Longsheng Tan Wins WSOP $1,500 NLHE; Raghav Bansal & Aditya Sushant Cash Out

A total of 1,351 players came together in the recent 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) $1,500 no-limit hold’em event, the first bracelet event at the series after the start of the ongoing main event. The massive turnout built a prize pool of $1,823,850, which was distributed to the top 203 players. The lion’s share went to Longsheng Tan from Las Vegas. The 34-year-old poker player and real estate agent took down the event for $323,472 in top prize money and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

This was Tan’s 8th final table finish and 2nd title of the year 2018, having won a $400 event at the Wynn for $9,521. With his consistent performances across various events, Tan has now stormed into 51st place in the 2018 POY rankings with 1,936 points and $427,841 in the live earnings.

Tan entered Day 3 as the chip leader with 26 players remaining, and when there were 6 players remaining in the field, he still held the chip lead. Tan further extended his lead by busting Adam Laskey in 5th place, flopping a set versus Laskey’s top pair. A few hands later, Jayaram Kovoorchathoth knocked out Trey Brabham in 4th place but still was the shortest stack. Later, Lanny Levine eliminated Kovoorchathoth in 3rd place to enter the heads-up battle against Tan.

Tan entered heads-up as the chip lead and it took just 17 hands for him to seal the win. On the last hand, Tan holding Ad 7h raised and Levine holding 10s 7s made the call. The flop opened Qs 9h 7c, which was checked by both players. The turn was As, giving Tan two pair and Levine a pair and a flush draw. Levine checked and Tan bet, which Levine called. The 7d hit the river and Levine bet 400,000, which Tan raised to 1,400,000. Levine moved all-in for 2,930,000 and Tan snap-called.  Tan won the title with Full House and Levine eventually ended up finishing runner-up for $199,862.

Team India

Only two Indian challengers Raghav Bansal and Aditya Sushant could run deep and cash out. Bansal who was running well in this event ended up finishing 121st and earning $ 2,658 for his efforts. It was 4th WSOP cash this year for Bansal with his best coming from $ 1,500 NLH Millionaire Maker where he finished 21st for an impressive $ 40,898. He also cashed out for his 5th place finish in the $ 500 + 50 No Limit Hold’em in the ongoing 2018 The Wynn Summer Classic in Las Vegas.

After busting the ongoing Main Event, India’s WSOP gold holder Aditya Sushant fared well in this event making Day 2 with impressive 105,900 chips. Unfortunately, he could not keep the momentum and ended up finishing 161st for $2,343. Sushant made a late trip to Vegas but made a quick impact, finishing 4th in a Wynn Summer Classic Event and taking 9th place in the WSOP Online Championship Event. Adda52 Team Pro Kunal Patni was also joined in but exited without cashing the event.

Indian-origin Shyam Srinivasan ran deep in this event to finish as the final table bubble in 10th place for an impressive $18,988. It was the 3rd WSOP cash for Srinivasan this year. He got his largest score $154,463 in the $ 1,500 No Limit Hold’em – Monster Stack (Event #48) for his 7th place finish.

Final Table Payouts

Place Player Prize Money
1 Longsheng Tan $323,472
2 Lanny Levine $199,862
3 Jayaram Kovoorchathoth $142,785
4 Trey Brabham $103,212
5 Adam Laskey $75,497
6 Stephen Bierman $55,892
7 John Pannucci $41,884
8 Georgiios Tavoularis $31,775
9 Jason Paradis $24,409