2012 WSOP Event 54

Friday July 6,2012 :  ANOTHER VIRGIN BRACELET WON AT WORLD SERIES OF POKER
 
Railbirds have a ball as US vs. Brazil
 
"Let's make some noise” seemed to be the feeling among US and Brazilian railbirds at the World Series of Poker Wednesday as New York player Will Jaffe and his Brazilian heads up opponent Luis Campelo fought it out for big money in event 54 – $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em.
 
Chants of "USA" and "Ole Ole Ole" reverberated around the venue as railbirds urged their favourites on in a tense and dynamic competition between two talented players.
 
In the end it was the American who won, celebrating the 4th July in grand style as he claimed his first WSOP bracelet and a handy first prize of $500,075. His very worthy opponent went home with a consolatory second placing check for $309,429.
 
The two players survived a field of 3221 over three days of fierce competition to finish in the heads up at level 33, but after two hours the chips were bagged for the night, and the duo had to return on Wednesday to decide the winner.
 
Initially it appeared that Jaffe would quickly finish off his opponent, leveraging a slight chip lead which he rapidly built into a 2 to 1 advantage.
 
However, the Brazilian fought back and at one stage even took the chip lead away from his US opponent, but Jaffe responded with a stream of aggressive and loose moves that put him back in charge to eventually eliminate Campelo.
 
Other payouts were:
 
Joseph Kuether – $218,983
Nghi Van Tran – $158,512
Ken Fishman – $116,072
Jason Tompkins – $85,981
Muhamet Perati – $64,414
Benjamin Grise – $48,788
Jeff Fielder – $37,367