Carter Phillips (21) Wins WSOP Bracelet At First Attempt

Despite playing professionally for a while, William Carter Phillips has been unable to compete at the World Series Of Poker until this year, as he only turned 21 on October 26, 2009.
That, of course, didn’t stop him playing in European competitions and even winning the 2009 PokerStars EPT Barcelona Main Event for a staggering $1,212,263.
Last month, the young pro was looking forward to his first taste of WSOP action, and in anticipation of the competition said:
“I’m extremely ready for the summer. I feel like the World Series and the excitement around it will give me a lot of motivation to play a lot and play really well. I only play no-limit hold’em so I basically will just be playing all of those events. Because I get burnt out fairly easy I will take breaks when necessary in order to keep playing well everyday.”
Now, at his first attempt, Phillips has taken down the WSOP $1,500 buy-in six handed no-limit hold’em event, after defeating a field of 1,663 players, and picked up a cheque for $482,774 in the process, as well as an all-important WSOP winner’s bracelet.
Carter Phillips was in top form throughout the tournament, and by the time he had taken his place at the final table, he had already established himself as the chip leader. From their he continued to use his big stack to full effect but three handed got a bit of a scare after four-betting all-in with Js-7s, and getting called by Craig Bergeron with pocket 7’s.
A Jack on the flop eliminated Bergeron in third ($189,661), and set up his heads-up battle against Sam Gerber. The final hand came when Samuel Gerber moved all-in pre-flop after being three-bet by Phillips, with his Qc-8d in bad shape against Phillips’ Ad-Kc. An ace on the flop held up and Sam Gerber walked away with $298,726, while a famous win went to the 21 year-old poker pro from Charlotte, North Carolina.
Commenting on his victory, Phillips said: “I think the European tour is softer than [the field] deep in these WSOP tournaments. I think this is a bigger accomplishment.”