Brian Meinders Wins WSOP $1.5k Limit Hold’em

New Jersey’s Brian Meinders has won Event #25: $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout, after defeating a field of 365 players over three days to collect a gold bracelet, as well as the $116,118 first place prize.
At WSOP 2010, Meinders cashed for $144,650 after finishing 2nd to Dutch Boyd at the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Six Handed event. This time around, the 27 year old managed to seal a famous victory, whilst also boosting his live career earnings to $459,111. Commenting late, Brian Meinders said:
“I’m really happy to have one. I didn’t realize how much I wanted one ’til the last time I came up short and I’m happy to have it this time around.”
Despite its small field, the Limit Event still managed to attract many big names to the competition, including Phil Hellmuth, Viktor Blom, Maria Ho, Marcel Luske, Barry Shulman, Jonathan Little,  and Joseph Cheong. Amongst the notable finishers was Isaac Haxton in 55th ($5,226), Greg Mueller in 50th ($3,088), Scott Seiver in 29th ($3,088),  Matt Matros in 25th ($3,088) and Justin Bonomo in 15th ($3,088). By the time the final table of ten got underway, Victor Ramdin was the biggest name still in with a shot at the title.
Brian Meinders (J-J) then scored his first elimination after catching a J on the river to dispatch Ian Johns (A-A) in 9th for $9,225, before his A-Q sent Sean Rice (A-9) to the rail in 8th ($11,992).
Meinders (9-9) then followed up with a fullhouse against Brock Parker who exited in 5th ($27,986), while Victor Ramdin (Q-J) found himself all-in on a 5-9-8 flop against Meinders K-8. The turn and river came 9 and 7 to send the Ramdin to the rail in 4th for $37,897.
After Darin Thomas eliminated Chris Vitch in 3rd ($71,704), the heads-up phase got underway with Meinders holding a 3 to 1 chip advantage over his opponent. Two hours later, Meinders (5s-3s) and Thomas (Qd-6h) got all their chips in on a Ts-8d-6s flop, with the board running out 4c and 7s to complete Meinders flush.
The final table payouts were as follows:
1. Brian Meinders – $116,118
2. Darin Thomas – $71,704
3. Chris Vitch –  $51,861
4. Victor Ramdin – $37,897
5. Brock Parker – $27,986
6. Preston Derden – $20,886
7. Matthew Schreiber – $15,747
8. Sean Rice – $11,992
9. Ian Johns – $9,225
10. Christopher Hartman – $7,164