David Singer was in with a shot at a triple through, but has been eliminated by Valentin Vornicu. All in of necessity showing the , Phongthep Thiptinnakon () called Vornicu's complete bet showing the . Fourth street saw Vornicu lead having picked up and ace, Thiptinnakon called (having ascertained that he'd place higher in the money if both he and Singer busted this hand).
Thiptinnakon: /
Singer: /
Vornicu: /
Vornicu now bet again and Thiptinnakon folded.
Singer //
Vornicu: //
Singer was walking away before seventh street was revealed.
Three-time bracelet winner Rep Porter has busted to Eli Elezra, who annouced, "I have to go for it," when Porter bet for the third time on fifth street - this time all in. He'd completed the bet initially, and led the other streets.
Porter: /
Elezra: / for the flush draw he was going for.
Elezra hit it straight away with the , his seventh street the irrelevant . Porter shook hands all round and went to collect his payout, as his final two cards were the unhelpful leaving him still with a pair of fives.
Valentin Vornicu attempted to fold with his but was informed that wasn't allowed as he was bring-in. He swept his cards back up and when the first two folded to Phongthep Thiptinnakon with his and he completed, Vornicu decided to defend. When Vornicu caught a , he raised Thiptinnakon and they got it in.
Vornicu: /
Thiptinnakon: /
Thiptinnakon was narrowly ahead and he won the race to a pair with appearing as his next two, giving him eights. Vornicu caught bricks with the . Thiptinnakon turned over a worthless , so it was on Vornicu to peel the last card and see if he could make a better pair.
Anthony Zinno completed with the and Eli Elezra called with the . On fourth, Zinno got the and Elezra the . They evidently both liked these cards as a raising war ensued until Zinno was all in for 280,000.
Zinno: /
Elezra: /
It was open-ended against open-ended but Zinno had the edge with his Broadway draw. However, no waiting for Elezra as he found the right away while Zinno caught a brick in the . Elezra got the and Zinno the for a worthless pair, so it came down to the final card. Elezra was happy to grab one of Zinno's outs in the . Zinno spun the into the middle, bricking out to send the bracelet to Elezra.
An old school game deserves an old school bracelet winner, and a fitting one emerged in $1,500 Seven-Card Stud as Eli Elezra joined the ranks of four-time bracelet winners, banking $93,766.
He joined a list that includes legends of the game like Bobby Baldwin and Puggy Pearson as well as more modern dominators like Shaun Deeb, Brian Rast and the Mizrachi brothers.
It's Elezra's third bracelet in a stud variant and his second in this event, which he also won in 2015 for $112,591. He felt so confident going into the tournament that he said he predicted victory on a recent vacation.
"When we went to Cabo, I told my buddies, I'm gonna win a bracelet this year and I'm gonna win it in stud," Elezra proclaimed.
Official Final Table Results
Seat
Player
Country
Prize
1
Eli Elezra
United States
$93,766
2
Anthony Zinno
United States
$57,951
3
Valentin Vornicu
United States
$39,830
4
Phongthep Thiptinnakon
United States
$27,993
5
Rep Porter
United States
$19,996
6
David Singer
United States
$14,619
7
Joshua Mountain
United States
$10,920
8
Scott Seiver
United States
$8,337
Elezra said his vast experience in stud gave him a wealth of confidence going into the final table.
"I saw more [stud] hands than everyone who played with me," Elezra said. "And as I say, stud loves me back."
In fact, Elezra had to contend with some fellow mixed-game veterans as Scott Seiver, Rep Porter and David Singer all made the final table. However, although the latter two made the streamed final six, none had any chips to work with.
Elezra, on the other hand, ran like hot fire at the end of Day 3 to bring in a mountain of chips along with Anthony Zinno, while everyone else ranged from ultra-short to middling. Elezra wasn't shy about admitting how heavily the deck was stacked in his favor in that Day 3 surge.
"Out of eight hands, I make six straights and I pick up aces. So, it's brainless. Once you make straights against people who have two pair or whatever, you're gonna get huge chips."
Get a huge stack he did, and it seemed inevitable the bracelet would come down to him against Zinno heads up. While Valentin Vornicu hung tough for awhile and battled three-handed, that's exactly what occurred when Elezra finished him off a few hours into the final table.
While Zinno has shown himself to be a solid competitor at the WSOP even away from his pet no-limit events, Elezra highlighted the vast difference in their stud experience.
"He's one of the best players out there but I told him he's short, I'm about 30 years above him in stud," Elezra said with a smile. "He just started playing about five years ago in stud."
Zinno proved a tough out as he battled from a sizable deficit into the lead. The match lasted several hours and involved several trades of the lead.
Elezra admitted he felt a little pressure and got a bit steamed up when Zinno evened things up and then edged past him. He had to calm himself and trust what he called his old-school instincts.
"I still got it here," he said, patting his gut. "I still got the feeling about hands and that's how I know when to fold and when to go with it."
Indeed, many of the most decisive hands of what was otherwise a slow match involved Elezra picking off Zinno's bluffs. About four hours into the back-and-forth battle, Elezra ended it when both players had straight draws on fourth street. Elezra made his six-high straight while Zinno bricked out a Broadway draw.
The two friendly competitors shared a warm embrace and Elezra complimented Zinno's budding stud skills before hustling off to play the stud hi-lo event.
"I think in the end, I was mostly lucky because Anthony's a really good player," he said.