Home / Poker News June 2011 / 2011 WSOP – Mark Schmid wins $1k NL Holdem Event
2011 WSOP – Mark Schmid wins $1k NL Holdem Event
Posted by: Mark Baldwing - Thu, 2011-06-23 15:29
The 22nd day of the
2011 WSOP only awarded a single bracelet. The winner of the $1k NL Holdem Event (#34), Mark Schmid, a 31 year old poker pro who used to play at
Full Tilt Poker and
PokerStars, was the one who pocketed it. The third and final day of the event broadly regarded as a massively “fishy” one due to its reasonably-sized buy-in, saw 27 players return to the tables. The goal was to play down to the final table first and then all the way to a winner.
By the time the final table was reached, Mark Schmid, the eventual winner, already had a massive stack at his disposal. Robert Verspui also made the final table, making it his second one this year.
The final table started out fast, but regardless of all the action, there were no early eliminations. As soon as the floodgates broke though, eliminations began to pour in thick and fast. Robert Verspui was among those who busted out: his second final table bid ran out of steam earlier than his first one: he was eliminated in 7th place. He staked his tournament life on an A,Jo he picked up, only to get called by Andrew Rudnik, who had pocket rockets.
When the heads-up stage of the action was reached, it was Schmid squaring off against Justin Cohen. Cohen had a massive 3-1 chip lead, but lost control of the action on the very first heads-up hand. Cohen had a two pair on the turn of a board which gave his opponent a top pair. The river gave Schmid a two pair too, which was higher than his opponent’s.
Cohen did manage to bounce back, but the momentum had already turned in Schmid’s favor. When the final hand was reached, Schmid had 4 chips for every one of Cohen’s.
The final hand saw the money go into the middle on the river of a board of Ks,10s,7h,7s,As. Schmid had a pair of Qs, one of which was a spade, giving him the nut flush.
Schmid picked up $488k for his efforts.
