Dan Heimiller Wins the 2014 WSOP Seniors Championship
Dan Heimiller was among the bigger stacks out of the 32 players returning to the tables for Day 3 of the record-breaking Event #17: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship at the 2014 World Series Of Poker. With an original field size of 4,425, this event was no short feat of accomplishment for Heimiller, who ultimately emerged victorious after almost 10 hours of play on Sunday.
The Las Vegas poker pro collected a career-high payday of $627,462 and his second gold bracelet.
When the field got down to 10 players, David Smith went down to as low as one and a half big blinds before making a chip-and-a-chair comeback to enter the official nine-handed final table third in chips. Then, Michael Frederick lost a flip with the 
against the 
to set the stage for the official final table.
Heimiller lost the lead straight away after Donald Maas doubled up through him, and then iIn Hand #11, Jim Custer could not improve with the 
versus the 
and finished in ninth place. David Vida followed only eight hands later and Doc Barry busted on Hand #22 after being previously crippled by Anthony Wise.
From there, it took only two more hands to reduce the field to five when David Tran lost the coin flip with the 
against the 
. Dennis Phillips finished second to Allyn Jaffrey Shulman in 2012 and he would have to settle for fifth this time after four-bet shoving with the 
into the 
of Maas. Exactly one hand later, Anthony Wise hit the rail in fourth place, which led to three-handed play carrying on for two hours.
Both Heimiller and Maas put a lot of pressure on short stack David Smith, and the latter then bowed out on Hand #122 after losing a flip.
Heimiller started the heads-up match with a 3-1 lead, and it only took six hands to determine the winner when Heimiller flopped a straight to send Maas out the door in second place.
Final Table Results
| Position | Player | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Heimiller | $627,462 |
| 2 | Donald Maas | $388,054 |
| 3 | David Smith | $279,412 |
| 4 | Anthony Wise | $206,492 |
| 5 | Dennis Phillips | $153,883 |
| 6 | David Tran | $115,651 |
| 7 | Doc Barry | $87,615 |
| 8 | David Vida | $66,945 |
| 9 | Jim Custer | $51,573 |
With the victory secured, Heimiller darted off to Event #22: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship where his late-reg stack was being blinded off. With a shining new gold bracelet wrapped around his wrist and $627,462 in prize money in his pocket, the rest of the night was all smiles for Heimiller as he worked his way through the rest of the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.
Congratulations to all of the winners from the record event, and especially to Dan Heimiller for becoming the 2014 WSOP Seniors Championship champion.