Chris Vitch Doubles Bracelet Tally at WSOP 2017

Building on his bracelet victory at last year’s WSOP $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw event, Chris Vitch has done it again, this time at the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. Commenting after his impressive performance against an exceptionally tough field of 125 players, the 34-year-old US pro with $915,344 in live earnings explained:
“[The first one] was in Mixed Triple Draw, which is probably my best game. I also consider Stud-8 to be a really good game of mine, but I’ve never done super well in a $10K before, so I was really proud to win a $10K because the quality of play in the entire field is just so high, and I really feel like it’s a different accomplishment. To get one in a $10K makes me feel like I really can compete against the elite fields, and that makes me feel great.”
Event #48 featured a prize pool of $1,175,000, and amongst the big name pros finishing in one of the tournament’s 19 money spots was Daniel Negreanu in 18th ($15,182), Richard Ashby in 15th ($16,800), Todd Brunson in 14th ($19,130), Chris Ferguson in 12th ($22,396), and Phil Hellmuth Jr in 9th ($26,938).
The final table was an equally stacked affair and after the 2010 WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel (5th) and 2-times WSOP bracelet winner Abe Mosseri (3rd) were eliminated, it was left to Chris Vitch and Benny Glaser, looking for a fourth WSOP bracelet, to duke it out for the title.
As the final battle commenced, Vitch held a more than 2-1 chip lead over Glaser, but a further four hours would subsequently ensue, during which time the UK pro managed to fight back from a 15:1 chip deficit.Finally, though, Vitch managed to secure the victory for $320,193, and heaping praise on his heads-up opponent, commented:
“He played great. I really wanted to put him away because I knew that anything could happen, and then it looked like anything was going to happen because he had me outchipped at times, but I was prepared.. He told me he’s never lost heads-up at the WSOP, so I’m glad to say that I was the first one to beat him heads up, but really I just had the cards at the end. Either one of us could have won because the levels were just so high at the end.”
Final Table Results:
1: Chris Vitch $320,193
2: Benny Glaser $197,838
3: Abe Mosseri $138,608
4: Jameson Painter $99,342
5: Jonathan Duhamel $72,876
6: Andrew Kelsall $54,748
7: Brock Parker $42,146
8: Alex Luneau $33,265