The day began with two of the biggest names in the game atop the counts in Brian Rast and Alex Foxen, but in the end, it was online crusher and surprising fantasy omission, Dzmitry Urbanovich, winning the WSOP $10,000 8-Game Championship for his first bracelet, which came far later than he expected.
“I always wanted to win. I expected to win way more by this time, but it’s not easy.”
Having played poker since he was 12 years old and coming to the WSOP since he turned 21, Urbanovich has seen too many close calls with eight final tables and two runner-up finishes before finally getting the win today in one of the toughest fields of the summer.
Already second on Poland’s all-time money list, Urbanovich added $431,260 to his nearly $8M in career tournament earnings.
Big final table names miss the podium
While Foxen did regain the WSOP Player of the Year lead with his fifth-place finish, it would have to be seen as a disappointment, as would Rast’s fourth-place result. Matt Vengrin continued his solid run of results, finishing sixth after his runner-up finish in the $2,500 Big Bet Mix and ninth in the $10K Stud 8 or Better Championship.
The final three were left to a battle of Chicagoland vs Poland with two-time Circuit Main Event champ Richard Bai and Derek Hanauer up against Urbanovich, who, after lying in the weeds much of the day, made a late surge to claim the title once the two biggest names left in the field were gone.
Urbanovich first picked off a Hanauer bluff in a 4M-chip PLO pot to take the lead, then extended it to almost 4-1 combined over his two opponents with an eight-high straight against Bai in Stud 8 or Better.
Bai would eliminate Hanauer, but he still trailed 4-1 to begin heads-up play and never got closer as heads-up lasted less than an hour.
A 25K Fantasy snub?
For the first time in eight years, Urbanovich was not drafted in 25K Fantasy. In previous years, he had gone for as high as $85 in 2016 and had an average draft price of $19 before not being selected this year.
Was it a curious oversight by teams this year? Before discussing that, Urbanovich made one thing clear.
“First of all, I hope I’m not ever going to be picked again. The first time I was not picked, I won a bracelet. Some people asked me (about my schedule), and I just told them what my plans were. They were not satisfied, I guess.”
Urbanovich said he’d been playing tournaments at other casinos around Las Vegas and, ultimately, he plays for himself, not for fantasy players.
“I don’t care about this at all. It does not affect me. Drafted or not drafted, I’m not participating in this 25K Fantasy draft. I don’t care.”
Regardless, he may be back on the radar of fantasy owners next year and back in the minds of the poker world as the online legend now has long-awaited WSOP hardware on his resume.
$10,000 8-Game Championship final table results:
- Dzmitry Urbanovich (Poland) - $431,260
- Richard Bai (USA) - $283,660
- Derek Hanauer (USA) - $191,570
- Brian Rast (USA) - $132,880
- Alex Foxen (USA) - $94,730
- Matt Vengrin (USA) - $69,460
