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Philly poker pro wins second WSOP gold bracelet in event #1513 June 2016![]() Paul Volpe (photo by WSOP) Name: Paul Volpe Birthplace: Philadelphia, PA (USA) Age: 35 Current Residence: West Chester, PA (USA) Profession: Poker Player and Sports Gambler Number of WSOP Cashes: 27 Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 8 Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories (with this tournament): 2 Best Previous WSOP Finish: 1st (2014) Total WSOP Earnings: $1,484,475 Winner Quote: "With me, poker is mostly about the money. I know with the World Series of Poker there's so much history and I respect that. But I am here mainly to earn a living, make money, and support my family. For the most part, I love getting gold bracelets. But I'm here mainly to make a living." Paul Volpe (two-time gold bracelet winner) Paul Volpe is the newest multiple gold bracelet winner. Two years after his first victory at the World Series of Poker, the poker pro from Philadelphia won the $1,500 buy-in Eight-Game Mix (Six-Handed) tournament, which concluded on Sunday night. Volpe won his debut victory in the $10K No-Limit Deuceto-Seven Lowball competition. He's since made six additional final tables, and even came in second twice, falling just short of a second win to Shaun Deeb ($10K Pot-Limit Omaha) and Keith Lehr ($10K Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em). He wasn't to be denied this time. The tournament was played over three days and nights and concluded on the ESPN main stage at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Volpe collected $149,943 in prize money, making this one of the more sizable wins of his career. His WSOP earnings alone total $1,484,475. His earnings in cash games and other events is likely far greater, making him one of the best earners in poker over the last few years. Volpe won his victory by prevailing at a final table which included a mix of pros and amateurs. The final moment of triumph came when Volpe scooped the final pot of the tournament on a Pot-Limit Omaha hand against Jason Stockfish, from Cleveland, who finished as the runner up. Volpe held the chip lead the last two hours of the tourney and never appeared to be in serious danger of relinquishing his advantage. The final hand was crushing to Stockfish, as he held the best hand going into the river. He was ahead with two pair – aces and threes, with a nut-flush draw. Volpe had a pair of aces and needed to hit a higher second pair, which wasn't a spade. Volpe caught his card on the river, a six, and ended up with an odd victory story for a player accustomed to usually being in the driver's seat when it comes to showdowns. Volpe was beyond satisfied with the final outcome, yet also reserved in his customary businesslike approach to the game. When asked to compare his two victories, Volpe was quote candid in reflecting upon the first win versus this moment of glory. "Honestly, the first win was more meaningful," Volpe said. "It was on such a bigger stage because it was heads-up versus (Daniel) Negreanu. There were so many more people sweating that one. But this is also special because it's Eight-Game Mix, which is very hard to do. So, this one means a lot, but in a different way." This Eight-Game Mix event attracted 491 entrants which created a prize pool totaling $662,850. The top 74 finishers collected prize money. A similar tournament last year only drew 390 players, which marked a significant increase in interest for this mixture of poker games. Aside from the winner, here's a brief report of the other top finishers who made the final table: Second Place: Jason Stockfish played extraordinary poker for three days and could very well have won his first victory in this event. However, he came up just short. Stockfish collected $92,638 as a consolation prize. This marked only his second time to cash at the series. Third Place: Ron Ware, from Discovery Bay, CA is a longtime tournament grinder dating back more than a decade. The collectables dealer owns a WSOP gold ring, but just missed out on what might have been a first gold bracelet. Ware was the chip leader for a good portion of the finale, but ran out of good fortune late and had to settle for a payout amounting to $60,882. Fourth Place: Benjamin Ludlow, from Ney York City, put up his first WSOP cash ever with a fourth-place finish. He collected $40,911. Fifth Place: Anthony Lazar, from Maple Grove, MN put up his first WSOP cash in five years with an impressive showing that resulted in a $28,123 payout. Lazar was the "Player of the Year" on the Ante-Up Poker Tour. Sixth Place: Gavin Smith, from Anchorage, AK and originally from Canada made his best showing at the WSOP in three years with a respectable sixth-place finish. Smith won his gold bracelet in a Mixed Hold'em event back in 2010. Smith is back on his game again judging by the performance, which was rewarded with a $19,787 payday. Seventh Place: Bart Lybaert, from Meihelen, Belgium posted his fourth cash of the series and second final table appearance. He finished second in the $1,000 buy-in Top Up Turbo event, held the first week on the schedule. Lybaert is having a very nice series, indeed, and added $14,257 to his bankroll for yet another deep run. Eighth Place: Tommy Coker, from Oklahoma City, OK rounded out the official final table as the eighth-place finisher. He posted his first WSOP cash following multiple in-the-money finishes on the WSOP Circuit, including a gold ring won in Choctaw, in 2010. This nice finish paid $14,257. This was the 15th event on this year's schedule. This leaves 54 gold bracelet events still to go. Other notable in-the money finishers: Chris Klodnicki, now with 32 cashes at the WSOP and more than $5.3 million in earnings, finished in ninth place. David "ODB" Baker, a gold bracelet winner, cashed in 14th place. Bandon Cantu, a two-time gold bracelet winner, cashed in 16th place. Barry Greenstein, a three-time gold bracelet winner, cashed in 20th place. Ralph Perry, a gold bracelet winner, cashed in 22nd place. Martin Staszko, a player from the Czech Republic who finished second in the 2011 WSOP Main Event Championship and now has more than $5.5 million in earnings, cashed in 23rd place. Jason Somerville, a gold bracelet winner and one of the most popular poker pros on social media, cashed in 24th place. David Chiu, a five-time gold bracelet winner, cashed in 30th place. Jason Mercier, a three-time gold bracelet winner, cashed in 35th place. David Bach, a gold bracelet winner who won the 2009 Poker Players Championship, cashed in 49th place. Tom McCormick, a.k.a. "The Shamrock Kid" cashed in 51st place. He ranks second alltime on the list of players with most cashed without a WSOP victory. Fun facts: The age range of participants was 21 to 73. The average age of entrants was 40. The tournament was comprised of 96 percent males and 4 percent females. The breakdown of Americans to non-American players was 385 to 106. The top five nations in terms of number of participants was the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Russia, and France. (Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)
Philly poker pro wins second WSOP gold bracelet in event #15
is republished from Online.CasinoCity.com.
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