2018 WSOP Event 30: Ryan Bambrick Wins First Gold Bracelet in Dominating Fashion
On the final day of Event #30: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha, Ryan Bambrick started out in the lead with 13 players remaining. He lost the lead to Sampo Ryynanen early on, but took it back right around the time it started to matter. In the final stage, he dominated the play to eventually walk away with $217,123 and the gold bracelet.
"I wasn't really concerned about the pay jumps. I just wanted to win a bracelet, to be honest with you."
"I was just trying to play my best game the whole time," Bambrick said right after posing for the winner photos. "I was really focused on trying to win. I wasn't really concerned about the pay jumps. I just wanted to win a bracelet, to be honest with you."
Bambrick, who's been playing online poker for over 15 years, has been a day trader for the last seven years. But poker has always been something he did, the last couple of years on the side. Last January, he found a new site and has been crushing there ever since. He cashed out his bankroll, told his boss he would be back after the summer, and went out to Vegas for six weeks of tournaments.
"I told my work I just wanted to play poker for now, and wanted to see how the World Series would go. I might pick it back up after the World Series," Bambrick said about his job as a day trader. "I'm not sure what I'm gonna do."
Position | Player | Country | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ryan Bambrick | United States | $217,123 |
2 | Sampo Ryynanen | Finland | $134,138 |
3 | Tim McDermott | United States | $93,639 |
4 | Phil Riley | Canada | $66,342 |
5 | Jared Ingles | United States | $47,713 |
6 | Jody Fayant | Canada | $34,843 |
7 | Danny Woolard | United States | $25,841 |
8 | Randy White | United States | $19,469 |
9 | Pushpinder Singh | Canada | $14,904 |
With play getting underway at noon, 12 seats were occupied. Just chipleader Bambrick was missing; he got in about half an hour later. And not just that, he had been an hour late on Day 2 of the event as well. "It's a long walk to the room and I like to sleep in sometimes. I had a hard time falling asleep last night; I finally fell a sleep at like 5 or 6 in the morning and slept in. I got here half an hour late but whatever," Bambrick said with a big grin on his face.
"It was a lot of fun, that's the best way I can describe it. I enjoyed every bit of it."
When Bambrick sat down, players like Victor Ramdin (aces cracked) and Lexy Gavin had already departed. Within the first level, the tournament was down to a final table of ten, and the official final table of nine was formed not much later when defending champ George Xu exited in 10th place.
Pushpinder Singh was the first player from the official final table to bust. He got it in with top pair and top kicker but ran into Ryynanen who had the same top pair and top kicker but had a flush draw and backdoor Broadway draw to go along with it. Ryynanen made runner-runner straight and Singh said his goodbyes.
Several players were short stacked by the time they had made it to the final table. Randy White was one of them and departed soon after Singh. He got it in with jacks versus kings and was drawing dead by the time the turn hit the felt as his opponent flopped top set.
Not even 15 minutes later, White was joined on the rail by Danny Woolard. His pair was no good anymore after the turn as his opponent turned two pair and rivered a full house.
Sampo Ryynanen, the lone European, took control of the table at this point. The rest of the table couldn't do much against his raises and three-bets and Jody Fayant became just one of his many victims. Fayant, severely short, found a real hand with single-suited queens and fours but ran into the kings of Ryynanen. No queen, four, or other help for Fayant, and that was it for the Canadian; out in sixth place.
Four minutes later, Jared Ingles hit the rail. His single-suited jack-ten with eights was no match to McDermott's double-suited ace-king-seven-six.
Sampo Ryynanen pulled away from the field, but it wouldn't last. Phil Riley fell first, losing rainbow aces with queen-deuce to jack-ten-nine-eight as McDermott turned trip nines.
After that, start-of-day chipleader Ryan Bambrick doubled through Ryyanen in a massive hand that saw him hit a set of sixes on the turn while his opponent had a pair, flush draw, and open-ended. The river bricked and Bambrick took over the lead in the match.
"That was a big hand �� the crucial hand. It was a beautiful card for me on the turn and a nice river for sure," Bambrick said afterward about the hand that helped him regain the lead.
Tim McDermott was the shortest and lost the remainder of his chips in a small pot to Bambrick where the latter had flopped trips. McDermott was out and could dream about the Mirage again. He just missed out on the heads-up battle.
"It was a beautiful card for me on the turn and a nice river for sure."
Bambrick started the heads-up with a sizable lead over Ryynanen and would extend the gap in one of the first hands of heads-up play. He made a flush in a big pot and saw Ryyvanen. Bambrick grew his stack to 5.2 million with just 6 million in play.
It was all Bambrick in the final stage of the tournament. He might have missed the first couple of hands of the day, and some hands getting back from dinner break a bit later than the rest, but it didn't hurt him one bit as he conquered the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha; taking down the event in dominating fashion. In the last hand of the tournament, he got it in with an overpair to Ryyvanen's middle pair. The dealer wasted no time dealing blanks on the turn and river and the two shook hands as it was all over.
"I had played with [Ryyvanen] a lot on Day 2 so I got to know his style pretty well, which definitely helped. He played really well. He was a really tough opponent, but the cards went my way," Bambrick said afterward.
Bambrick enjoyed playing in the spotlight with the people at home able to watch his every move. "It was a lot of fun, that's the best way I can describe it. I enjoyed every bit of it. It wasn't too daunting. It was exciting more than anything. I had a lot of people watching the stream. My phone was blowing up the whole time."
In this Series
- 1 2018 WSOP Event 1: Jordan Hufty Wins First WSOP Gold in $565 Casino Employees
- 2 2018 WSOP Event 2: Elio Fox Wins First Ever WSOP $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty for $393,693
- 3 2018 WSOP Event 3: Joe Cada Wins 2018 WSOP $3,000 No-Limit Hold��em SHOOTOUT for $226,218
- 4 2018 WSOP Event 4: Julien Martini Wins $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better ($239,771)
- 5 2018 WSOP Event 5: Nick Petrangelo Wins WSOP $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller ($2,910,227)
- 6 2018 WSOP Event 6: Jeremy Perrin Wins The GIANT Turning $365 Into $250,966
- 7 2018 WSOP Event 7: Roberly Felicio Wins the 2018 WSOP COLOSSUS for $1,000,000
- 8 2018 WSOP Event 8: Johannes Becker Wins $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball ($180,455)
- 9 2018 WSOP Event 9: Paul Volpe Wins Third WSOP Bracelet in Omaha Hi-Lo Championship
- 10 2018 WSOP Event 10: William ��Twooopair�� Reymond Wins $365 WSOP.com ONLINE Event ($154,996)
- 11 2018 WSOP Event 11: Tim Andrew Triumphs in the $365 PLO GIANT for $116,015, Mizrachi Fifth
- 12 2018 WSOP Event 12: Jeremy Harkin Wins $1,500 Dealer's Choice for $129,882
- 13 2018 WSOP Event 13: Benjamin Moon Wins $1,500 Big Blind Antes for $315,346
- 14 2018 WSOP Event 14: Daniel Ospina Wins First Bracelet for Colombia in 2-7 Lowball Draw
- 15 2018 WSOP Event 15: Andrey Zhigalov Wins $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. for $202,787
- 16 2018 WSOP Event 16: Justin Bonomo Wins Second WSOP Bracelet in $10K Heads-Up Championship
- 17 2018 WSOP Event 17: Ognyan Dimov Wins Third Bracelet for Bulgaria in Event #17 ($378,743)
- 18 2018 WSOP Event 18: Adam Friedman Wins Second Bracelet in $10K Dealer's Choice
- 19 2018 WSOP Event 19: Craig Varnell Wins $565 Pot-Limit Omaha ($181,790)
- 20 2018 WSOP Event 20: Jeremy Wien Conquers $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $537,710
- 21 2018 WSOP Event 21: Arne Kern Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em MILLIONAIRE MAKER ($1,173,223)
- 22 2018 WSOP Event 22: Philip Long Wins $1,500 Eight Game Mix ($147,348)
- 23 2018 WSOP Event 23: Brian Rast Wins Fourth Bracelet in 2-7 Lowball Championship, Brunson 6th
- 24 2018 WSOP Event 24: Michael Addamo Wins Event #24: $2,620 MARATHON No-Limit Hold'em
- 25 2018 WSOP Event 25: Benjamin Dobson Wins First WSOP Gold in $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo
- 26 2018 WSOP Event 26: Filippos Stavrakis Dedicates WSOP PLO Bracelet ($169,842) to His Brother
- 27 2018 WSOP Event 27: John Hennigan Wins 2018 WSOP $10K HORSE for Fifth Bracelet and $415K
- 28 2018 WSOP Event 28: Fortunate River Gives Gal Yifrach First WSOP Bracelet & $461K Prize
- 29 2018 WSOP Event 29: Hanh Tran Wins First WSOP Bracelet in $1,500 2-7 Triple Draw ($117,282)
- 30 2018 WSOP Event 30: Ryan Bambrick Wins First Gold Bracelet in Dominating Fashion
- 31 2018 WSOP Event 31: Steven Albini Wins $1,500 Stud to Deny Jeff Lisandro 7th Bracelet
- 32 2018 WSOP Event 32: Matthew Davis Tops Biggest Seniors Event Ever to Win $662,983
- 33 2018 WSOP Event 33: Michael Mizrachi Wins His Third Poker Players Championship Title
- 34 2018 WSOP Event 34: Robert Peacock Wins First WSOP Gold in $1,000 DOUBLE STACK
- 35 2018 WSOP Event 35: Yueqi Zhu Claims First WSOP Gold in $1,500 Mixed Omaha
- 36 2018 WSOP Event 36: Farhintaj Bonyadi Wins Event $1,000 Super Seniors ($311,451)
- 37 2018 WSOP Event 37: Eric Baldwin Wins Second Bracelet, Dedicates it to His Father
- 38 2018 WSOP Event 38: Yaniv Birman Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet in $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship ($236,238)
- 39 2018 WSOP Event 39: Preston Lee Captures $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout Bracelet ($236,498)
- 40 2018 WSOP Event 40: Scott Bohlman Wins WSOP $2,500 Mixed Big Bet ($122,138)
- 41 2018 WSOP Event 41: Robert Nehorayan Wins $1,500 Limit Hold'em for $173,568
- 42 2018 WSOP Event 42: Shaun Deeb Gets Revenge on Ben Yu to Win $25K PLO for $1,402,683
- 43 2018 WSOP Event 43: Timur Margolin Takes Down $2,500 NLHE for $507,274
- 44 2018 WSOP Event 44: Nicholas Seiken Wins $10k 2-7 Triple Draw Championship for $287,987
- 45 2018 WSOP Event 45: Mario Prats Garcia Wins $1,000 Big Blind NLH For $258,255
- 46 2018 WSOP Event 46: David Brookshire Wins WSOP $2,500 Mixed Omaha/Stud Hi-Lo 8 ($214,291)
- 47 2018 WSOP Event 47: Matthew 'mendey' Mendez Wins First WSOP Online PLO Bracelet ($135,077)
- 48 2018 WSOP Event 48: Tommy Nguyen Wins Monster Stack for $1,037,451
- 49 2018 WSOP Event 49: Loren Klein Wins $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for $1,018,336
- 50 2018 WSOP Event 50: Jay Kwon Wins $1,500 Razz ($125,431)
- 51 2018 WSOP Event 51: Ryan Leng Ships First WSOP Gold in $1,500 BOUNTY ($272,504)
- 52 2018 WSOP Event 52: Scott Seiver Wins $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship ($296,222)
- 53 2018 WSOP Event 53: Couden Tops Elezra, Matusow, Negreanu, and Fitoussi to win $1,500 PLO8
- 54 2018 WSOP Event 54: Portugal's Diogo Veiga Wins $3K Big Blind Antes ($522,715)
- 55 2018 WSOP Event 55: Giuseppe Pantaleo and Nikita Luther Win the $1K Tag Team for $175,805!
- 56 2018 WSOP Event 56: Calvin Anderson Wins His Second Bracelet in the $10K Razz ($309,220)!
- 57 2018 WSOP Event 57: Jessica Dawley Wins the WSOP Ladies Championship for $130,230!
- 58 2018 WSOP Event 58: Tribe Has Spoken: Jean-Robert Bellande Wins First Bracelet for $616K
- 59 2018 WSOP Event 59: Mike Takayama Makes History as the First Filipino to Win a WSOP Bracelet
- 60 2018 WSOP Event 60: Galfond Wins 3rd Bracelet in $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Championship
- 61 2018 WSOP Event 61: Ryan 'Toosick' Tosoc Wins WSOP.com $1,000 Championship ($238,778)
- 62 2018 WSOP Event 62: Galen Hall Wins $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold'em for $888,888
- 63 2018 WSOP Event 63: Chance 'BingShui' Kornuth Wins Second Bracelet in WSOP.com Online High Roller for $341,598
- 64 2018 WSOP Event 64: Matsuzuki Wins First WSOP Gold Bracelet in $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo
- 65 John Cynn Wins the 2018 WSOP Main Event for $8,800,000!
- 66 2018 WSOP Event 66: Longsheng Tan Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em for $323,472
- 67 2018 WSOP Event 67: Anderson Ireland Wins $1,500 PLO Bounty for First Bracelet and $141K
- 68 2018 WSOP Event 68: Guoliang Wei Wins Fourth Chinese Bracelet in The Little One for One Drop ($559,332)
- 69 2018 WSOP Event 69: Ronald Keijzer Wins $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed for $475,033
- 70 2018 WSOP Event 70: Yaser Al-Keliddar Wins Event #70: $3K Limit Hold'em 6-Handed for $154K
- 71 2018 WSOP Event 71: Phil Hellmuth Wins 15th Career Bracelet in $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em!
- 72 2018 WSOP Event 72: Jordan Polk Wins $1,500 Mixed NLH/PLO for $197,461
- 73 2018 WSOP Event 73: Denis Timofeev Bests Leo Margets to Win the $1,000 Double Stack Turbo
- 74 2018 WSOP Event 74: Shaun Deeb Wins Second Bracelet of the Summer in $10,000 6-Max ($814,179)
- 75 2018 WSOP Event 75: Joe Cada Wins His Fourth Career Bracelet in The Closer ($612,886)
- 76 2018 WSOP Event 76: Brian Hastings Wins the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E and 4th Bracelet
- 77 2018 WSOP Event 77: Ben Yu Wins Third Bracelet in $50,000 High Roller $1,650,773