Kory Kilpatrick Wins WSOP $3k NL Shootout (Event #20) For $255k

A total of 389 players parted with the $3,000 buy-in necessary to enter the 2014 WSOP No Limit Hold’em Shootout (Event #20), and at the end of three days of action Kory Kilpatrick emerged the champion to claim a career first gold bracelet, in addition to the $254,891 first place prize.
Kilpatrick now boasts $688,783 in live tournament earnings to go with the $2,156,236 he has won online playing under the screen name “s00tedj0kers.” Commenting on his exceptional performance against some of the toughest players on the planet, Kilpatrick said.
“Honestly, I feel like I zoned out for the last five or six hours. I don’t think it’s even hit me yet. I was really focused and really feeling it today. The start was a little frustrating with the structure but I made the adjustments I needed to.”
At the $3k NL Shootout, those players finishing in places 40th to 11th received $7,805 in prize money, and amongst the notable pros then cashing in at the tournament was Humberto Brenes in 38th, Faraz Jaka in 35th, Erik Seidel in 31st, Jake Cody in 23rd, Sorel Mizzi in 18th, and Daniel Alaei in 11th.
At the final table of ten, Taylor Paur then went out in 7th, Phil Galfond in 6th, and Chris Bell in 5th, before Kory Kilpatrick (A-A) scored his first elimination against Jack Duong (Q-9), whose straight on an A-J-10-8-J board finished second best to Kilpatrick’s full-house. Next, Kilpatrick (A-8) called Noah Bronstein’s (5-5) preflop all-in shove and after the board subsequently fell Q-4-4-8-10, Bronstein was eliminated in 3rd ($115,659), thus ushering in the heads-up phase of the competition.
Heads-up play subsequently began with Kilpatrick holding a 2-1 chip lead over final opponent Eric Wasserson. Soon after the defining hand was then played with Wasserson (J-10) all-in preflop but up against the dominating A-J of Kilpatrick. The 7-7-4-5-9 board brought no relief for Eric Wasserson, however, who had to content himself with a runner-up finish worth $157,490, while Kory Kilpatrick was awarded a career first gold bracelet and walked away with the largest score of his career.
“It was a really tough table, I was going to pick my spots and feel the table out at the start. It’s not easy when you have to keep playing pots against these players. I was fortunate to have some breaks go my way,” commented Kilpatrick after his exceptional victory.
Final Table Results
1. Kory Kilpatrick – $254,891
2. Eric Wasserson – $157,490
3. Noah Bronstein – $115,659
4. Jack Duong – $85,616
5. Chris Bell – $63,877
6. Phil Galfond – $48,043
7. Taylor Paur – $36,414
8. Michael Stonehill – $27,812
9. Dylan Linde – $21,409
10. Narendra Banwari – $16,609