Greg Merson wins WSOP Main Event for $8,531,853

It was an epic battle to say the least, as Greg Merson, Jacob Balsinger and Jessie Sylvia spent a staggering 13 hours at the final table. Finally Greg Merson emerged as the new Champion of the World – an achievement for which he was rewarded with $8,531,853. Merson played an impeccable session of poker – some experts have classified Greg’s play as the most impressive display of poker skills and discipline at the WSOP final table ever.

The 24 year old poker pro also took down WSOP Player of the Year title, with a narrow point lead over poker’s biggest brat Phil Hellmuth. The Poker Brat came close second in the POY race for a second year in the row, which is still an excellent achievement in the world of young hyper-aggressive poker professionals.

Almost all of the recent Main Event champions have been really young and this year was no exception. The winner is 24, second place finisher Jesse Sylvia is 26 and third place finisher Jacob Balsinger is 21. Balsinger actually had a chance of becoming the youngest champion ever.

2012 WSOP Main Event final table was the longest in history, both in time spent (22,5h) and in hands played (398). Three handed play on the final day lasted for an amazing 197 hands and over 11 hours. During this time, the last 3 remaining players took turns at being the chip leader and experienced several highs and lows, whilst remaining focused and unfazed by some pretty serious bad beats.

After 11 hours of 3 handed play Jacob Balsinger exited in third place when his Q 10 was met by Mersons K Q and the board didn’t help him out. For his excellent play Balsinger received $3,799,073.

The heads-up play between Sylvia (80.6 million chips) and Merson (117.6 million chips) lasted for 16 hands. The final hand was a bit unorthodox, when Merson opened with a raise to 4 million, Sylvia three bet him to 9.5 million and Merson four bet all-in. This action left Sylvia speechless for a while as he studied his opponent, made some calculations, and finally announced a call.

When the cards were turned over, the audience and fellow players let out a collective WOW!

Merson: K 5 of diamonds

Sylvia: Q J of spades

The board ran out: 6 3 9 6 7 – and Mersons king high hand was enough to make him the winner of 2012 WSOP Main Event.

Jesse Sylvia earned $5,295,149 for his second place finish – by far the biggest cash of his poker career.

The final payouts were:

Since the difference of payouts was huge at this final table, everyone was taking it relatively easy and progressing cautiously during the first day. The first departure happened after two hours of play, when Steven Gee got knocked out of the tournament by Russel Thomas, who called Gees bets on all three streets, to find out that his Q Q was indeed better than Gee’s 8 8.

The next player to hit the rail was Robert Salaburu, who got really unlucky after calling himself all-in with 7 7 against Jesse Sylvia’s failed intimidation attempt with Q 5. However poker is not always a just game and the Q on the river sent Salaburu packing.

Five hands later Michael Esposito’s number came up after Greg Merson raised to an even million from position and the short stacked Esposito shoved his small stack of 10.7 million chips into the middle, thus putting his tournament life on line. When the cards were tabled it became obvious that Merson’s A K was well ahead of Esposito’s A J. The board did not change the situation and Esposito finished in 7^th place.

The same starting hand was working really well for Merson, as some time later he eliminated the only non US player at the final table – Andras Koroknai from Hungary, with another A K. Koroknai was holding K Q and the board provided him no help at all. The size of this pot was about 80 million chips and Merson instantly became the chip leader, while his fans furiously chanted in the stands.

5^th place finisher was Jeremy Ausmus, who moved his stack all-in with an open ended straight draw and an overcard, holding 10 7 in his hand. However Jesse Sylvia was convinced that his top pair with an ace kicker is good and called Ausmus with A 9 on the 3 8 9 3 board. The river blanked with a 5 and Silvia scooped the pot.

In the last hand of the first day of final table Jacob Balsinger used his A K to eliminate Russell Thomas who had A 9. Thomas was already quite short stacked, so after Balsinger reraised his opening bet to put him all-in, he opted to call and found no help from the board.

Chipleader Greg Merson (88,350,000 chips), Jesse Sylvia (62,750,000 chips) and Jacob Balsinger (46,875,000 chips) returned to the final table for the second day of action, which saw Greg Merson emerge as the new Champion Of The World after 13 hours of grueling play.