Francis Anderson has won Event #80: $800 Independence Day Celebration after a second gruelling day of play. The American successfully navigated his way through a large field of 4,263 players to seize the win and his first bracelet.
Anderson was ecstatic after the event concluded. The $501,040 prize beats his previous best of $449,912 and gives him a new winnings total of $2,652,257.
“Oh, it’s pretty insane. like, I’ve won a lot of money in poker, but this is by far my biggest outright victory, not even close. My last one was only $50,000.”
Final Action
Although the event was scheduled to end last night, there were still 356 players left in contention.
But this was a fast and furious structure with 30-minute blind increases, so we knew beforehand that the eliminations would be coming thick and fast.
In fact, by the time of the first break, there were less than 100 contenders. And after dinner, the final nine was set and we were ready for the push to crown a champion.
Anderson scored the first kill, sending home Jaskaran Brar in ninth place. This was quickly followed by Bamshad Azizi knocking out Regina Vega Sevilha, the final lady in the event.
The Americans then eliminated Martin Zamani and Tom Cohen in quick succession before Azizi paid out a pair of double ups himself and then clashed with Brent Lee’s jacks holding only nines.
Now it was Lee’s turn to shine, making it a trio of knockouts after dealing with Donnie Barnard and Taylor Williams to leave him with a two-to-one advantage in the heads-up battle.
The momentum remained with Lee initially, but Anderson soon got into a groove.
His ace-jack emerged in front of Lee’s pocket fives, and then pocket kings was enough to score a double-up large enough to give him a substantial lead.
Only a few hands later, the event was closed out when Anderson called a shove with pocket fours which only had to fade the queen-deuce of Lee.
Event #80: $800 Independence Day Celebration Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Country | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | Francis Anderson | United States | $501,040 |
| 2 | Brent Lee | United States | $323,080 |
| 3 | Taylor Williams | United States | $241,850 |
| 4 | Donnie Barnard | United States | $182,350 |
| 5 | Bamshad Azizi | United States | $138,490 |
| 6 | Tom Cohen | Israel | $105,960 |
| 7 | Martin Zamani | United States | $81,660 |
| 8 | Regina Vega Sevilha | Brazil | $63,410 |
| 9 | Jaskaran Brar | Canada | $49,613 |
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