WSOP 2016: Kyle Julius Wins $1k NLHE Top Up Turbo Event

Kyle Julius has been cashing in at live tournaments since 2009, but the Naperville pro has now crowned an already accomplished career by capturing a gold bracelet at this year’s WSOP in Las Vegas. On Monday night, Julius overcame a field of 667 players at Event #4: $1k No Limit Hold’em Top Up Turbo to take home a first place prize worth $142,972, and following a victory which pushes his life-time earnings to $3,096,395, commented:
“It feels great. This is actually my first ever live win and for it to be a bracelet win is pretty cool. To get started with a win in the second tournament of the summer, it feels pretty unbelievable.”
The $1k NLHE Top Up Turbo featured a $681,300 prize pool, and amongst the notable pros seeing a return on their investments was Eric Froehlich in 59th ($2,179), Eric Baldwin in 52nd ($2,447), David Williams in 43rd ($2,804), Liv Boeree in 29th ($3,277), and Andy Bloch in 26th ($3,906).
Kyle Julius entered the final table of nine in 5th place, and eventually progressed all the way through to heads-up play where he faced Belgium pro Bart Lybaert for the title. One hand is all it would then take to decided the competition, after Julius moved all-in preflop holding pocket fours and was called by his opponent with K-9. The K-10-2-A-4 board which ensued sealed the deal, and so Lybaert collected $88,328 for his runner-up finish, while
Kyle Julius captured a coveted WSOP bracelet.
Julius and his fiancé are expecting a child within the next couple of months, and following his impressive victory the 26 year-old pro explained: “We’ve been arguing about names, and she was like, ‘All right, how about this? If you go out and win a bracelet, then you can name the kid. It’s still going to be mutual, and we’re still going to make the decision together, but I think I have a little bit more say now. It’s pretty cool.”
Final Table Results:
1: Kyle Julius $142,972
2: Bart Lybaert $88,328
3: Ben Yu $61,137
4: Karl Held $43,001
5: Hugo Perez $30,742
6: Christian Blech $22,345
7: Nitis Udornpim $16,518
8: George Dolofan $12,422
9: Vinny Pahuja $9,506