In early March, Scott Hempel made the final table of the World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic and was expecting to fly to Las Vegas to play down to a winner as part of a handful of the delayed final tables. Thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak, Hempel has been waiting ever since.

On Saturday night the Canadian poker pro had to do very little waiting on his way to winning his first World Series of Poker bracelet. Hempel topped the 987-entry field in Event #18 ($1,000 NLHE Turbo Deepstack) for $181,060.21. It is his fourth cash of the Series and comes just one day after finishing seventh in Event $17 ($777 NLHE).

Hempel started the eight-handed final table with the fourth-biggest stack and needed just over an hour to acquire all of the chips in play.

Down to just seven big blinds, Matthew ‘EarvinMagic’ Parry move all in from the cutoff for 2,186,368 with before Daniel ‘IntoTheRiver’ Fischer called from the big blind. The gave Parry four extra outs but the turn gave Fischer top pair and Parry was unable to move ahead on the turn to bust in eighth.

Just one hand later, Harrison ‘harrisond33’ Dobin min-raised from the button to 640,000 and Hempel re-raised to 1,599,999. Dobin responded by moving all in for 5,534,425 and Hempel called. Dobin showed while Hempel was ahead with . The flop missed Dobin as did the turn and river to eliminate him in seventh place.

After losing all but a shade more than one big blind in a blind versus blind clash with ‘GoatMaster’, Landon ‘ActionDealer’ Tice had his hand forced. Action folded to Tice on the button and he called, leaving himself 11,066 behind. ‘GoatMaster’ called from the small blind and Barry ‘puigmyfriend’ Hutter checked his option in the big blind. The blinds both checked to Tice after the flop and then called when Tice moved all in. Hutter and ‘GoatMaster’ checked the turn and river. Tice showed for bottom pair but he was beat by the of ‘GoatMaster’. Hutter mucked and the pot was shipped to ‘GoatMaster’ to bust Tice in sixth.

Hempel moved all in from the cutoff for 11,171,492 with and Hutter call off his last 6,307,972 with . The flop gave Hempel an inside straight draw. The turn changed nothing but the river filled Hempel’s straight draw and eliminated Hempel in fifth.

Two minutes later, Hempel added even more chips to his stack. Hempel moved all in from UTG with before Fischer called for 5,654,768 from the big blind with . The flop gave Fischer top pair while Hempel picked up a gutshot straight draw and a flush draw. The turn ended all the drama as Hempel made his flush. The river made Fischer’s fourth place finish official.

Three-handed play lasted just five minutes. Myles ‘Shipthemoney’ Kotler folded his button, ‘GoatMaster’ moved all in for 3,546,156 from the small blind with and Hempel called with . Hempel connected solidly with the flop. ‘GoatMaster’ picked up help on the flop but missed the river and was eliminated in third.

Hempel held a 3-2 chip lead when heads up play began. It took him 15 minutes to eliminate Kotler and put the finishing touches on his first career WSOP bracelet. Hempel open-shoved for 27,505,770 with and Kotler calle with . The board ran out to eliminate Kotler in second place.

Final Table Payouts

1. Scott ‘BudLightLime’ Hempel – $181,060.21
2. Myles ‘Shipthemoney’ Kotler – $111,955.41
3. GoatMaster – $78,856.36
4. Barry ‘puigmyfriend’ Hutter – $56,259.00
5. Daniel ‘IntoTheRiver’ Fischer – $40,694.01
6. Landon ‘ActionDealer’ Tice $29,817.27
7. Harrison ‘harrisond33’ Dobin – $22,222.30
8. Matthew ‘EarvinMagic’ Parry – $16,784.93

Faces in the Crowd

Former #1-ranked PocketFiver Chris Moorman made his deepest run of the 2020 WSOP before busting in 27th place for $5,157.07. Matt Stout finished two spots better than Moorman and still earned the same amount. Other notables who cashed on Saturday included Frank Marasco (31st – $4,219.42), another former #1, Ari Engel (42nd – $3,563.07), Craig Varnell (43rd – $3,563.07), Yong Kwon (44th – $3,563.07), Ryan Depaulo (84th – $1,969.06), and Phil Hellmuth picked up his third cash of the summer, coming in 97th for $1,781.53.