Nick Jivkov wins WSOP Event #5

Event #5 of the 2012 World Series of Poker finished up this past weekend and it was Nick Jivkov who outlasted the field of over 630 players to earn his first ever gold bracelet. Jivkov would take on Bryan Pellegrino in heads up play and after two levels of play, Jivkov would finally claim victory.

The $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event was a tough one as top poker pros competed in the event. Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Nam Le Antonio Esfandiari and Daniel Negreanu are just a few of the pros who decided to compete in Event #5.

By the end of day 1, Negreanu, Le, Esfandiari and Juanda would move on to day 2 with Esfandiari would enter day 2 with the chip lead. Only 71 players returned for day 2 play out of the 639 competing and only 22 would be left at the felt after the first six levels of play.

Esfandiari would lose his chip lead and exit in 44^th place and eventually the field would be narrowed down to the final nine, who would move on to day 3. Negreanu would be the main draw for day 3 play, yet he was 6^th in chips. When the final table sat down, most of the players would go all in early due to low chip stacks.

The first to go would be Keanu Tabali. Tabali would go all in with pocket tens only to be knocked out by Pellegrino who held 9-8 and paired both. John Eames would go next after going all in pre-flop with A-6. Jivkov would call with picket aces. Eames would have no luck and would exit the tournament in 8^th place.

7^th place would go to Brant Hale after he went all in with J-5. Tommy Vedes called holding A-10 and earned the cards to knock Hale out of the competition. Mike Allis would go out in 6^th after taking on Jivkov on a bluff.  Allis held 3-4 suited on a flop of 7-9-A and would be called by Jivkov who held pocket kings. The kings prevailed and Allis would go out in 6^th place.

Next out would be Negreanu. With A-Q, Negreanu would be up against Jivkov’s A-J which would go well with the board of 10-Q-9-2-K. Vedes would be next, after going all in with J-6. Jivkov called with 10-9, both having a pair on the flop of J-10-4. A 9 on the river would give Jivkov the hand and knock Vedes out in 4^th place.

Three handed play would soon begin between Jonathan Aguiar, Pellegrino and Jivkov. Aguiar and Pellegrino would go back and forth and Jivkov just bided his time. Pellegrino would finally get the upperhand on Aguiar and with a low stack Jivkov would finish him off and Aguiar would be eliminated in 3^rd place.

Heads up play would then begin and Jivkov would hold an almost 3-1 chip lead over Pellegrino. However, Pellegrino really wanted the gold bracelet and he fought his back and earned as much as 900,000 chips. However, this would not be enough and Jivkov would eventually take him down.

On the final hand, Pellegrino would go all in with his last 300k. Pellegrino held J-9 and Jivkov held pocket tens. The board ran Q-K-8-7-2 and Pellegrino would be out in second, leaving Jivkov with his first ever WSOP gold bracelet.

Final Results:

1^st           Nick Jivkov                          $189,818

2^nd          Bryan Pellegrino               $117,199

3^rd           Jonathan Aguiar               $76,189

4^th           Tommy Vedes                   $55,960

5^th           Daniel Negreanu              $41,683

6^th           Mike Allis                             $31,452

7^th           Brant Hale                           $24,007

8^th           John Eames                        $18,529

9^th           Keanu Tabali                      $14,449

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