Home / Poker News June 2011 / 2011 WSOP – Foster Hays Wins $1,500 NL Holdem Event
2011 WSOP – Foster Hays Wins $1,500 NL Holdem Event
Posted by: Jo Martin - Thu, 2011-06-16 13:36
Only 6 players returned to action on the final day of the $1,500 NL Holdem Event of the
2011 WSOP, of whom Foster Hays had by far the largest stack. Weighing in at 3.6 million chips, his stack stood a head and a shoulder above second place man Jeffrey Lavelle’s 2.13 million chips.
Once the action got going, it switched into high gear in no time at all and less than an hour after it had kicked off, play was down to the heads-up stage. Hays was one of the players who made it, having wielded his large stack masterfully throughout the final stretch. His opponent was Casey Kelton, who began the heads-up stage with a 3:1 chip handicap. At the beginning of it all, Kelton didn’t look like he stood a chance, but he played well and chipped up massively twice in a row to take the chip lead. Just when it seemed like Lady Luck had developed a crush on him, he fired out a couple of bad bluffs which got picked off by Hays and the tide had once again turned.
The first such bluff – reminiscent of online play at
Full Tilt Poker - happened when Kelton bet into Hays on a board of A,3,5,Q rainbow. Hays called him and the 2d on the river prompted him to fire out another massive bet. Hays was undaunted though and he made the call yet again, after which he tabled Q,6o. In response, Kelton just mucked.
The second bad bluff happened a few hands later, when Kelton swung into action again on the river of a J,10,10, 6, 9 rainbow board. Hays had nothing but a high card this time (he had A,7o), but emboldened by his afore-described experience, he made the call yet again. Kelton had K,5 for an even lower high card and the busted bluff.
Aggression is generally accepted as the way to go in these tournaments, but uncontrolled aggression can turn around and bite one on the rear in no time. The final hand of the tournament saw Kelton’s A,J obliterated by Hays’ J,9 on a board of 9,7,4. The turn and the river failed to improve either hand and Hays picked up the $735k prize.
