WSOP 2018: Mario Prats Garcia Takes Down Event #45 – Big Blind Antes $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em For $258,255

At his second outing at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), Spanish player Mario Prats Garcia (cover image) has won a bracelet in Event #45: Big Blind Antes $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em (30 Minute Levels). Along with the coveted WSOP gold bracelet, Garcia also pocketed $258,255 in prize money.

Garcia, whose previous best performance at WSOP was a runner-up finish last year in the $1,500 NLHE where he banked $244,611, fielded effortlessly through the two days of play over which he maintained his momentum through many tricky hands.

“Super excited, I’m super happy. I thought I could never get back here and the FT was hard. I sucked out a couple of guys and I got all the chips! I’m super excited and nervous,” Garcia said, after being crowned the winner.

The event pulled in 1,712 entries building a prize pool of $1,540,800 and went on at a very fast pace. By the end of Day 1, only 41 players remained in the field and all of them made it in the money for a min-cash good for $5,376.

Steven Wolansky (16^th for $9,877) was at the top of the leaderboard with 620,000. Once play resumed on Day 2, the final table was reached within four hours.

Garcia was visibly in the lead. He sent several players to the rail including Alan Lau (12^th for $15,730), Joseph Cheong (19^th for $7,967) and Tom Braband (20^th for $7,967). The pace of eliminations was rapid on the final table as well, and all it took was 87 hands for Garcia to lift the title.

Among the other prominent faces who progressed to Day 2 but couldn’t make it to the final table were Athanasios Polychronopoulos (11^th for $15,730), Kathy Liebert (18^th for $9,877), Esther Taylor (21^st for $7,967), Conor Beresford (32^nd for $6,505), Manig Loeser (33^rd for $6,505) and Justin Oliver (37^th for $5,376).

Final Table Recap

Fourteen hands into the official final table, Lander Lijo became the first player to exit. Lijo’s ace-deuce lost to the ace-queen of Michael Wang and he was eliminated in ninth place. By now, Wang had established a big chip lead and by winning the aforementioned hand against Lijo, he managed to grow his stack even further.

Martin Staszko was the next to bust out. He pushed all in holding king-queen on the turn with king-high on which Garcia snap-called with top set. Garcia eliminated Staszko in eighth place.

Six hands later, DJ MacKinnon got it in with his king-seven against the pocket sevens of Matthew Hunt and busted out in seventh place.

Here on, the play slowed down for a while till the average chip stack eventually dropped below the 14 big blinds mark. Withing the next fifteen minutes, the event was over.

Gregory Worner was the next player shown the door by Garcia. From the big blind Garcia moved all in, and Worner called with a slightly shorter stack. He showed , while Garcia held . The board ran out giving Garcia a pair of deuces on the flop and Worner was eliminated in sixth place.

One hand later, Mark Schluter pushed all in and Garcia followed suit after asking a count from Sebastan Dornbracht who was still left to act behind him. Soon, Schluter saw that his wasn’t enough to beat Garcia’s and his worst fears came true as the flop , left Schluter drawing dead. The turn and on the river could do little for Schluter, who bounced off in fifth place.

Soon, Michael Wang lost out to Garcia. Wang shoved all in from the button for 1,150,000 and Garcia called from the small blind. Wang revealed and Garcia tabled . The board ran out giving Garcia a pair of kings on the flop that beat Wang’s pocket threes, relegating the latter to the rail in fourth place.

Next up, Garcia moved all in and Sebastian Dornbracht woke up with to call and was clearly leading against Garcia’s . The flop was and Garcia now needed a deuce. Sure enough the came on the turn and Garcia hit his gutshot straight. The on the river didn’t change a thing for Dornbracht who was eliminated in third place.

The heads-up battle between Matthew Hunt and Garcia didn’t last long. On the final hand of the event, Hunt limped from the small blind and Garcia checked his big blind. The flop saw Hunt leading out with a bet of 130,000 and Garcia check-called. The turn was checked through. On the river, Garcia bet 400,000 and Hunt moved all in for 3,170,000, Garcia snap-called. Hunt revealed for a straight but Garcia’s queen-high flush with won him the bracelet!

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Mario Prats Garcia – $258,255

2. Matthew Hunt – $159,532

3. Sebastian Dornbracht – $114,909

4. Michael Wang – $83,663

5. Mark Schluter – $61,580

6. Gregory Worner – $45,828

7. DJ MacKinnon – $34,486

8. Martin Staszko – $26,245

9. Lander Lijo – $20,202

Content & image courtesy WSOP.com

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