March 6-9
Cashes on Richard Bai's Hendon Mob record since his first at WSOPC Hammond in 2011.
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1ST
Richard Bai
$197,299
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2ND
Cody Brinn
$131,503
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3RD
Charles Cunha
$90,551
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4TH
Daniel Lei
$63,554
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5TH
Andrew Fahey
$45,483
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6TH
Jeffery Hollar
$33,023
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7TH
Varkey James
$24,734
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8TH
Kenny Nguyen
$18,811
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9TH
Jordan Helstern
$14,611
When the day of the WSOPC Hammond Main Event began, just six hopefuls from a starting field of 741 returned to Horseshoe Hammond with a single goal in mind; to emerge as the last person standing. And just over four hours later, it was long-time pro Richard Bai who would be crowned champion.
The victory comes with the $197,299 first-place prize, and although Bai has over $2,000,000 in lifetime earnings, this marks a career high-score for him, trumping his previous best cash of $139K. Bai also collects his third WSOPC ring, the other two of which he won by taking down big field main events, as well. Three rings for three main event wins is quite an accomplishment.
King-jack helps comeback
Bai came into the day in the middle of the pack and had to navigate a final table that included a number of young, aggressive, and thinking players. He would eventually overcome a significant chip advantage to defeat Cody Brinn heads-up and take the biggest piece of the $1,122,615 prize pool.
After the win, he pointed to a big hand early in the day that sent him on a path to the heads-up double up.
“When I moved into the second chip position is when I thought, ok, I have a legitimate shot to win this thing. Then once it got to heads up and I beat Cody’s ace-seven with king-jack, that was really when I felt the momentum shift.”
The shift was a needed one, as the final duel started with a 92-24 big blind split between Brinn and Bai. The early king-jack double, however, moved the momentum over to Bai.
He would double again with king-six to regain the lead and he never gave it back.
As for the new blood at this year's final table, Bai mentioned he enjoys playing with the younger generation, and that his motivation for wanting to continue to compete with them at this point in his career comes from his love of poker.
“It’s really just the love of the game that keeps me going. If I didn’t love the game anymore I would slow down significantly, but I still love to play. I play online when I’m at home and I like to keep up with the game.”
“I see a lot of myself in the young guys, so I kind of know where they’re at mentally, and I try to capitalize on that. They’re a little more calculated and a tad bit smarter than we were when I was coming up, but it’s always interesting to play with them.”
