WSOP 2010 Event 30 - Mike Ellis Wins $1,500 N

Event #30 of the 2010 WSOP was the $1,500 NL Holdem Event.  2,394 players turned out to take their shot at a bracelet and $581,851.

WSOP 2010 Event 30 winner Mike Ellis

Day 1 saw many big names fall on the way to shrinking the field to just 261 players.  Among those out in Day 1 were Andy Black, Tom Dwan, Phil Hellmuth, John Juanda, Barry Shulman, and Hevad Khan.  Day 2 saw the money bubble burst as 243 players made the money in this event.  Nam Le, Matt Stout, David Daneshgar, Darryll Fish, and Carlos Mortensen were among those that made the money in this event.

Day 3 of this event saw 21 players return to take their shot at the bracelet.  Christopher Gonzales took a strong chip lead into the final table.  Here are the final table participants and their starting chip counts:

Seat 1: Christopher Gonzales - 2,705,000
Seat 2: Jason Hallee - 1,075,000
Seat 3: Jeff Cohen - 330,000
Seat 4: David Wilkinson - 1,345,000
Seat 5: Billy Griner - 525,000
Seat 6: Martin Jacobson - 1,185,000
Seat 7: Christopher Kastler - 1,810,000
Seat 8: William Kakon - 1,150,000
Seat 9: Mike Ellis - 560,000

Heads-up play in this event was between Mike Ellis and Christopher Gonzales.  Gonzales held the chip lead with 7.85 Million in chips to just 2.875 Million of Ellis.  Heads-up play went back and forth for a while and both players took the chip lead at one point or another.  The hand that gave Ellis a dominating chip lead was one that saw both player make two pair but Ellis' kings and eights were slightly better than the kings and sixes of Gonzales.  At this point, Ellis led 8 Million to 3 Million.

The final hand saw over 1 Million chips put into play pre-flop and both players saw a flop of Jd-7s-6d.  Gonzales bet 1.25 Million and Ellis made the call.  The turn fell the 5d and Gonzales shoved.  Ellis made the call.  Gonzales turned over pocket aces and Ellis turned over Ad-10 for the nut flush and Gonzales was drawing dead.

Mike Ellis made an incredible comeback to win this bracelet.  He took home the gold bracelet and $581,851 in prize money.

Below are the final table payouts:

1	Mike Ellis	581,851
2	Christopher Gonzales	360,906
3	David Wilkinson	254,996
4	Martin Jacobson	183,345
5	Billy Griner	133,574
6	William Kakon	98,605
7	Jason Hallee	73,719
8	Chris Kastler	55,814
9	Jeff Cohen	42,790

Keep an eye on the upcoming World Series of Poker dates 2010!