WSOP: Japan’s Shoma Ishikawa Wins First Bracelet on GGPoker
While the first official day of World Series of Poker Online events on GGPoker got off to a rough start it ended with a historic moment as the first online bracelet awarded outside of the United States went to Japan’s Shoma Ishikawa.
Ishikawa outlasted 2,213 other players in Event #34 ($525 Super Turbo Bounty NLHE Six Max) to win $82,425 and his first career WSOP bracelet.
The final table began nine-handed and it took just four hands for the first player to bust. In a battle of the blinds, Dimitar Yosifov was all in with 
against the 
of Mulgyeol Kim. The board ran out 
to eliminate Yosifov in ninth.
Kim got to see two more hands before his night was over. After losing most of his stack to Diego Ostrovich, Kim was forced to move all in with 
only to have Gary Johnson call with 
. Kim was out in eighth place after the 
runout failed to connect with his hand.
Ostrovich ended another opponents tournament 15 minutes later. Ostrovich opened from the button and Ilya Anataski defended his big blind. The flop came 
and all of the money went in. Anatski tabled 
for a flush draw with two overs while Ostrovich showed 
. The 
turn was a bruck and the 
river gave both players top pair with Ostrovich out-pipping Anataski.
Tom Delaine became the next casualty once the event had just six players remaining. Ostrovich raised to 1,200,000 from the cutoff before Delaine moved all in for 1,311,542. Ostrovich called and showed 
while Delaine had 
. The 
missed both players and kept Ostrovich in front. Delaine got no relief from the turn or 
river and was eliminated in sixth.
One minute later the most decorated player at the table sent another player home. Daniel Strelitz, who has a WSOP bracelet and a World Poker Tour title to his name along with $4.7 million in live earnings, opened from UTG with before Yulian Bogdanov shoved from the big blind with . The board ran out 
to give Strelitz top pair eliminate Bogdanov in fifth place.
The two players responsible for the first two eliminations then clashed in a hand that ended the tournament for one of them. Ostrovich moved all in from the button with 
and Strelitz called for his last 8,784,311 with The 
flop gave Ostrovich a pair of tens leaving Strelitz needing help. The turn was a blank as was the 
river and Strelitz was out in fourth.
Ostrovich continued to push around the rest of the table. Ishikawa folded his button, Ostrovich jammed all in for 29,197.178 with and Gary Johnson called all in from the big blind with 
. The board ran out 
to give Ostrovich the nut flush and end Johnson’s run in third place.
The heads up battle began with Ostrovich holding a 3.5-1 lead over Ishikawa but the Japanese pro turned the tables relatively quickly and doubled into the lead with against Ostrovich’s on a 
runout. Ishikawa wrapped up the bracelet on the next hand. Ishikawa bet 34,000,000 with and Ostrovich, with 2,000,000 already committed as the big blind, tank-called off his last 4,410,528 with 
. The 
flop gave Ostrovich some hope but the 
turn gave Ishikawa control and the improved him to a flush to eliminate Ostrovich in second and lay claim to the first online bracelet ever awarded outside of the United States.
Final Table Payouts
- Shoma Ishikawa – $82,425
- Diego Ostrovich – $59,263
- Gary Johnson – $42,610
- Daniel Strelitz – $30,637
- Yulian Bogdanov – $22,028
- Tom Delaine – $15,839
- Ilya Anatsky – $11,388
- Mulgyeol Kim – $8,188
- Dimitar Yosifov – $5,887