Event #68: $500 Deepstack No-Limit Hold'em
Day 1 Completed
2020 GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Events
Event #68: $500 Deepstack No-Limit Hold'em
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1
2020 GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Events
Buy-in
$500
Prize Pool
$1,099,625
Entries
2,315
Level
47
Blinds
500,000 / 1,000,000
Ante
125,000
Entries
2,315
Players Left
1
Level 47
: 500,000/1,000,000, 125,000 ante
The 2020 GGPoker World Series of Poker Online Bracelet Events have crowned the next champion in Event #68: $500 Deepstack, which has come to a conclusion after nearly 13 hours and 20 minutes of play. A field of 2,315 entries created a prize pool of $1,099,625 and Yan Shing "Anson" Tsang has earned his second WSOP bracelet after defeating Mohaiman "Ironman3000" Ashrafee heads-up.
Tsang has already cashed three dozen times at WSOP tournaments in Las Vegas and the King's Resort in Rozvadov, and his victory came with a payday of $150,460. On top of that, Tsang also receives a package for the World Series of Poker Europe and that very same location certainly brings sweet memories as he was the first player from Hong Kong to win poker's most-coveted prize back in 2018 after topping 187 entries in Event #7: �2,200 Pot Limit Omaha.
During the ongoing festival, he now cashed for the 12th time under his moniker "Tara@0z" and already came close to a second victory just two days ago. In Event #67: $500 Limit Hold'em, Tsang fell shy of the final table and ultimately finished in 12th place.
The game of preference for Tsang is usually Pot-Limit Omaha in which he cashed in four of these events during the festival so far. However, Hold'em can be "Very fun if you win!!!". A time zone advantage in the late stages was not on his side as Tsang played all night long until 9.20 a.m. local time in Hong Kong to claim his second bracelet.
Final Result Event #68: $500 Deepstack NLHE
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anson "Tara@0z" Tsang | Hong Kong | $150,460* |
| 2 | Mohaiman "Ironman3000" Ashrafee | Bangladesh | $116,809 |
| 3 | Stephen "supernuts21" Holford | United Kingdom | $83,986 |
| 4 | Amir "8ty4calling8" Dvir | Israel | $60,387 |
| 5 | Wong "SMLJtroll" Soon Heong | Hong Kong | $43,419 |
| 6 | Malcolm "HappyWhale" Trayner | Australia | $31,219 |
| 7 | Marc "Face-O" Carola | Mexico | $22,446 |
| 8 | Nobuaki "Sasa JHR" Sasaki | Japan | $16,139 |
| 9 | Eder "BlueMoon" Campana | Brazil | $11,604 |
| Entries: | 2,315 | Total Prize Pool: | $1,099,625 |
*the winner also receives a package for the World Series of Poker Europe
The nine-handed final table featured players from eight different countries and notables included Eder "BlueMoon" Campana, Nobuaki "Sasa JHR" Sasaki, Malcolm "HappyWhale" Trayner and Stephen "supernuts21" Holford. Runner-up Mohaiman "Ironman3000" Ashrafee narrowly missed out on a second WSOP bracelet for his home country of Bangladesh as Ahmad Saifuddin won a $2,000 Limit Hold'em event at the 2007 WSOP.
Tsang entered as the chip leader and knocked out four of his eight opponents to never surrender the top spot at any point even though Ashrafee came as close as one big blind for one hand during the heads-up battle.
The Race to the Money and Beyond
Throughout the four hours of late registration, the field size grew by the minute as hundreds of poker enthusiasts from all over the world joined the action while many others busted, re-entered and tested their fortune once more. Some of those that failed to make the cut for the payouts were Conor Beresford, Bruno Volkmann, Paul Teoh, Martin Zamani, Steven van Zadelhoff, James Chen, Mike McDonald, Gianluca Speranza and Parker Talbot.
Hand-for-hand play only lasted a few hands and a double elimination let the bubble burst when "MapleBear" and Rob "Livia" Hollink both fell to Jonas "resilience32" Gaul. Hollink had more chips and secured the min-cash.
Soon after the floodgates opened as dozens of players departed in a matter of minutes and that pace remained the same for an extended period. GGPoker ambassador Daniel Negreanu notched up another WSOP result but ran with eights into queens to settle for the min cash. He was soon joined on the rail by Timur Margolin, Christian Rudolph, Joao Vieira, Chris Oliver, Marcelo Jakovljevic Pudla and Vanessa Kade to mention just a few.
Tobias "Whooop" Peters lost a flip with tens against the ace-queen of Ramon "Ritza" Miquel Munoz and nearly at the same time, Fabrizio "UknowWhoIam" Gonzalez ran with ace-queen into ace-king. They would be just a few of many notables who secured a pay jump but fell short of the top 100.
Unstoppable Tsang Jumps Into the Lead
With fewer than 50 players remaining, Anson "tara@0z" Tsang suddenly emerged at the top of the leaderboard. In quick succession he notched up two massive pots by eliminating Vishal "bhishm" Tulsyan and Lianghong "lilianghong" Li when he held a full house both times. Tsang also prevailed with kings against the ace-eight for an open-ended straight draw of Chirag "Umeshbhai" Sodha and was the run-away chip leader.
Only Amir "8ty4calling8" Dvir was able to get close to Tsang and even claimed the lead on the final three tables as they both took their turns by sending shorter stacks to the rail. Natural8 ambassador Thai Ha was, however, not among their victims as he failed to get there with ace-ten against the ace-king of "wahmodijiwah" and bowed out in 20th place.
The race to the final table saw Tsang and Dvir back in the driver's seat and some notables such as Alejo "Hugo_Ronzi" Castellazzi, Justin "LappyPoker" Lapka and Brian "Timeout20" Oshust fell short of the final table.
Final Table Action
There was already an all-in and call in the second hand but Stephen "supernuts21" Holford survived to double. Instead it was Eder "BlueMoon" Campana that called a shove by Tsang with ace-four, who flopped the nut straight with ten-nine suited. Holford then knocked out Nobuaki "Sasa JHR" Sasaki with ace-king versus ace-queen and went from short stack to third in chips. The next two eliminations followed in quick succession and five remained with Tsang still in a comfortable lead.
Wong "SMLJtroll" Soon Heong came up short with eight-seven suited versus ace-king as Holford earned another knockout but from there on out it was all about Tsang's aggression, which led to a commanding lead. Dvir succumbed to it in a matter of minutes and Holford was also left short when he paid off Tsang.
For Holford the end came in third place when he could not solve a kicker problem with ace-seven against the ace-queen of Ashrafee. While Tsang held a big lead when entering heads-up, it still took more than 40 minutes to accumulate all the chips. Ashrafee even came within one big blind but then lost several big pots to drop all the way down to 15 blinds. Ultimately, Ashrafee jammed queen-jack into king-queen and Tsang's final table run good was crowned with the nut straight on the flop.
A busy Sunday schedule awaits on the GGNetwork with starting days for the $5,000 Main Event as well as three WSOP bracelet events.This includes Day 1 of the highly anticipated Event #70: $25,000 NLH POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, which comes with a guaranteed prize pool of $10 million. The PokerNews team will provide updates of all tournaments!
Level 47
: 500,000/1,000,000, 125,000 ante
Only a few further hands followed and Mohaiman "Ironman3000" Ashrafee then moved all in for fewer than 14 blinds on the button, which resulted in a quick call by Anson "tara@Oz" Tsang in the big blind.
Mohaiman "Ironman3000" Ashrafee: 
Anson "Tara@Oz" Tsang: 
The door card was the 
but it was followed by the 
to instantly give Tsang broadway . After a blank 
turn, Ashrafee could only chop with a king and instead the 
appeared on the river. Ashrafee narrowly missed out on his maiden bracelet and the second bracelet for Bangladesh to earn $116,808.65 for his efforts.
For Tsang, the victory comes with a payday of $150,460.15 and he also receives a package for the World Series of Poker Europe. It was the second WSOP bracelet for Tsang, who already had a close call two days ago when he finished 12th in event #67: $500 Limit Hold'em.
A full recap of today's action is to follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
92,600,000
14,964,371
|
14,964,371 |
|
Busted |
Level 47
: 500,000/1,000,000, 125,000 ante
Anson "Tara@Oz" Tsang raised to 2 million from the button and Mohaiman "Ironman3000" Ashrafee came along to see the 
flop, on which Ashrafee check-raised to 5,423,850. Tsang made the call and the 
turn appeared on the turn.
Ashrafee now bet 5,133,218 with nearly three times as much behind and Tsang moved all-in to send his opponent into the think tank. Ultimately, nearly two minutes passed and Ashrafee folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
77,635,629
11,322,068
|
11,322,068 |
|
|
14,964,371
-11,322,068
|
-11,322,068 |
Level: 47
Blinds: 500,000/1,000,000
Ante: 125,000
Level 46
: 400,000/800,000, 100,000 ante
Mohaiman "Ironman3000" Ashrafee opened the action with the standard raise of the duo in this level and made it 1.76 million to go, which Anson "Tara@Oz" Tsang called. Tsang check-called the 
flop for 1,264,800 and the 
turn went check, check.
After the 
river had completed the board, Tsang check-called a bet of 3,562,272 and was good with 
as Ashrafee had a bluff with the 
.
The next two pots also went to Tsang who regained his comfortable lead.
All remaining hands of the level, ten in total saw the chips traded back and forth to see Tsang in the driver's seat.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
66,313,561
14,867,072
|
14,867,072 |
|
|
26,286,439
-14,867,072
|
-14,867,072 |
Level 46
: 400,000/800,000, 100,000 ante
Anson "Tara@Oz" Tsang raised to 1.76 million and called a three-bet to 4,680,400 by Mohaiman "Ironman3000" Ashrafee, who then bet the 
flop for 2,450,673. A call by Tsang followed but the second barrel for 8,117,130 on the turn ended the resistance of Tsang.
That pot brought both players within one big blind but Tsang regained a small lead right after. It was another three-bet pot as he made it 4.72 million go to and was called by Ashrafee. On the 
flop, a continuation bet did the trick to win the pot uncontested for Tsang.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
51,446,489
-5,958,673
|
-5,958,673 |
|
|
41,153,511
5,958,673
|
5,958,673 |
Level 46
: 400,000/800,000, 100,000 ante
Mohaiman "Ironman3000" Ashrafee dragged in another three pots in a row and Anson "Tara@Oz" Tsang won a hand preflop. Up next, Ashrafee opened from the button to 1.76 million and picked up a call by Tsang. No betting action followed on the 
flop and Tsang opted to check-call the 
turn for 1.76 million.
Ashrafee checked behind the 
river and Tsang earned the pot with versus 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
57,405,162
532,400
|
532,400 |
|
|
35,194,838
-532,400
|
-532,400 |
Level 46
: 400,000/800,000, 100,000 ante
Mohaiman "Ironman3000" Ashrafee won the first three hands after the break and Anson "Tara@Oz" Tsang then won the big blind and antes with a button raise. Ashrafee opted to raise to 1.76 million next and Tsang three-bet to 4.72 million, which resulted in a call.
Tsang continued on the flop with a bet of 3,181,200 and the call followed to see the 
on the turn. Tsang now slowed down and checked, Ashrafee bet 4,640,816 into 16 million and that won the pot uncontested.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
56,872,762
-9,801,200
|
-9,801,200 |
|
|
35,727,238
9,801,200
|
9,801,200 |
Level 46
: 400,000/800,000, 100,000 ante
In the last hand before the scheduled six-minute break and first hand of the new level, Anson "Tara@Oz" Tsang raised to 1.76 million and called a three-bet to 3,880,400 by Mohaiman "Ironman3000" Ashrafee. Ashrafee continued for 1,906,672 on the 
flop to pick up a call and then check-called the turn for 4 million.
Once Ashrafee checked the river, Tsang fired 13.44 million into more than 19.77 million and forced an instant fold.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
66,673,962
10,761,362
|
10,761,362 |
|
|
25,926,038
-10,761,272
|
-10,761,272 |