While I’ve had my share of successes on the felt over the years, nothing compares to winning a World Series of Poker Bracelet. Now that the definitely-not-as-good-as-the-real-thing online WSOP season is in the rear-view mirror (and hopefully the 2021 WSOP will return as vaccination pushes the pandemic into the rearview mirror over the coming months), I’m taking a trip down memory lane and reliving my favorite 10 hands from when I won the 2018 $5,000 No-Limit Hold’Em WSOP Bracelet.
World Series of Poker Las Vegas, NV June 11, 2018
Event #20: $5,000 Big Blind Ante Day 4 (Final Table)
Level 34—120,000-240,000 blinds, 240,000 big blind ante, my stack=6,300,000 chips
Hand #290 of the Final Table: We were heads-up, with me having a chip lead of less than 1 big blind over David Laka, heading into what turned out to be the final hand of the tournament
In the SB/button, I looked down at the two absolute sexiest cards I’ve ever seen: two. red. aces.
Normally I would want to make him pay if he’s going to outdraw me, but at this stage of the tournament, I NEED to get him to put chips into the pot, so I just limped. He made it 840k total, and again I decided to just call. If he had a hand with 2 broadway cards, I needed to give him a chance to hit one of them (even though I of course risk that he’ll suck out on me), so that I can hopefully get a chunk (or all) of his chips.
The flop came J82hh, and he led out for 1.25mm. I tanked for 3 full minutes–I wasn’t trying to “Hollywood” or to act weaker than I was but rather running through all the scenarios in my head–what are the possible lines of bets if I just call, if I go all-in, if I make a raise that is not all-in, etc? I ultimately decided that I didn’t want to just call, in case he had a gross gutshot straight draw, pocket 6s, or some other non-premium hand that could catch up–he should pay to see a turn card with this many chips already in the pot. I then decided that making a min-raise, while it could look super-strong, it could also look like I’m trying to take down the pot with minimal risk, while preserving a stack behind that COULD fold to a shove and still have 15 BBs remaining; so I went ahead and raised to 2.5mm total.
It turns out that it didn’t matter, as he moved all-in after about 15 seconds of thought, and I snapped him off. He turned over QQ. He had just two outs (I had the Ah, and he didn’t have the Qh, so I had some flush possibilities if he were to hit the Qh), and I was 91% to win the Bracelet.
I’ve seen plenty of 2-outers hit, as has anyone who has watched/played even a cursory amount of poker. Again we wait, as the tension builds—my eyes darting back and forth once again at the pictures of my family that I had with me for comfort during precisely these types of situations—back and forth between the pictures until I heard the tap on the felt, letting me know the turn was about to be dealt.
I glanced up to see the 3c, and I was now one card away, 95% to win the ultimate prize in poker. More time, more pictures, more of my heart beating out of my chest. Another tap of the felt, and then the river—the 6 of hearts.
Four hours of heads up play ends with two big pocket pairs! Jeremy Wien picks up aces and wins his first @WSOP bracelet for $537K!
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) June 12, 2018
▶️ https://t.co/wtwTU6NmGw pic.twitter.com/FFP2DFqdFo
While it took about a minute to confirm that I had more chips than he did, I knew it was over regardless. Relief, joy, gratification–so many overwhelming feelings as I ran over to Sarah to celebrate. I’m writing this more than 2.5 years later, and still when I watch the replay (which I’ve done for the last hand more times than I can easily count), when I hear Lon McEachern say, “Jeremy Wien, you are a Bracelet winner,” I still almost cannot believe it. ALMOST.