Brendan Taylor Wins $1,500 Limit Shootout
.jpg "Brendan Taylor Wins $1,500 Limit Shootout")
Brendan Taylor picked up his first career World Series of Poker bracelet Saturday by winning the 53rd event of this year’s WSOP. By winning the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout event, Taylor also took home $184,950.
The final table of eight players began at a slow pace, with chips moving around the table and no clear chip leader emerging. Several strong professionals were vying for the title, including Terrence Chan, Jonathan Little and Mike Schneider. However, as the table began to shrink, a clear favorite began to break away from the pack: Taylor. By the time the final table was down to four players, Taylor held more chips than all three of his opponents combined.
Taylor then coasted to victory by knocking out Joseph McGowan in 4th place, and Little in 3rd. When Taylor reached heads up play against Ben Yu, he had a nearly insurmountable 10-1 chip advantage.
It didn’t take long to translate that lead into a bracelet. Within just a few hands, Yu got all-in before the flop with A9 against Taylor’s A7 suited. It looked like Yu had found a spot to double up, but this was Taylor’s day. When he hit a seven on the flop, he moved from way behind to way ahead, and a pair of fours on the turn and river didn’t let Yu come back.
For his second place finish, Yu won $114,484.
Taylor, who lives in Pasadena, California, is no stranger to success at the World Series of Poker. He had five cashes in World Series events before his big win, including two previous final tables: a 3rd place finish in a 2006 $3,000 Limit Hold’em event, and a 5th place finish in a $1,500 Limit Hold’em Event in 2008. However, this win was by far his biggest accomplishment; it was his first major tournament victory, and was worth nearly three times as much as his previous largest prize ($67,878 for the 5th place finish in 2008).