishes in H.O.R.S.E. events including 2017 where he lost heads-up to Matthew Schreiber. This time he had to do it the hard way, but Hui knew that a comeback wasn’t out of the question.
“When I won my first bracelet in 2014 in the O8, I was 16:1 down heads-up and came back,” he said. “When I won the PPC I was down 4:1 and then when I won the PLO [in 2022] I literally never had over 20 big blinds until I got heads-up.”
Hui credits his exposure to sports psychology while playing golf as a child for his ability to never give up.
“If you have chips or you’re in the tournament or you’re in the game of whatever sport, you can’t give up. It’s kind of cliche but I try to center myself after every hand, whether I played a hand poorly or not. I just tried to stay focused and take one hand at a time.”
Day 3 Action
A whirlwind of action saw the field reduced from 23 players to just 10 by the first break of the day, as many short stacks were promptly eliminated as most were unable to score any double ups. Among those to bust early was defending champion Yuri Dzivielevski, who saw his run end in 19th place after falling to John Cernuto in Seven Card Stud.
Christian Gonzalez vaulted into the chip lead after eliminating both Cernuto and Tyler Schwecke simultaneously in a Stud Hi-Lo hand wherein Gonzalez came from behind by catching a full house on seventh. Patrick Stacey and Heiko Hinkelmann were eliminated shortly after to set up the final table of nine.
Thanhlong Nguyen entered the final table as the short stack and despite managing to double up twice, he was sent out in ninth place after Phillip Hui made an eight against him in Razz.
Day 2 chip leader Bryan Jolly was unable to gain any real momentum and bled chips until he was short. Like Nguyen, he was able to double up at the final table but still busted in eighth to Hui in Omaha Hi-Lo.
Following the exit of two-time bracelet winner Daniel Strelitz in seventh, there was an extended period without any eliminations. During that time Hui, David Avina, and Xixiang Luo all managed to double up at least once before escalating blinds forced Luo to make a stand in Razz. Luo committed the rest of his stack with a ten, but was second-best against Mayoh’s eight to exit in sixth. Kevin Cote followed him out the door shortly after.
It was all Avina at the start of four-handed play. The WSOP circuit grinder managed to double up three times, while Gonzalez fell into the short stack. Gonzalez eventually committed all of his chips with pocket nines in Limit Hold’em, but was out-flopped by Avina with king-ten to finish fourth.
Hui went on a bit of a heater to pull into the lead three-handed while Avina gassed out to bust in third. Hui held a slight lead over Mayoh going into heads-up play, which ended up being a very back-and-forth affair.
Mayoh then gained a massive chip lead after catching Hui bluffing in Omaha Hi-Lo but Hui wouldn’t be denied. After chipping up in a few key pots in Razz and Seven Card Stud, Hui retook the lead and finished the job in Stud Hi-Lo by making two pair and fading Mayoh’s flush draw.
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