Paul Volpe Defeats Negreanu To Claim WSOP $10k NL 2-7 Lowball (Event #13)

Pennsylvania poker pro Paul Volpe has just overcome a field of 87 players over three days, including Daniel Negreanu heads-up, to claim his first ever gold bracelet, as well as the $253,524 first place prize. Commenting after his remarkable victory, Volpe said:
“It feels amazing to get my first bracelet, especially in the $10K Deuce-to-Seven (event), which is one of the toughest events of the summer. I was confident I was going to win. I felt like I was going to win. It was a super-tough table. It was unbelievable getting heads-up against Daniel. If I have to pick one person to beat for my bracelet, it would be him.”
The small but tough field of pros managed to create a prize pool worth $817,800, and amongst the big names then cashing in at the event was Michael Watson in 13th ($16,601), Greg Mueller in 12th ($16,601), Abe Mosseri in 7th ($27,633), John Monnette in 6th ($35,549), and Larry Wright in 5th ($47,792).
After Daniel Negreanu eliminated Brian Rast in 4th ($67,264), the 6-times WSOP winner was then left to battle it out against Jason Mercier and Paul Volpe for the title. Commenting on the rather vocal rail at this point, Volpe, said:
“It was a little annoying. I almost got the feeling that when I was three handed that they wanted to get heads-up. That Daniel and Jason wanted to make it like a PokerStars thing. It would be a pretty big deal, you know, Jason vs.”
Nevertheless, Volpe succeeded in sending Mercier to the rail in 3rd ($99,313) to take a 1.71m to 900k chip advantage over Negreanu into heads-up play, after which he proceeded to concentrate all his efforts on playing small ball poker, whilst all but ignoring Negreanu’s table banter. Volpe’s tactics, however, paid off handsomely and after slipping further and further behind Negreanu eventually had to settle for a runner-up finish worth $156,674. Despite the disappointment of missing out on a 7th career bracelet, Negreanu will at least take comfort in his first cash of WSOP 2014, especially after tweeting earlier this week:
“WSOP Results so far: 0-6 cashes, $49k in buyins after 42 hours of play. Will be playing $10k 2-7 tonight entering at level 3.”
Meanwhile, Volpe picked up a prestigious WSOP bracelet, whilst boosting his live tournament earnings to $2,690,152.
Final Table Payouts:
1 Paul Volpe       $253,524
2 Daniel Negreanu $156,674
3 Jason Mercier   $99,313
4 Brian Rast       $67,264
5 Larry Wright       $47,792
6 John Monnette   $35,549
7 Abe Mosseri       $27,633