WSOP 2018: Benjamin Dobson Wins Event #25 – $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better For $173,528

It took a total of 33 hours across four day of play for Event #25: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 Or Better at the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) to reach its conclusion. The final table play had to be cut short on Day 3 and the top four finalists came back on the added Day 4 for a shot to win the gold bracelet and the first place payday of $173,528. Taking top honors along with the bracelet was Benjamin Dobson (cover image).

This is Dobson’s first WSOP bracelet and the player was ecstatic about it! “I’m on top of the world right now,” Dobson said, after winning the event that attracted a total of 596 participants, generating a prize pool of $804,600. Stud 8 is Dobson’s favorite poker variant but he doesn’t get to play it too often in Europe and has made most of his poker earnings in No-Limit Hold ‘em events.

Over the past two days of the battle, Dobson was one of the frontrunners almost always in the lead. He won a sizeable pot against Mike Matusow on Day 2 and thereon he kept adding to his stack. It wasn’t easy, for the blinds got so big on Day 3 and into the final day that Dobson knew that unless he held onto his chips he would easily end up short and lose out on his chance to win the bracelet.

Dobson had much to say about the three-handed play on the final day. “I kind of had high expectations for myself, but it was also really tough because Timothy and Jesse are both probably better than me at Stud 8 so I felt like I was a bit of an underdog. But I managed to hold my own and ran good in some of the crucial parts so, I feel great,” he said.

He added, “While I was playing quite loose on third street, I was making sure that I wasn’t trying to over commit on fifth, sixth, seventh, like chasing stuff which you know might cost me a large percentage of my stack. But I managed to just kind of stay afloat with small pots and then obviously running good in some of the big ones to scoop. And that’s the key: Just don’t brick on 7th street.”

The top 90 players made it in the money in the event. Earlier on Day 2, three-time WSOP champion Eli Elezra (12^th for $9,165) and three-time WSOP champ Barry Greenstein (18^th for $4,899) got eliminated.

After PJ Cha was railed in ninth place for $11,724, the official final table of eight was announced.

Final Table Recap

Peter Brownstein was the first to get eliminated in eighth place. He was followed by bracelet winner Georgios Sotiropoulos who got ousted in seventh place, followed by James Nelson in sixth and Tom McCormick in fifth place respectively. For McCormick this was his 15^th final table in WSOP and WSOP Circuit events. After him, Richard Monroe was eliminated in fourth place.

Here, the play halted for the day and the top three finalists returned on Day 4 to play down to a champion!

Day 4 Recap

By now, Dobson was holding nearly 60% of the chips in play and Jesse Martin’s stack was the shortest, and only 24 big bets remained in play. In the hand that saw Martin being eliminated, Dobson had the bring-in, and Martin completed, on which Dobson called. On fourth, Martin checked and Dobson announced a bet. Hesitating for a bit, Martin raised. Here, Dobson put in the three-bet and Martin called.

Martin showed / and Dobson tabled /. None of the players made a low and Dobson, who had sevens up scooped the pot, sending Martin packing in third place.

The heads-up began after a short break. With Dobson and Tim Finne vying for the win, the first two pots were scooped by Dobson who had already entered the two-handed play with a 3-1 chip lead. It wasn’t long before Finne fell.

Finne had the bring-in and Dobson completed to 120,000 on the first hand of the new level, Finne made it two bets to go, and Dobson then called 240,000 in total. On the fourth, Finne led out and Dobson decided to raise. Cornered, Finne shoved all-in for 315,000 and here, Dobson made the call. Finne tabled / and Dobson showed / .

Finne announced he had blockers. Dobson found the on fifth getting close to winning the hand as Finne picked up . Now for Finne who was going runner-runner to reclaim any of the pot back, the on sixth didn’t help and he was drawing dead as Dobson found . On the seventh street, Finne found a and Dobson got , closing the event, with victory clearly in the hands of Dobson! For the runner-up place, Finne pocketed a payday of $107,243 while Dobson proudly held out his gold bracelet while posing for the winner pictures!

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Benjamin Dobson – $173,528

2. Tim Finne – $107,243

3. Jesse Martin – $74,324

4. Richard Monroe – $54,359

5. Tom McCormick – $37,504

6. James Nelson – $27,321

7. Georgis Sotiropoulus – $20,248

8. Peter Brownstein – $15,271

Content & image courtesy WSOP.com.

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