Jimmy Shultz wins WSOP Event 12Jimmy Shultz a mortgage broker from Charleston, South Carolina completed an impressive Cinderella-like run at $1,500 buy-in fixed limit Holdem event, which ended with him taking home $257,105 in top place prize money and a 2008 WSOP bracelet.

Shultz started the day needing to go through not the usual nine competitors but had to go through eighteen. Day two originally scheduled to have been played down to nine players, was (after 17 hours) suspended due to length with eighteen players remaining.

When day three started the chip counts were:

1st Vinny Vinh 335,000
2nd Erick Lindgren 244,000
3rd Brendan Taylor 240,000
4th Ali Eslami 208,000
5th Steven Shkolnik 199,000
6th Joseph Sanders 173,000
7th Christoph Niesert 173,000
8th Zac Fellows 164,000
9th John O’Brien 163,000
10th Jimmy Shultz 161,000
11th Golser Markus 135,000
12th Nguyen Duc 115,000
13th Chung Law 110,000
14th Zachary Henderson 98,000
15th Eric Pratt 48,000
16th Teddy Monroe 40,000
17th Steve Foutty 21,000
18th Arash Beral 14,000

What made this victory so remarkable was not the big names he went through, nor the tenth to last man standing performance but rather was the fact this was Jimmy Shultz very first high stakes poker tournament. He had 5 years of poker experience under his belt but the closest he had come to a big tournament was the serious as a vacation last year.

Performances like this one need a strong story… and Jimmy Shultz had just that.

During the event Shultz was wearing a Charleston South Carolina Fire Department T-Shirt. He was doing so in remembrance of nine fire fighters who lost their life in a tragic accident on June 18 of 2007 (link). In an interview after the event he stated “Louis was my friend and I am 100 per cent privileged to do be able to do this for him and those eight others. I can’t wait to get back home because this is all for them.” He is donating 25% of his winnings to the fire department.

In other 2008 WSOP Event 12 Day 3 News

Erik Lindgren came into day three with a chance to become the second player to make two final tables in this year’s WSOP and also a chance to become the first multiple bracelet winner of ‘08. The day did not go so well for Lindgren and having the short stack with ten players left his big blind alone committed him to a pot. On this hand he’d turn over Js8c and see he was in awful shape when his opponent Markus Golser’s tabled pocket kings. The board would ran 4c 6s 7h 9h Qh and Lindgren ended up being the final table bubble boy, collecting $14,774 for his tenth place finish.

Final Table Coverage:

When the final table started Shultz was the chip leader with 800K, he quickly built his stack larger when he sent Chung Law home in 9th place. On this hand Shultz raised to 24K in early position, Chung Law next to act re-raises to 36K, Shultz reraised and Law tossed in his remaining chips. When the cards where tabled Shulz had pocket Jacks and Law Pocket tens. The board ran 8d Qc 8c 9c 7h and Law collected $23,423 for his ninth place finish.

Vinny Vihn was second in chips at the start of the final table and he’d improve on a hand which he raised to 30K from the button and Markus Golser called. The flop came 6s 9h Ks. Golser checked, Vihn bet $30 and Golser called. The turn was the Jc and the same check call. The river was Qc and Gloser once again check called. Vinh turned over 6d 9d for two pair and Golser mucked. A few hands later we saw wacky Vinny Vihn move (Vinny is famous for things that don’t make sense to anyone but himself). On this hand Golster was all in for his short stack against both Vihn and Shulz. The flop came Qs 4s 3h, Vihn bet and Shultz folded assuming Vihn had made a hand but instead Vihn tabled 7c 8c for eight high. Golster’s Ks Jc ended up winning the pot with King high.

The strange move Vinny Vihn had made paid off big time for Markus Golser as he was on life support with 8th place prize money of $32.432 seeming imminent, he’d pick up an extra $21,021 when he stuck around to 6th place. To fill in the dots between those occurrences, Nieston would go out in eighth when he was all in against Zac Fellows and Jimmy Schultz, the board ran 5c Jd 9d Kc Qc, it was checked down and Fellow tabled Ks 8s and the others mucked… a hand later Golster would triple up with K T on a 10h Qd Jc. Next we’d see Ali Eslam get his money in short stacked with 95 against Shultz A5 and he’d be elimintated in 7th place.

It would take 40 more minutes or so before Markus Golser finished in sixth place. With 40K behind and $20K in the big blind he tossed all his chips in with Ad Jd. Shultz called with 9c 7c. The board ran 10h Qd 9s 6d 4c giving Shultz the winning hand with a pair of nines. During this 40 min period Vinny Vihn collided with Zac Fellows one to many times and found himself quite short stacked.

Vihn would go on a rush, doubling to 90K through Shultz and within 15 minutes time would find himself with 400K chips again. The double up had not hurt Shultz much; after this hand he had 1.1 million in chips, and his next closest opponent Zac Fellows had 800K.

Teddy “Iceman” Monroe had been the quietest player at the table, having played solid short stack poker for two days now. His patience was good enough to earn him fifth place and $67, 867. On the particular hand he was eliminated a couple of players had checked down a board 2h 10s 9h 8h Js, Monroe was all in preflop and when Shultz went to make a bet on the river he would muck before the bet even reach the pot, in case he’d have any regrets later Shultz was kind enough to show him 7s 8s for the straight.

Vihn who had recently been down to just 40K chips would find himself right back in the mix with 800K chips after eliminating Brendan Taylor in 4th place. On this hand there was betting and raising on every street including an all in on the river. At show down the board read 2c 3c 3s 3h Qh, Vihn tabled pocket eights and Taylor looked sick as he mucked, stood and headed to the cage to collect his $82,882 prize money.

A few hands into three handed play chip counts where announced:

Fellows – 1,150,000
Vinh – 725,000
Shultz – 600,000

Vihn started playing lots of big pots, during which he deiced no longer to be friendly with his opponents. In classic Vinnie Vihn like fashion he’d make several scenes and would be then warned by tournament directors about his actions; On the last hand of Level 25, just before a 20 minute break the following hand occurred:

Shultz rasied from the button and Vihn called. The flop came Ah Tc 2s. Vihn lead for 30K and Shultz called, the turn came Td and this is where fireworks occurred, Vihn bet 60K, Shultz 2 bet to 120K, Vihn 3 bet to 180K, Shults 4 bet to 240K and Vihn capped to 300K. The turn came 9c and Shultz bet and Vihn made the calling knowing his AQ was not good, Shultz scooped a huge pot leaving Vihn crippled.

After the break Vihn managed to double up before he’d go out the following hand.

Preflop Shultz raised and Vinh called. The flop came 7c 5d Ks Vinh bet all, Shultz called showing 6c 7c. and Vinh revealed Q 2. The turn and river came 2d 3d and Vinny’s night was over.

When heads up play started both Jimmy Shultz and Zac Fellow were fairly even in chips. They both landed several strong jabs as the chip bounced back and forth between them. The deciding, but not final, hand played out like this:

Fellows opened for a raise before the flop came 2c 4d Ad. Fellows led out. Shultz raised and Fellows called. The turn was Qc, Fellows bet and Shultz raised Fellows re-raised and Shulz called. The river was Qs. Fellows bet, Shultz raised, and Fellows decided to just call. Shultz new he had the best hand when he tabled Qd 6d for trips and took the huge pot. Fellows left with just 75,000 in chips would be eliminated on the very next hand.

With Fellows having only 75K both where committed to this pot with any two cards.

Fellows: 3c-3d.
Shultz: 10h 3h.

Flop: Qd 6h 7h , Turn 6d River Jh

The river flushed makes Jimmy Shultz a champion in the very first WSOP event he’s ever played in.

WSOP Event 12 final table results and payouts:

1st Jimmy Shultz $257,105
2nd Zac Fellows $165,165
3rd Vinny Vinh $99,099
4th Brendan Taylor $82,882
5th Teddy ‘Iceman’ Monroe $67,867
6th Markus Golser $53,453
7th Ali Eslami $41,441
8th Christoph Niesert $32,432
9th Chung Law $23,423