Michael Banducci Wins Event #5 at the 2008 World Series of Poker
Michael Banducci is 23 years old. A native of Toronto, Ontario (Canada), Banducci currently resides in Traverse City, Michigan. The poker professional got his first exposure to the game playing online. Having only aspired to play at the WSOP, Banducci never dreamed he'd own a gold bracelet.
Despite entering the final table of the $1,000 NLHE w/rebuys tournament as the chip leader, Banducci still didn't think he'd walk away with the title. A total of 765 players entered the event. These players rebought a total of 2,258, driving up the prize pool to an impressive $2,894,094. Banducci himself paid out a total of $4,000 in the event.
The final table got off to a dramatic start. On the fifth hand of play, Lyric Duveyoung from Fairfield, IA, knocked out both Steve Gross and Jamie Rosen with a pair of queens in the hole. A few hands later, the best-known player at the final table, Michael Binger, sang his swan song. Binger, who has cashed in the WSOP, on the WPT and at the Aussie Millions, amassing more than $5,000,000 in tournament earnings since 2003, suffered a bit of a bad beat at the hands of Jeff Williams.
With his K,10 Williams, who took down the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo in 2006, made top pair on the flop, crushing Binger's A,J in the hole. Binger, who has a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Stanford University, a degree he earned just three months before his third-place finish at the 2006 WSOP Main Event, collected $101,293 for his efforts.
After Binger's ouster, the action slowed down considerably. It took more than 50 hands for the next player to hit the rail. Jeff Williams of Dunwoody, Georgia, again did the honors, this time knocking out Jonathan Aguiar. Despite a recent double-up, Alan Jaffrey would succumb to Michael Banducci. Jaffray took home $164,963, his biggest cash to date.
Banducci, for his part, now held the bulk of the chips in play. However, Gould kicked Duveyoung out of the competition in fourth position. After that, both Gould and Williams doubled up through each other. Banducci seemed content to let the duo battle it out for the right to face him in heads-up play. However, Banducci forced Gould all-in. Gould held pocket tens, much to Banducci's chagrin. A former student of Hope College in Michigan, Banducci hit a seven on the flop. Despite having multiple outs, Gould didn't catch anything on the turn or river. His third place finish netted him more than $245k.
As heads-up play began, Banducci had more than 5.2 million chips to Williams' 1.225 million. The duo traded small pots without seeing many flops for about half an hour. Then, Williams looked down and saw an ace in his pocket. He moved all-in. Unfortunately, his A,5 was no match for Banducci's A,J. The flop cemented Williams' fate as a Jack hit the felt.
Banducci collected $636,736 for his first WSOP bracelet.
These are the final results:
1) Michael Banducci - $636,736 2) Jeff Williams - $406,330 3) Peter Gould - $245,997 4) Lyric Duveyoung - $201,139 5) Alan Jaffray - $164,963 6) Jonathan Aguiar - $130,234 7) Michael Binger - $101,293 8) Jamie Rosen - $79,587 9) Steve Gross - $57,881
PokerHeaven is holding a special €250,000 Guaranteed Tournament on June 22, 2008. Go there now to qualify!