Markus Gonsalves Finally Breaks WSOP Bracelet Duck in Las Vegas

Overcoming Xiaoyao Ma heads-up and beating players such as Oliver Weis and Daniel Rezaei at the final table, Markus Gonsalves became a bracelet winner. Conquering the $5,000-entry Six-Max No Limit Hold’em Event #73, he won $979,655, the biggest single result of a career that has focused more on cash games than tournaments over the last decade in particular.

Chewy Goes Close as Huge Field Competes

A total of 1,402 entries swelled the prize pool of Event #73, the $5,000 6-Max NLHE event to an incredible $6,449,200 by the time registration closed in the event. While legends of the game got close to victory, none more so than Andrew ‘Lucky Chewy’ Lichtenberger, who finished in 12^th place for a score of $58,729.

The final table saw seven of the best NLHE players in the world make the grade, and by the time they reached the last table of the tournament, it was Gonsalves himself who was in pole position to win the near million-dollar top prize with 69 big blinds. His closest challenger at that stage was the German player Oliver Weis, but his final table turned into a nightmare.

From starting with 54 big blinds, Weis endured a torrid time and his bust-out hand smacked more of desperation than hope. All-in for just six bigs at the end with ace-eight, he ran into Xiaoyao Ma’s ace-jack. Dominated pre-flop, a jack on the flop was more bad news and with only a gutshot straight draw to aim at, Weis missed turn and river to exit with $130,287.

Rezaei Hits the Rail

The only British player in contention was Joshua Boulton, but his departure came next in sixth place for $174,909. All-in with king-jack, Boulton just needed to hold against the queen-eight of hearts held by Markus Gonsalves. Sadly for him, a safe flop of T-T-7 was followed by an eight on the turn and Boulton couldn’t find help on the six river, departing outside the top five.

Out in fifth place was the Lithuanian player Dominykas Mikolaitis. A well-known and experienced battler, especially in European events, Mikolaitis’ elimination in fifth for $238,152 would only have pleased the remaining players. Committing his stack with ace-jack, he ran into Gonsalves’ ace-queen and two queens on the flop were more than enough to send the Lithuanian home.

Daniel Rezaei had put himself in a great position to run deep but fell out of the race in the late stages, busting in fourth place for $328,810. The Austrian was effectively all-in pre-flop, calling off a few chips post-flop, but held pocket fives. His conqueror, Ma, had ace-queen, and the board of Q-J-9-6-K sent Rezaei to the rail.

Gonsalves Gets the Gold

Down to just three players, Frenchman Jeremy Izquierdo was the next player to miss out on the bracelet. He very nearly took a big chip lead into the heads-up battle instead, leading a coinflip against Gonsalves with ace-queen to Gonsalves’ threes until the last minute. But after a flop of Q-T-5 had put him ahead and the seven turn kept him in line for a 4:1 chip lead playing for the bracelet, Gonsalves spikes a two-outer three on the river to win a massive pot. Izquierdo busted moments later for $460,256 when his king-three was dominated to defeat by the eventual winner’s king-ten.

Heads-up, it was Gonsalves with 75% of the chips and he made good use of them. He was very fortunate to win one particular hand for over 90% of the chips, however. All-in with pocket kings, Ma only needed to beat Gonsalves’ ace-nine, but an ace came on the flop to give Gonsalves a lead of 66.7m chips to Ma’s stack of just 3.75m.

Soon, it was all over. Two hands later, Ma’s ace-king was favorite to win again, this time against Gonsalves’ king-five. A board of K-5-2-8-4 had other ideas and sent Ma home as runner-up for a score of $653,037. For Gonsalves, it was a long-held dream come true and as he shared the victory with his rail, he could look forward to taking home the top prize of $979,655 along with the bracelet.