WSOP 2013 Champion Ryan Riess: Analysis Of Final Play

Last night in Las Vegas, Ryan Riess took down the 2013 WSOP Main Event title, and in so doing boosted his career earnings by the tune of $8,361,570. On his way to victory, the 23-year old Michigan man had to first overcome a massive field of 6,352 players over seven days, before eventually overcoming his fellow November Niners over two days to claim the most prestigious tournament in the whole of poker.
At the final table of the $10k World Championship, Riess would first eliminate four of his competitors over 171 hands, while his eventual heads-up opponent Jay Farber would take care of the other three. The two opponent’s would subsequently face-off over 90 hands, or a mere four hours of play, before Ryan Riess was crowned the 2013 WSOP Main Event champion.
Going into the final table, Reiss was brimming with confidence and expressed his belief he was the best player at the table. Following his winning the Main Event, Reiss’ confidence subsequently rose to new heights, with the young pro commenting:
“I just think I’m the best player in the world..I don’t know about playing in any $100K’s unless I sell action..There’s going to be people like Scott Seiver who say I suck. I obviously don’t care.”
Modesty aside, Ryan Riess did enter the final heads-up battle with an 85bb to 100bb deficit against Farber, but after winning a huge $58.5 million pot with pocket Jacks, Reiss was able to cease the reigns and employ a more aggressive style he had rarely shown at the final table.
“I just decided to turn the pace up and drive him down,” Riess said.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t just about the aggression, as poker expert Vanessa Selbst observed Reiss had been “running rather well,” and Doyle Brunson tweeted; “Riess has a hand every deal. Poor Farber hasn’t had a chance. Not so easy to play when u don’t have the best hand everytime.”
Vanessa Selbst was also quick to pick-up on a few fundamental errors she saw Farber make, tweeting; “On a more serious note, someone should tell Jay [Farber] to stop putting inf bets in with crap, Ryan has had it 3betting OOP like every time.”
Eventually, Jay Farber was then reduced to a small stack of just 14 million chips to Riess’ 176 million, when he made his final stand with a Queen and five of spades. Unfortunately for him, Riess had Ah-Kh and after the younger player called, the board ran out J-10-4-3-4 to consign Farber to a runner-up finish in the WSOP Main Event history books, while Ryan Riess was crowned the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event champion.
Later commenting on the final hand, Reiss said he knew Farber was bluffing because he had been able to pick-up on some tells displayed by his final opponent throughout their match, including one in which Farber took a big pot holding just six-high.
“I was picking up on his body language and facial tells. When everybody was screaming then, he did the exact same thing,” Riess said.