WSOP 2013: Sandeep Pulusani Wins $3k No Limit Hold’em (Event#44)

Sandeep Pulusani has won WSOP $3,000 No Limit Hold’em (Event #44), after defeating a field of 1,072 player over three days on his way to capturing a bracelet, and collecting the $592,684 first place prize.
At this years WSOP, the US player has already had a 12th place finish at the $3k No Limit Hold’em – 6 Handed (Event #21) for $15,509, and following his latest victory at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, now takes his live career earnings to $735,498.
The $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event attracted a good sized field of amateurs and pros alike to create a prize pool worth $2,926,560. Amongst the notable names booking a cash, but falling short of a final table appearance was Randy Lew in 113th ($5,560), Lauren Kling in 112th ($5,560), Sorel Mizzi in 90th ($6,555), Faraz Jaka in 80th ($7,287), Barry Shulman in 63rd ($9,335), and Matt Marafioti in 23rd ($17,910).
In one of the most memorable hands of the tournament Jason Mercier then was eliminated in 16th ($21,773), when his full-house was beaten on the river, soon after tweeting: “Just lost 99 vs AA on 9737 board for 1.8 mill chip pot when avg was 600k. ace on the river Out in 16th. Regging one drop #ontothenextone.”
Eventually, after the final table of nine was set, Sandeep Pulusani would get heads-up against Scotland’s Niall Farrell, but at one point trailed by 1.48m chips to Farrell’s 8.12m before managing to reverse the positions. The defining hand was then played with Pulusani (A-3) and Farrell (A-2) all-in preflop, and after the board rolled out 3-7-5-9-A, Sandeep Pulusani was awarded the gold winner’s bracelet.
Commenting after his win, the 24 year-old cash specialist said: “I just expected to get second once it got (heads up)..but you’ve still got to play. So it was great.”
The final table payouts were as follows:
1 Sandeep Pulusani – $592,684
2 Niall Farrell – $366,815
3 Michael Rocco – $299,500
4 Martin Hanowski – $166,579
5 Zo Karim – $122,974
6 Mark Teltscher – $92,186
7 Nam Le – $70,120
8 Pedro Rios – $54,053
9 Phillippe Vert – $42,230