James Anderson won among the final bracelets of the 2019 World Series of Poker Friday evening at the Rio when he bested an enormous field of 6,248 gamers in the $1,111 Little One for One Drop.
It was the first WSOP bracelet for the Pittsburg native. He defeated Fernando Karam heads-up for the title, which deserved $690,686. Karam took home $426,543 for his runner-up finish. The score was the largest of his occupation and also provides him greater than $2.3 million in tournament earnings.
Anderson’s second-biggest score came at the WSOP Circuit Regional Championship in 2010. It was a $10,000 buy-in as well as he took it down for $525,449.
He played seriously for a couple of years after that, yet ultimately took five years off from the WSOP 2019 was the very first year he moneyed in a WSOP event because 2014. His go back to the Rio was a lucrative one. He paid seven times and topped it off with a bracelet success.
“I wanted to get away from the ga me for a little bit,” Anderson told WSOP reporters following the tournament. “I was grinding really hard and I wanted to take a little break from it. I feel good now. My mind is a lot fresher now. I have a different perspective and hopefully, it continues. It’s a good start.”
The final table was reached late Thursday night and the final five players bagged up chips and came back Friday at noon to play down to a winner. Bob Mather, Ying Fu, Mark Strodl and Nils Tolpingrud made the final table and busted before the final day.
Karam came into the final day as the chip leader with nearly double what Liran Betito had behind him second in chips.
Anderson scored a huge double up through Betito early in the day with A-4 all in on a flop of Q-5-3 against Betito’s Q-9. A deuce came on the turn to give Anderson the wheel, the double up and a temporary chip lead. Anderson lost the chip lead three-handed and went into the heads-up battle with Karam as a 3:1 chip dog.
Anderson quickly closed the gap and then moved into the lead for good when his pocket A-6 sucked out against Karam’s A-Q. He finished off Karam with K-5 all in preflop against Q-4.
Shalom Elharar was eliminated in fifth, Betito in fourth and Marco Guibert was out in third.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Anderson | United States | $690,686 |
| 2 | Fernando Karam | Brazil | $426,543 |
| 3 | Marco Guibert | Argentina | $316,233 |
| 4 | Liran Betito | Israel | $236,151 |
| 5 | Shalom Elharar | United States | $177,639 |
| 6 | Nils Tolpingrud | United States | $134,608 |
| 7 | Mark Strodl | United States | $102,757 |
| 8 | Ying Fu | China | $79,029 |
| 9 | Robert Mather | United States | $61,238 |
