Controversial Hand Involving Sam Soverel Gets People Talking

Published on June 4th, 2019 10:47 am EST

The largest poker tournament in the world is currently taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada.Benjamin Heath is the early leader for the World Series of Poker Player of the Year award following an impressive victory in the $50,000 High Roller event.

The $50,000 High Roller event ended up with a total of 110 entries, resulting in a total prize pool of $5,280,000.

Benjamin Heath ended up winning the tournament for $1,484,085, which gave him the first bracelet of his career and a total of 1,231.2 POY points.

Andrew Lichtenberger came in second for $917,232, while Sam Soverel finished in third place for $640,924.

Other notable in the money finishes included hedge fund manager David Einhorn ($122,551) and Bryn Kenney ($86,543).

-

This tournament produced the first real controversial hand of the series, eliciting responses from players such as Ike Haxton and Justin Bonomo.

In a big hand that resulted in the elimination of Dmitry Yurasov in 4th place, Sam Soverel mucked out of turn following an all-in from Yurasov. Ben Heath was contemplating his action at the time, and Soverel mucking out of turn made it an easier decision for Heath to call.

Soverel apologized for the move, though a number of players felt as though he mucked out of turn on purpose.

In fact, Ike Haxton was so enraged that he said that Soverel should have been eliminated from the tournament, paid 4th place money and banned from WSOP events for a year.

Other players chimed in as well, saying that Soverel has a history of doing things like this and that it almost certainly wasn't an accident.

-

As mentioned, Benjamin Heath currently sits in the top spot in the WSOP POY race. There are a total of 93 bracelet events that count towards this year's race (83 in Las Vegas and 10 at the World Series of Poker Europe), so these are early days.

Here is the top 5 as of this moment:

Benjamin Heath, 1,231.20
Daniel Zack, 1,167.42
Brian Green, 1,084.79
Derek McMaster, 1,017.80
Yong Keun Kwon, 1,002.11

--

Filed Under: The World Series of Poker

Related Articles