2015 WSOP Event 23

Saturday June 13,2015 :  LUCKY MISTAKE EARNS POKER PLAYER $81,314
 
Christian Pham wins his first WSOP bracelet in Event 23.
 
A mistake whilst registering for a World Series of Poker event this week resulted in Christian Pham (40) from St. Paul, Minnesota finding himself in the wrong competition playing a game he was not really familiar with, but it all turned out well when he emerged triumphant to claim his first WSOP bracelet and the main prize of $81,314.
 
Pham's success came in event 23, a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Deuce-to-Seven Lowball competition…but he had meant to enter a No-Limit Hold’em tournament.  By the time  he realised his mistake the cards were being dealt, and he decided to go with the flow and get on with the unfamiliar game, with a little assistance from obliging table-mates.
 
He is clearly a fast learner, although as he later admitted: “I learned the game at the table.  I was figuring out what to do as I went along, and I also got lots of good cards. That helped, too. Now, I love this game!”
 
Long story short, Pham and Daniel Ospina outlasted the 219-strong field to enter the heads up stage, with Pham holding the advantage. However, it took him around 2 hours to eliminate Ospina despite his lead as the Canadian battled on.
 
In the end Pham ground his opponent down with relentless pressure, but Ospina certainly earned his runner-up prize of $50,260.
 
The rest of the final table cashed like this:
 
3 Matthew Smith $33,163
4 Andrey Zhigalov $22,634
5 Huck Seed $15,852
6 Aleksandr Denisov $11,385
7 Mike Leah $8,381