Michael Gathy Wins Event #34 ($278,613)
Two weeks ago, Davidi Kitai won his second bracelet when he took down the $5,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event, setting a Belgian record for number of World Series of Poker bracelets won. Today, Kitai is joined in the Belgian multiple bracelet winner’s club by Michael “Timmy” Gathy.
In 2012, Gathy won the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event and today he added a second bracelet to his collection by taking down the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Turbo event.
Day 2 of this action-packed event started with 35 players from the original field of 1,629; each of the players was guaranteed at least $6,729 for the effort as the money bubble burst on Day 1. During the course of the day’s play, the tournament lost the likes of Jamie Rosen (33rd), Ognjen Sekularec (32nd), Simon Charette (18th), Sam Greenwood (17th), Jennifer Tilly (13th) and Tom Alner (12th).
The final table was reached at around 18:15 and within one hand, it had lost its first player. Russell Crane ran his 
into Jake Cody’s 
and didn’t improve so became the ninth place finisher.
Another 29 hands passed before Noah Vaillancourt open-shoved from UTG+1 with what turned out to be 
and was looked up by Yueqi Zhu and his pair of red nines. The board ran out 
to send Vaillancourt to the cashier’s desk to pick up eighth place money.
Next to go was Jake Cody. The popular British pro had the infamous British railbirds cheering and jeering him on right until the final river landed on the Rio felt. Cody had earlier lost a flop with ace-king versus pocket tens and he would suffer a similar fate in his final hand. Jason Duval opened to 50,000, Cody moved all in for 417,000, Gathy re-shoved and Duval folded. Cody showed 
and was against a pair of black tens. The tens stayed best and Cody and his army of fans left the Amazon Room.
Sixth place went to Duval who busted in unfortunate circumstances. The action folded to Duval in the small blind and he attempted to steal the ample blinds and antes with an all-in raise. Unfortunately, for Duval at least, Benjamin Reason woke up in the big blind with a pair of queens, which held, to send the recent bracelet winner to the sidelines.
Five became four when Daniel Bishop committed his stack with 
on a 
flop and was looked up by Zhu and his 
. Zhu missed his flush draw but spiked a king on the turn to send Bishop home for an early bath.
Bishop’s exit took place on the 100th hand of the final table and it wasn’t until the 140th hand that we saw another elimination take place. Sergey Rybachenko had earlier lost all but 15,000 chips (one small blind at the time) and had mounted an epic comeback that saw him double up in four times! However, any hopes of him becoming the Russian Jack Straus were ended when his 
couldn’t improve to come from behind to beat the 
of Gathy.
Two hands later and Zhu was sent to the rail, again by Gathy. On a flop that read 
, Gathy led for 90,000. Zhu moved all-in with his 
and Gathy called with 
. Zhu received no help from the turn or river and the tournament moved to the heads-up stages.
Going into the one-on-one battle, Gathy held an almost 4-to-1 chip lead and it proved too much of a gap for Reason to bridge. On the 24th hand of heads-up play and the 166th of the final table, Reason opened to 80,000, Gathy three-bet to 180,000 and Reason moved in for 905,000. Gathy called and showed 
and he was ahead of the of Reason. Gathy caught a nine on the flop, and improved to trips on the turn. Gathy improved further still wen the 
river gifted him an unnecessary full house, busting Reason and leaving Gathy to be announced as the latest WSOP champion.
2013 WSOP Event #34 Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Michael Gathy | $278,613 |
| 2nd | Benjamin Reason | $172,252 |
| 3rd | Yueqi Zhu | $113,358 |
| 4th | Sergey Rybachenko | $81,720 |
| 5th | Daniel Bishop | $59,816 |
| 6th | Jason Duval | $44,422 |
| 7th | Jake Cody | $33,456 |
| 8th | Noah Vaillancourt | $25,539 |
| 9th | Russell Crane | $19,748 |
That concludes our coverage of Event #34. Keep your browsers locked to PokerNews.com for the rest of the World Series of Poker as we bring you all of the action, as it happens, from the 2013 WSOP.