“It’s Been 15 Years”: George Alexander’s Quest For WSOP Gold Ends

“It’s been 15 years. I feel I’ve made 9 closing tables.” These have been the primary phrases George Alexander selected with which to have fun his inaugural World Sequence of Poker bracelet after Dzmitry Urbanovich heads-up to win Occasion #50: $10,000 Razz Championship, ending a prolonged wait that had seen so many shut calls.

“Fairly emotional. I’ve been locked in all day. Didn’t wish to take into consideration what number of chips I had or what was happening. I attempted to play each hand in addition to I might. All of it simply hit me on the finish,” Alexander mentioned after securing the jewellery and $282,443 first-place prize.

“I’ve been taking part in within the World Sequence for about 15 years, so many closing tables, however by no means fairly bought one so it’s an enormous sigh of reduction to lastly get one.”

Occasion #50: $10,000 Razz Championship Last Desk Outcomes

Winner’s Response

Alexander had been on this spot a number of instances earlier than however couldn’t recover from the end line till at present. He had seven prime ten finishes in WSOP occasions, his finest consequence third place within the $1,500 Sellers Selection in 2018. 4 of these have are available $10,000 championship occasions, together with seventh within the Sellers Selection Championship earlier this collection.

All these near-misses and turns below the brilliant lights of a closing desk served him effectively at present. “Massively. I’ve been in a number of spots with like half the chips in play, chip chief with like three folks, 5 folks. And this time I wasn’t even enthusiastic about the scenario. It was all about letting woman luck if she needed it to provide it to me this time,” he mentioned.

To get his first bracelet, Alexander needed to conquer one of the talent-packed fields on the WSOP calendar. The 12 gamers who returned on Day 3 had a mixed 30 bracelets between them, together with the likes of Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu. It is a problem that Alexander relishes and makes his win all of the extra significant.

“I just like the 10Ks greater than the 1,500s. I’ve loved battling the perfect of the perfect. I take pleasure in it much more than the random fields. It’s extra significant, and likewise it being like a world championship,” he mentioned. “Razz is one in all my favourite video games. Lots of people dismiss it. They are saying Razz is easy, boring, however I really like the nuance in it. I feel it has a number of room for creativity. I’m fairly blissful that it got here in Razz.”

Alexander’s journey to the bracelet started when he was nonetheless younger. He spent a number of years as an expert poker participant however had taken a step again from the sport lately to deal with his different profession. He’s now a Crypto investor, working his personal agency, Selini Capital, and internet hosting his personal YouTube podcast titled “Regular Lads Podcast.”

“I used to play professionally once I was a child. I performed for a number of years in my early 20s. Ever since I’ve been a leisure participant, however at the back of my head I nonetheless have all of the work that I put in again within the day. It was pre-solver days. I don’t play as a lot No-Restrict. I feel it might be fairly arduous for me to maintain up there. However for combined video games, I feel I can nonetheless match the perfect evenly,” he mentioned.

Day 3 Motion

Day 3 started with 12 gamers remaining out of a beginning area of 118. 5-time bracelet winner Brian Yoon was the primary to bust when he bumped into Denis Strebkov’s nine-six. Negreanu was then eradicated in eleventh place by Ivey with a jack-eight versus jack-seven.

Former WSOP Participant of the 12 months Robert Campbell bubbled the nine-handed closing desk when he bought his excessive brief stack in in opposition to John Racener and Ren Lin. Racener ended up making a 6-4 and Campbell was despatched to the rail in tenth. Brandon Shack-Harris, chip chief firstly of the day, maintained his huge benefit firstly of the ultimate desk with 1,920,000, whereas Alexander was in second place with 1,050,000.

Ivey got here in as a brief stack and shortly fell in ninth place as Shack-Harris made a ten-eight to bust the 11-time bracelet winner. Strebkov, the Russian on-line famous person who has received an astounding 17 mixed WCOOP and SCOOP titles, fell in eighth when Urbanovich made a six-four.

Racener vaulted up the chip counts when he caught a wheel on seventh road to take a large pot off Shack-Harris, climbing over 1,000,000. Alexander then made a 7-6 in an enormous pot in opposition to Jared Bleznick, knocking Bleznick all the way down to 450,000. Bleznick busted shortly afterward in opposition to Racener’s seven-six.

It was a gradual downfall for Racener from there, nonetheless, as Shack-Harris received an enormous pot with a nine-seven. Left with just some chips, Racener was all in in opposition to Lin however ended up with a full home in opposition to Lin’s king to complete in sixth place, denying him his second bracelet of the summer season.

The flamboyant Lin took the chip lead in a large pot in opposition to Hal Rotholz with 8-6-4 in opposition to 8-6-5. Urbanovich then took down a large three-way pot with a 6-5 as he joined Alexander over 2,000,000 and close to the chip lead.

Shack-Harris ultimately busted in fifth place in opposition to Alexander’s seven-six. Alexander made one other seven-six in an enormous pot in opposition to Lin to climb above 3,000,000, leaving Lin with lower than 400,000. He then hit 4,000,000 after beating Urbanovich with a ten.

Rotholz, runner-up on this occasion two years in the past, had simply 30,000 remaining when he bought all in in opposition to Alexander, who made an eight-six and compelled Rotholz to accept fourth this time. Lin doubled up as soon as along with his favourite card, a queen (or “Woman Gaga”), however quickly afterward Alexander made a 7-4 to bust the affable, fun-loving Chinese language professional in third place.

Alexander led Urbanovich 4,750,000 to 2,330,000 as every sought to win their first bracelet. Alexander started constructing a large lead when he made a nine-four, knocking Urbanovich all the way down to lower than 1,000,000. Urbanovich then bought all in on sixth road with a nine-draw, whereas Alexander made his nine-eight. Urbanovich missed with a queen as he needed to accept second place, bringing Alexander’s decade-plus-long wait to an finish.

The reduction on Alexander’s face was palpable as soon as the ultimate playing cards have been tabled. He’s spent years battling the perfect gamers on the planet, holding his personal if not fairly capable of cross the end line. He lastly did it at present, and the journey made it solely sweeter.