Matthew Jarvis Wins First WSOP Bracelet

World Series of Poker / Matthew Pitt / 27 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

Matthew Jarvis (Photo credit: WSOP.com/PokerNews)

Matthew Jarvis has become the $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Six-handed Champion after outlasting a star-studded field of 732 to win his first World Series of Poker bracelet and boost Canada's haul to five wins at this year's WSOP.

Jarvis should be a familiar name to you poker aficionados and rightly so as just seven months ago he reached the final table of the $10,000 WSOP Main Event to become a "November Niner." He eventually finished in eighth place, good for $1,045,743 but was still bitterly disappointed not to have really challenged for the bracelet but he has now more than made amends by winning one of the toughest live fields on record.

Seventy-two players made it to the money including Nenad Medic, Daniel Alaei, Shaun Deeb, Isaac Haxton, Faraz Jaka, Daniel Negreanu, Shane Schleger and reigning WSOP Main Event Champion, Jonathan Duhamel. A number of British players also made it into the money places, the one going the deepest being Martins Adeniya who was eliminated in 19th place, worth $24,942.

The six-handed final table was reached late into Day 3 after Dan O'Brien was eliminated in seventh place and the players were seated and chipped up as follows:

Seat 1: Matt Vengrin: 760,000
Seat 2: Wesley Pantling: 1,880,000
Seat 3: Robert Merulla: 2,550,000
Seat 4: Justin Filtz: 3,625,000
Seat 5: Matt Jarvis: 1,680,000
Seat 6: Tore Lukashaugen: 720,000

Matt Vengrin had taken a few hits to his stack from the start of the final table and was down to 250,000 chips and with blinds of 12,000/24,000/4,000a he looked down at QcJd and open-shoved from the cutoff. Wesley Pantling, on the button, made the call with As5d and it was off to the races, with Pantling holding the advantage. His lead was soon almost unassailable as the flop came down Ac-7s-8c and when the turn and river were the 4c and 8s respectively it was game over for Vengrin.

Shortly afterwards and Tore Lukashaugen was following Vengrin to the rail after clashing with Justin Filtz. The latter opened to 70,000 on the button (blinds had risen to 15,000/30,000/5a) and when the action was on Lukashaugen he moved all in for what turned out to be 530,000. Filtz made the call and turned over AhQs, which was up against the QhQd of Lukashaugen. The final board ran out 2s-As-3h-Td-9c, which meant Lukashaugen was eliminated in fifth place and Filtz continued to chip up.

The fourth place finisher was Robert Merulla who went from hero to zero in record time. At the time of Lukashaugen's elimination Merulla was the chip leader but after taking a few hits to his stack he found himself having to do battle with just 1,300,000 chips. He opened on the button to 70,000 and when Filtz three-bet to 195,000, Merulla moved all in for the rest of his stack. Filtz asked for a count and when he was informed of the amount he made the call. Merulla held Ah8s but Filtz had him crushed with a dominating AsQh. By the river the five community cards read 5s-9d-Js-7s-2s, gifting Filtz the nut flush and sending Merulla to the cashier's cage.

Pantling was the man who came third to leave Jarvis and Filtz to do battle heads up for the title. Pantling was down to 1,200,000, or 30 big blinds, and these found there way into the middle when he initially opened with a raise to 95,000 only to see Jarvis move all in afterwards. Pantling quickly called and revealed his AdJc, forcing a sheepish looking Jarvis to turn over Qd8d. The Kc-6h-5c flop failed to alter anything but the Qh on the turn propelled Jarvis into the lead. The 6s on the river was not what Pantling was looking for and he left the final table $317,136 richer than when he had started. Not a bad day in the office by anyone's standards.

Going into heads-up Jarvis lead by 7,105,000 to 3,795,000 and the stacks stayed the same for almost four hours. Then, towards the very end of play, the pair sprung into action and Filtz managed to double up with 9d9s against Jarvis' pocket fours and then even took a 2,500,000 chip lead, but a huge hand at the end of the night saw Jarvis catapulted back into a commanding lead. A preflop raising war broke out that saw the AsTh of Jarvis taking on the 7c7h of Filtz. The dealer burned and put out the 8d-Qh-Js flop, giving Jarvis outs to double gutshot straight. The dealer burned another card and put out the Td on the turn, improving Jarvis to a pair of tens. The river was the 3c and with that Jarvis had retaken the lead in emphatic style, a massive 8,150,000 to 2,750,000 lead.

The one-on-one battle had to be paused as ten-levels of play had been completed so the duo returned to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino on Sunday afternoon to finish their battle. Quite ironically it only lasted five hands before it was all over. With blinds now 50,000/100,000/10,000a Filtz open-shoved with Kd9d and Jarvis snap-called with As8h. Neither player improved as the board ran out 5h-3h-6d-2s-3d but Jarvis had the best hand thanks to his ace-kicker, and just seven months after falling at the last hurdle in the Main Event Jarvis had become a WSOP champion.

An overwhelmed Jarvis had this to say about scooping his first bracelet, "You dream of a moment like this from the first time you start playing poker. To win and event like this with as tough a field as this was, is an amazing feeling."

Final table payouts

1.) Matthew Jarvis: $808,538
2.) Justin Filtz: $499,855
3.) Wesley Pantling: $317,136
4.) Robert Merulla: $208,281
5.) Tore Lukas haugen: $141,125
6.) Matt Vengrin: $98,567

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