The Australian poker player James Obst managed to claim his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet by taking down the 2017 WSOP $10,000 Razz Championship. Apart from the Series’ gold bracelet, Obst also took home a $265,138 cash portion of the guaranteed prize pool in the tournament event which appeared as his 21st career WSOP cash and sixth final table.
The Australian’s cash prize was not enough to surpass his best live cash of $427,930 which was generated after he ranked 13th at the 2016 WSOP $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event Championship, but it helped the player boost his total live winnings to more than $2,500,000. The first-place finish also boosted Obst’s career WSOP winnings to over $1,550,000.
The 26-year-old Obst faced a fierce heads-up battle with hist most serious opponent Eric Kurtzman and managed to catch up, as it was Kurtzman who held the chip leader over the middle stages of the final table. As a matter of fact, at two different stages of the heads-up battle, Kurtzman held a chip lead with more than three-quarters of the chips in play. Still, over the final hour of play, Obst managed to get a grip over the final hour of the tournament’s event and not only overcame his opponent’s chip lead, but also emerged victorious at the end.
The victory compensated for the near miss Obst experienced about a week ago, when he failed to overcome the WSOP $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw’s winner Jesse Martin. When commenting on his win in the WSOP $10,000 Razz Championship, Obst said that he was still processing the victory and the gold bracelet win, especially considering the fact he was close to another win at an earlier stage of the series.
Apart from his victory in the 2017 WSOP Event #26, the Kings Casino Rozvadov Player of the Year competition is also approaching. Thanks to his achievements in this year’s edition of the series, the young Australian player has all the chances to move to or near the top of the Player of the Year ranking.
As mentioned above, after several hours of final table play, Obst and Kurtzman were the two players who entered the heads-up battle for the event’s title. Despite the fact that Obst was way behind his opponent’s chip lead, he did not despair and quickly boosted his bankroll to finally end up as a victor.
With James Obst emerging as the winner of the 2017 WSOP Event #26 with a first-place prize of $265,138, it was Eric Kurtzman who occupied the runner-up position, taking home a guaranteed prize pool portion of $163,867. David “ODB” Baker remained third and received a total of $112,645 for his efforts.
The fourth position in the ranking was taken by Andrey Zhigalov, followed by Anthony Zinno. Brandon Shack-Harris was sixth, while Jury Merivirta remained seventh. Jack Duong was the final player who formed the event’s final table ranking.
- Author
Harry Evans
