WSOP: Anson Tsang Wins Second Career Gold Bracelet in Event #68
Yan Shing ‘Anson’ Tsang entered the final table of the World Series of Poker Event #68 ($500 Deepstack NLHE Asia) with the chip lead. He never relinquished that lead, holding off the remaining eight players in what started as a field of 2,315 to claim the tournament’s top prize of $150,460.
Tsang came into this event with 34 career WSOP cashes including 10 others so far in this year’s GGPoker Online WSOP Series. This was his second WSOP bracelet win after he secured his first in a World Series of Poker Europe PLO 8-Max Event back in October of 2018.
On the fourth hand of the final table, the action folded around to Tsang in the small blind. Tsang raised it up to 18.4 million to put Eder Campana, the shortest stack at the final table, to a decision for all of his chips. Campana called off his remaining 2,981,606 with the 
. Tsang’s 
was behind for only a moment as a 
flop gave him the nuts. A 
on the turn left Campana drawing dead and the 
on the river eliminated him in ninth place.
Five minutes later, Stephen Holford made a raise to 1,000,000 under the gun. The action folded around to Nobuaki Sasaki who moved all in for 5,816,244 with the 
. Holford quickly called with the 
. The 
flop brought in some chop outs for Sasaki but also the nut flush draw for Holford. The 
on the turn completed the flush for Holford as the meaningless 
came down on the river to knock Sasaki out in eighth.
Two more eliminations came in quick succession roughly five minutes after Sasaki’s. Mohaiman Ashrafee raised from the hijack with 
and Marc Carola shoved 7,439,896 over the top from the small blind. Ashrafee called and was able to hold on for the win and eliminate Carola in seventh place won a 
runout.
Shortly afterward, Tsang raised to 800,000 under the gun with Ah9d. Malcolm Trayner moved all in for his remaining 3,909,418 stack with 
. Tsang took a moment to think before making the call. The 
kept Trayner’s pocket eights out in front, but the on the turn left him drawing to just two outs. Trayner was eliminated in sixth place as the 
gave him no help on the river.
Five-handed action went on for nearly a half-hour including the first break of the final table which came shortly after Trayner’s elimination. Wong Soon Heong nursed his short stack for as long as he could, but with under 11 big blinds left (5,381,480), he finally made his move with an all-in from the button with the . Holford shoved his 17,730,980 chip stack in with the from the small blind which prompted a fold from Amir Dvir in the big blind. Hoeng took the lead on a 
flop, but Holford jumped ahead with a 
on the turn and held on to eliminate Hoeng in fifth place when the fell on the river.
Tsang used his chip lead to dominate the table four-handed for the next 20 minutes or so, building his stack up to 58,121,423 to hold 62.8% of the chips in play. Dvir eventually moved all in for 6,066,281 with and Tsang called in the small blind with 
. An flop left Dvir in need of an eight on the turn or river, but the 10h on the turn and 6s on the river added more chips to Tsang’s stack and knocked Dvir out in fourth.
Three-handed play only lasted for less than two minutes as Ashrafee opened with an all-in shove from the small blind with 
and Holford called off his last 7,197,469 with the in the big blind. The 
on the flop and the 
on the turn gave Holford some flush outs, but the on the river provided no help and eliminated Holford in third place.
Heads up play began with Tsang holding roughly a 3-to-1 chip lead over Ashrafee. Ashrafee fought admirably in a back-and-forth heads-up battle that lasted for 40 minutes and saw Ashrafee cut Tsang’s lead down to 51,446,489 to 41,153,511 at one point. But Tsang eventually worked his lead back up and Ashrafee was left with just 13,089,371 chips on the final hand of the tournament. Ashrafee moved all-in with the and was quickly called by Tsang who held the in the big blind. The fell on the flop to give Tsang the nut straight, which held on for the win as the turn and river did nothing to help Ashrafree improve.
Final Table Payouts
- Yan Shing ‘Anson’ Tsang – $150,460
- Mohaiman Ashrafee – $116,809
- Stephen Holford – $83,986
- Amir Dvir – $60,387
- Wong Soon Heong – $43,419
- Malcolm Trayner – $31,219
- Marc Carola – $22,446
- Nobuaki Sasaki – $16,139
- Eder Campana – $11,604