WSOP 2018: Galen Hall Wins $888 Crazy Eights NLHE For $888,888

WSOP 2018: Galen Hall Wins $888 Crazy Eights NLHE For $888
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  • PG News July 6, 2018
  • 8 mins Read

Event #62: $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold’em 8-Handed – $888,888 Guaranteed 1st Place at the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) pooled in a mammoth field of 8,598 runners. With his parents and girlfriend supporting him, American Galen Hall (cover image) beat the other two finalists Latvian Eduards Kudrjavcevs and Belgian Niels Herregodts on Day 4 to claim his maiden WSOP gold bracelet and the top prize worth $888,888.

Hall first broke out at the WSOP in 2009 when he finished 208th in Event #7: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em for $2,895. He has since cashed in the tournament series 15 more times and accumulated winnings of $150,371.

Talking about the tournament being halted on Tuesday and resuming on Thursday to accommodate the Main Event on Wednesday, Hall said, “Tuesday, you know there’s just certain things after like a whole long day of playing, it’s harder for people to switch things up, people are a little tired so I felt like I had a good beat of what was going on. And today, I had to scale it back for the first 30 minutes or so to sort of see. You know, a lot of players can get coaching, or they get rest, they change their style a little bit if there’s time off. But luckily I ran hot so it didn’t matter.”

He also talked about his game plan stating, “I thought both of the other players were a little on the tighter side and I had the chip lead. ICM was a little less than normal with small third to second pay jumps, but I thought it probably still mattered to them a reasonable amount, so I was hoping if one of them got short I could apply a lot of pressure to the other one and I thought I would get a lot of chips from that and I just generally came in planning to be aggressive.”

The event saw a lot of participation from Indian challengers with 9stacks qualifier Vivek Rughani (171st for $5,203 – ~₹3.56 Lakhs), Abhishek Rathod (347th for $3,428 – ~₹2.35 Lakhs) Shashank Jain (367th for $3,031 – ~₹2.07 Lakhs), Abhinav Iyer (408th for $3,031 – ~₹2.07 Lakhs), Nikita Luther (511th for $2,106 – ~₹1.44 Lakhs) and Paawan Bansal (533rd for $2,106 – ~₹1.44 Lakhs), all making it into the money.

WSOP 2018 Coverage
WSOP 2018 Coverage

Final Table Recap

Following Alexandre Novaes’ elimination in ninth place, the eight-handed final table commenced with Galen Hall, Philip Tom, Jeremiah Miesen, Martin Stausholm, Niels Herregodts, Eduards Kudrjavcevs, Andrey Zaichenko and Alexander Kuzmin.

On the very first hand of the final table, Philip Tom was shown the door by Eduards Kudrjavcevs. Tom’s lost out to Kudrjavcevs’ and he busted in eighth place.

A few hands after the dinner break, Niels Herregodts opened from under-the-gun and Martin Stausholm called from big blind. On the flop , Stausholm checked and Herregodts moved all-in. Putting his tournament life at risk, Stausholm called and both players tabled their cards. Stausholm held against Herregodts’ . The final two streets brought and and Herregodts rivered a straight thereby confirming Stausholm’s elimination in seventh place.

The 36th hand of the final table saw Jeremiah Miesen make his way back to the rail in sixth place when his failed to beat Kudrjavcevs’ .

After 54 more hands, Alexander Kuzmin sealed his fate in fifth place when he moved all-in from the button with . Galen Hall called from small blind with . The runout missed both players and in the end Hall’s ace kicker won his the pot..

Andrey Zaichenko became the final elimination of Day 3. Hall opened from cutoff on the 112th hand and Zaichenko called from big blind. The flop fanned and both players checked to see the turn . Zaichenko bet 1,500,000, which was raised to 4,200,000 by Hall. The former moved all-in with for two pairs and the latter called holding for a flush. The river completed the boardand Zaichenko was eliminated in fourth place.

Three Handed Chips Counts

1. Galen Hall – 30,100,000

2. Niels Herregodts – 24,750,000

3. Eduards Kudrjavcevs – 16,400,000

Final Day Recap

The final day’s play resumed with all three finalists eyeing their first WSOP gold bracelet. The first of the three to go was Niels Herregodts. He opened from the button and Hall 3-bet from big blind. Herregodts countered with a 4-bet shove and was called by Hall. Herregodts run ended in third place as his pocket fours could not match up to Hall’s as he picked up the top pair of kings with the board running .

The heads-up play between Eduards Kudrjavcevs and Galen Hall lasted only six more hands. On the final hand, Kudrjavcevs’ moved all-in with from small blind and Hall called tabling . The community cards opened, and Hall took down the pot with his turned straight and won the bracelet.

Galen Hall
Galen Hall

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Galen Hall – $888,888

2. Eduards Kudrjavcevs – $476,888

3. Niels Herregodts – $355,888

4. Andrey Zaichenko – $266,888

5. Alexander Kuzmin – $201,888

6. Jeremiah Miesen – $153,888

7. Martin Stausholm – $117,888

8. Philip Tom – $90,888

WSOP 2018 Coverage
WSOP 2018 Coverage

Content and image courtesy: WSOP.com

Keep following the latest updates from WSOP 2018 right here on PokerGuru!

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1. WSOP 2018: Aditya Agarwal & Paawan Bansal Lead a Contingent of 20 Indians Into Day 2 of the Main Event

2. WSOP 2018: Kavin Shah, Dharmesh Patel, Amit Jain, Rishab Jain & Bobbe Suri Make The Cut on Day 1B of Main Event

3. WSOP 2018: Dan Matsuzuki Wins Event #64 – $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship For $364,387

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