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Battling through a field of 1,248 entrants, Event #43: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em at the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) found a champion in Israel’s Timur Margolin (cover image), who claimed his first WSOP gold bracelet and a career-best $507,274 in prize money.
Making his first appearance at the WSOP last year, he ran deep in Event #49: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em, finishing 10th for $43,081. He has since collected four more WSOP cashes, amounting to a total of $947,804.
Margolin defeated Ismael Bojang in the heads-up match and in the post event interview said, “I started with kind of a big chip lead, so I thought … finally! But obviously, Ismael is a very strong player and it could go either way, and he had some strong hands. All of a sudden the stacks were opposite and he had a two-to-one lead. Oh my god, not again! Will this ever end?”
When asked about his style of play he said, “But I have just been playing like I have all tournament. I am feeling in a better place mentally nowadays, I am just happy to be here, happy for the experience anyways. I felt good, and I would do the same decisions, tried not to let it affect me, and then some cards came my way and that’s it.”
Representing Team India, Paawan Bansal, Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal and Aditya ‘Intervention’ Agarwal had also entered the event. Bansal was the sole member of Indian camp to make it to Day 3 and finished 30th banking $12,345 (~₹8.40 Lakhs). Making his WSOP debut Aditya ‘Bitti’ Agarwal made quite a splash with a 81st place finish for $5,653 (~₹3.83 Lakhs).
After Seth Davies (10th for $29,563) bubbled the final table, Timur Margolin, Ismael Bojang, Michael Marder, Chris Ferguson, Dylan Linde, Ryan Laplante, Jeff Hakim,Andre Haneberg and Josh Bergman, all made it to the finale.
Final Table Recap
Finishing in ninth place was Josh Bergman. Andre Haneberg raised from the button, and Bergman countered by moving all-in. Timur Margolin called from big blind and Haneberg folded. The board ran and Bergman’s were defeated by Margolin’s pocket jacks.
The 16th hand of the final table put Andre Haneberg holding pocket queens against Ismael Bojang`s pocket kings. With the board missing both players, Haneberg was sent packing in eight place.
On the 32nd hand, short-stacked Jeff Hakim,in the big blind, was put at risk by Margolin who announced all-in from the small blind. Hakim called and the cards were tabled – Margolin and Hakim . Margolin picked up a pair on the flop . With the turn and missing both players, Hakim was edged out in seventh place.
Final Day Recap
In one of the early hands on Day 4, Ryan Laplante went head-to-head with Margolin. Sadly, his could not hold up against Margolin’s , with the rundown not helping either player and Laplante had to bow out in sixth place.
Eight hands later, Dylan Linde moved all-in from under-the-gun with against Bojang who tabled . Linde managed to hit a pair of tens on the flop . Things changed fast as the rundown brought a rivered straight for Bojang and Linde was busted in fifth place.
The 117th hand saw Margolin open from the button and received a call from Chris Ferguson who was in the big blind. The fop fell and Ferguson checked while Margolin raised. Ferguson shoved all-in and Margolin snap-called. It was Ferguson`s vs Margolin`s . As the remaining two streets brought and , Margolin won the pot as Ferguson left in fourth place.
Next to go was Michael Marder when he moved all-in from the button with . Margolin moved all-in over the top from small blind holding and Ismael Bojang folded. Margolin clipped a set of deuces on the board and Marder moved on to collect his third-place prize money.
It took 23 more hands for the final elimination to come about. Holding , Ismael Bojang shoved all-in and was called immediately by Margolin who had . As the showdown brought , Margolin picked two pairs of kings and queens and in the process won the bracelet!
Final Table Results (USD)
1. Timur Margolin – $507,274
2. Ismael Bojang – $313,444
3. Michael Marder – $223,564
4. Chris Ferguson – $161,371
5. Dylan Linde – $117,894
6. Ryan Laplante – $87,189
7. Jeff Hakim – $65,284
8. Andre Haneberg – $49,498
9. Josh Bergman – $38,009
Content & image courtesy WSOP.com
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