2018 WSOP Event 39: Preston Lee Captures $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout Bracelet ($236,498)

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Jun 22, 2018 4 min read Last updated Jul 16, 2018

It was a true endurance test for Preston Lee who finished on top in Event #39: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout. Lee captured his first ever World Series of Poker gold bracelet along with $236,498. It took him over 12 hours and 121 hands of heads-up play to defeat Corey Dodd in an epic battle.

Referred to as "The Landlord" by his rail who stuck by his side from the onset, Lee was in a comfortable position throughout most of the day. The heads-up duel went on for nearly four hours with the chip lead exchanging hands multiple times. Lee entered the battle with a large advantage, but Dodd showed some of the utmost resilience. There were multiple times where the two found themselves exactly even in chips and some thought it would never end, even though they had around 20 big blinds each.

"I've been playing mostly online but just started to get back into live poker."

One hand turned the tide for good when Lee called an all in with ace-queen against Dodd's ace-ten suited. Lee hit a queen on the flop and held on, leaving Dodd with just half of a big blind. That wasn't the end tho, as Dodd doubled up twice before eventually falling on the last hand of the night.

"I've been playing mostly online but just started to get back into live poker. I play mostly cash games in the San Francisco area and a few tournaments," Lee said, who mentioned that it's going pretty well for him so far.

When asked about the exhausting final table, Lee said he was definitely running on adrenaline. "Ya, it was long. Both of us were all in multiple times, and we both just kept winning. I don't even know what time it is." Lee said he would be back for more events throughout the summer with his main focus on the Main Event.

Official Final Table Results

The day began with ten players returning to the Main Stage in the Brasilia Room, having not played with one another in this tournament previously. With each player having around the same chip stack, there was nobody that held a clear advantage. It was Anthony Reategui and Lee who got off to a quick start, both racing to over one million chips before the first break.

On a board with four cards to a straight, Reategui check-raised all in and put Endrit Geci to the test for his remaining chips. After tanking for over four minutes, Geci called, and Reategui showed him a straight, sending Geci to the rail in 10th place. After the first break of the day, Bas de Laat returned on one of the shorter stacks. He three-bet all in with a big ace, and Reategui called with two live cards. Reategui made two pair on the runout and eliminated De Laat in ninth place.

The bust-outs continued over the next 30 minutes as the short stacks failed to run up a stack. Alexander Lakhov was next on the list when he shoved with his pocket fours and Lee snap-called with ace-king. Lee hit a king on the flop and never looked back sending Lakhov home in eighth place. It was a bit of a cooler for Royce Matheson as his pocket kings got cracked by Lee's pocket tens. Lee hit a ten on the turn, and all of the money went in on the river, eliminating Matheson in seventh place.

It was not long after where the action folded to Young Phan in the small blind who shoved all in for around 15 big blinds. Reategui woke up with a monster pair of queens in the big blind and called to put Phan at risk. Although Phan made a pair of aces on the flop, Reategui turned a set of queens to leave Phan drawing dead.

That left three players on the short stack with Reategui and Lee holding 80% of the chips between them. In a blind versus blind hand, Jesse Kertland pushed all in from the small blind and Dylan Linde called from the big blind. Both players flopped a pair, but Linde's was bigger and held on throughout the hand. Kertland left in fifth place, leaving just four players to fight for the title.

Just before the players went on their 60-minute dinner break, Linde was the victim of a cooler when he ran his pocket tens into the pocket kings of Dodd. The chips were counted, and Dodd barely had Linde covered, sending just three players on the dinner break. When play resumed, Reategui spiced things up with more aggression than before. After a couple of hands gone wrong, Reategui shipped his last 14 big blinds in with ace-seven, but Lee woke up with pocket aces. Reategui was drawing dead by the turn, leaving Lee and Dodd to battle heads-up for the bracelet. Eventually, after 121 hands and nearly four hours, it was Lee that captured his first World Series of Poker bracelet.

• Tags Preston Lee Corey Dodd Anthony Reategui Dylan Linde Jesse Kertland Young Phan Royce Matheson Alexander Lakhov Bas de Laat Endrit Geci World Series of Poker WSOP
• Related Tournaments World Series of Poker
• Related Players Alexander LakhovDylan LindeYoung PhanJesse KertlandCorey DoddBas de Laat