Home / Poker News June 2008 / Jose Luis Velador hangs on to chip lead, takes down WSOP bracelet
Jose Luis Velador hangs on to chip lead, takes down WSOP bracelet
Posted by: James Carter. - Sat, 2008-06-21 07:00
Apparently, the chip lead Velador had secured during day 2 was but an excellent way to start off his title push. During the final day of event #32 ($1,500 NL Holdem), his stack hardly ever appeared in peril. The only time it seemed like he might lose some steam was during the heads-up stage when Antonio Signore almost managed to catch up with him. Other than that, it was all smooth sailing for Velador, who won the gold, and the $573,374 that came with it.
The day began with the small stack (Justin Hoffman – 138,000 chips) increasingly feeling the pressure, and thus being forced to act. It was the 18th hand of the final table when he pushed all-in with J,8 of hearts and got called by Dean Bui with K,3o. The board brought nothing to either player, and thus Hoffman got felted, winning $53,464 for his 9th place finish. Utsab Saha was the next to go. Even though he held a substantial stack in the beginning of the day, he got into a re-raising contest with Velador, and his A,10 couldn’t match up with the latter’s Q,Q, after the board brought but a bunch of blanks for both of them. Dany Georges finished 7th after his A,J of hearts ran into Dean Bui’s pair of sixes. The board failed to improve either hand involved, although it did bring Georges tantalizingly close to a straight. The $100,638 that he won though, was probably a nice consolation for the unlucky Georges.
Bui was doing great until he ran into Velador, who was simply unbeatable today. Bui’s pocket tens improved to a set on the flop, and it made perfect sense that he should push all-in. Little did he know that Velador himself had hit a set on the flop, catching a third K to his pocket pair. Shane Stacey busted out next, followed by Jae Chung and Osmin Dardon.
The final hand of the heads-up confrontation between Velador and Signore saw Velador’s A,7 beat Signore’s A,6 of clubs, as the former made two pairs on the flop. Velador knocked out 5 opponents on his way to his first WSOP title.
