WSOP Event #8: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack put another first-time winner on the World Series of Poker's list of bracelet winners. Zhi Wu of Boston admitted in his post game interview to a decided lack of experience before his $281,604 first place finish in Event #8.
"I won a Foxwoods $400 a couple of years ago," Wu explained. "And I came in second in a $1,700 bounty in Florida. But I am not a professional, though I have a little experience."
He is still maintaining a pretty professional approach to the series though. While he says he plans to party a "a little bit," he still plans to play the Millionaire Maker and the Main Event along with a scattering of other events.
His victory saw him top out a field of 4,527 entries. At $600 a pop, that still left $2,309,280 in the prize pool after Caesars had gouged out their cut.
Final table action
"I was nervous about big hands so I changed my strategy," Wu said, after the dust had settled. "I played big hands differently because I knew my opponent was a strong heads-up player."
In the end, Mezrich's skill heads up didn't make much difference.
The final hand arrived along with the 1,200,000/2,400,000 blind level. Mezrich had another 2.4 million in for the big blind ante and looked down at T♣7♣.
Wu made it 5.2 million and Mezrich called.
The flop was, 2♣T♠J♠. Mezrich checked his middle pair looking to catch a bluff if one came from Wu. Sure enough, Wu bet 5 million into a pot of 12.8 million. Mezrich called.
The turn was the 3❤️ changing very little. Wu moved all in for Mezrich's remaining ~20 million or so. Getting three to one odds from the pot, Mezrich called.
Wu's hand was not what he wanted to see — A♠A♣.
The turn came down the J❤️ and Wu stood up to chat to the PokerGO cameras through his interpreter, while Mezrich went to collect $173,998 from the cashier for his second-place finish.
Across the room, Phil Hellmuth was in the hunt for his 16th bracelet. At Wu's table, a brand new first-time bracelet winner was collecting his first.
2021 WSOP Event #8: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack complete final table results
Featured image source: PokerGO (photographer: Enrique Malfavon)
