2020 WSOP Online: Lev Gottlieb Wins Event #43:$10K Short Deck Championship For $276K!

Some of the best Short Deck players in the world logged on to GGPoker to play Event #43: $10,000 Short Deck No Limit Hold’em Championship of the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online. In the end, it was Lev ‘LevMeAlone’ Gottlieb who topped the elite 130-entry field to bank the top prize of $276,393.39 and the gold bracelet, after an intense heads-up play with Belarus’ high stakes crusher, Mikita Badziakouski. The latter walked away with an impressive $210,248.67 for his runner-up finish.

The first $10K buy-in event at the ongoing series attracted some of the biggest names in the game, including Isaac Haxton, Sean Winter, Mike Leah, Sam Greenwood, Jason Koon and Joao Viera. The talent extended to the 9-handed play where Amichai Barer, Michael Chi Zhang, Dan Shak, and Sergi Reixach all seen battling it out for the coveted bracelet. Belarusian player Badziakouski proved to be the biggest hurdle for Gottlieb. Badziakouski, who has over $2.5 million in live Short Deck earnings, seemed in control for majority of the final table but Gottlieb managed to overcome a huge initial chip deficit in a swingy heads-up battle to deny Badziakouski the coveted title and the gold bracelet.

Final Table

The first to exit the FT was Chi Zhang who hit the rail in sixth place. Around 30 minutes later, Nobuaki Sasaki eliminated Dan ‘oiltrader’ Shak in fifth place. Following him in fourth place was Nobuaki Sasaki who was eliminated by Badziakouski who improved to a full house on the river.

During 3-handed play, Sergi Reixach suffered a couple of bad beats, the second of which sent him to the rail. Gottlieb limped for 60,000 holding Ah Jh and Reixach raised with Ks Kh. Gottlieb three-bet shoved and Reixach made the call. The board ran out 6d Jc 10h Jd 6c, giving the pot to Gottlieb.

It was an intense heads-up match right from the start. Badziakouski started with a dominating four-to-one chip lead but Gottlieb managed to take the lead. Badziakouski battled back to regain the lead but he lost it once again. The whole time Badziakouski was facing technical difficulties seeing his own ‘chess clock’ timebank, playing not knowing exactly how much time he had to make decisions.

When their chips were evened out and both players had less than six seconds on their timebank, GGPoker support team paused the table for around fifteen minutes to work on a solution. The two  then rejoined a newly-created table with the standard timebank and the tournament continued.

The heads-up resumed, and a few minutes later, Gottlieb took the lead. Both players battled for another two hours before the last hand arrived. Gottlieb shoved preflop and Badziakouski called for less.

Badziakouski: Kd Qs

Gottlieb: As 10c

The board ran out 7d Kc Jc Qh 6d, giving the coveted title as well as the gold bracelet to Gottlieb!

Final Table Payouts

  1. Lev ‘LevMeAlone’ Gottlieb – $276,393.39
  2. Mikita Badziakouski – $210,249
  3. Sergi Reixach – $159,933
  4. Nobuaki ‘Sasa JH’ Sasaki – $121,659
  5. Dan ‘oiltrader’ Shak – $92,545
  6. Chi Zhang – $70,397