Hung Le wins $888 Crazy Eights for $888,888

After two long days of poker the enormous 6,761 players field was reduced to only twelve players in the $888 Crazy Eights 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em. They returned for the conclusion, with a $442,790 difference between 12^th place finish and the winner. A lot of money to play for. In the end, it was Vietnamese immigrant Hung Le who won the bracelet and the huge amount of money.

The unofficial final table, after Francis Anderson, David Jackson and Chase Johnson were eliminated, started with the following stacks:

Leader in Bulgaria’s all-time money list Dimitar Danchev and two-time bracelet winner Loni Harwood were the most noteable names.

Players busted at a pretty quick pace, with Nils Bardsley busting in 9^th ($57,605), Yang Zhang 8^th ($74,888), French Aurélien Guiglini 7^th ($96,888), Loni Harwood in 6^th ($126,888), Henry Grunzweig 5^th ($167,888) and Rafael Yaraliyev 4^th ($222,888).

When three-handed play was reached, it was Dimitar Danchev who was next to leave in a painful way. He had flopped a flush with on a board of , but his opponent Michael Lech had flopped the nuts with , eliminating the Bulgarian poker pro for $297,888.

Shortly after, all Le’s chips were in the middle and Lech could win the tournament in a preflop all-in situation. Lech had the better hand with against Le’s , but a three on the river caused a double for Le.

The final hand was quite a bizarre one. Hung Le limped the button, Michael Lech raises to 800,000 in the big blind and Le calls. On a flop of Lech bets 900,000, Le calls.

The turn brings the , on which Lech checks. Le bets 1,500,000 and Lech reraises all-in. Le called (!) the all-in with just and strangely enough was ahead against the of Michael Lech, who had 14 outs to score a double. The wasn’t one of them and consequently Le won the tournament for $888,888 while Lech finished as runner-up for $401,888.

These were the results of the final table: