There was stiff competition for the $2,500 buy-in 2-7 triple draw event which was taking place at the 2013 World Series of Poker. The final table had a number of well known faces including Daniel Negreanu and Eli Elezra. The match went on late into Saturday night but the crowds waited patiently and finally got to see Elezra beat Negreanu to get his second career WSOP bracelet. Along with the bracelet, Elezra took home $173,236 making it his third WSOP final table and fourth cash prize in this type of event.
Compared to most of the other events being held at this year’s WSOP, this event was a little different because the atmosphere surrounding the final table was a lot friendlier, since a lot of the players knew each other. Unlike other events, were the atmosphere is tense, this event found players sharing a drinks, jokes and even a couple of smiles.
Some of the players at the table included Marco Johnson, Michael Mizrachi, Konstantin Puchkov, David Chiu and David Baker. In a statement, Elezra said
It took a long time to get back here, about five years to win my second one. I played 17 events this year, so this was really beautiful. It was almost playing like a high-stakes cash game. I had played with everyone one of them, except one guy. We had all played together many times. I do feel bad for Daniel Negreanu. He is one of the best. He is one of the best friends of mine.
Negreanu may not have had a stunning WSOP 2013 but with this runner-up status and his six cashes in total, together with his results from the WSOP Asia Pacific, still make him a strong contender to win WSOP’s Player of the Year race. He is currently in second place and will be looking to finish strong as we come to the end of the WSOP 2013.
Negreanu did play well in event 59: 2-7 triple draw where the buy-in was $2,500. There was a total of 282 entries with a total prize pool of $641,550 and at the end there were a total of 30 players who were in the money. Eli Elezra walked away with the first place and took home $173,236, while Daniel Negreanu took second along with $107,055. Brian Brubaker took the third spot and took home a cash prize of $70,743.
Elezra went on to say that
I love poker. I love the people. That’s why I love the game. I like to talk to the people, tease the people, and enjoy the game. That’s the way it should be. Like I did with Daniel (sweating his last card). Some people would not like that. But that’s part of it, for me.
