WSOP 2013 - Event #6 - Benny Chen Becomes Millionaire

Of the total of 6,343 players who entered WSOP Event #6 $1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker, only ten were left by Day 4, with one elimination away from the official final table. Chipleader was Benny Chen, with a stack of 5,865,000, but favourite Dan ‘djk123’ Kelly was close with 4,130,000 in chips.

Seat 1: Benny Chen – 5,865,000
Seat 2: Jonathan Gray – 2,745,000
Seat 3: Justin Liberto – 3,800,000
Seat 4: Chris Hunichen – 3,430,000
Seat 5: Joe Kuether – 1,365,000
Seat 6: Dan Kelly – 4,130,000
Seat 7: Robert McVeigh – 3,175,000
Seat 8: Michael Bennington – 2,995,000
Seat 9: Upeshka DeSilva – 550,000
Seat 10: Theron Eichenberger – 595,000

Play started on Level 29 (10,000/40,000/80,000) and it only took about 10 minutes of play for the Final Table bubble to burst: Joe Kuether open shoved with 1,325,000 in chips on A K and Kelly called, showing A A and the board did not help the former hand.

The official final table seat draw was as follows:

Seat 1: Benny Chen – 5,745,000
Seat 2: Jonathan Gray – 2,705,000
Seat 3: Justin Liberto – 3,760,000
Seat 4: Chris Hunichen – 3,390,000
Seat 5: Dan Kelly – 5,475,000
Seat 6: Robert McVeigh – 3,695,000
Seat 7: Michael Bennington – 2,735,000
Seat 8: Upeshka DeSilva – 610,000
Seat 9: Theron Eichenberger – 435,000

Within another 10 minutes from the start of the Final Table, the first elimination of the day took place: shortstack Theron Eichenberger went all-in with 405,000 on Kelly’s 160,000 raise and the latter called. Eichenberger held A 8 against Kelly’s 5 4 and the board ran T 9 6 K Q to give a flush to Kelly.

On Level 30 (10,000/50,000/100,000), Robert McVeigh ran into Upeshka DeSilva’s A-Ks with A-J and got eliminated in 8th place. He was then followed by DeSilva himself and Chris Hunichen a bit later.

Gradually losing from his stack, Kelly decided on Level 32 (20,000/80,000/160,000) to 3-bet all-in with his remaining 2,950,000 on Chen’s 325,000 open from the CO and Justin Liberto’s call from the SB. Chen folded but Liberto, after tanking a bit, called.

Kelly: 8 8
Liberto: K Q

Board: 9 7 4 J K

Liberto’s hand improved to a flush as well as he hit a top pair and Kelly was out in 5th.

Justin Liberto – 12,340,000
Benny Chen – 7,470,000
Michael Bennington – 5,290,000
Jonathan Gray – 3,450,000

After a prolonged 4-handed play, Liberto ended up finishing 4th, shoving with 3,050,000 and showing A-9. Chen called and he held A-T on a board unhelpful to Liberto. The heads-up was set about 20 minutes later, when Jonathan Gray pushed in his 5,500,000 and got called by Chen. The former had the edge with A-Q over Chen’s K-Q but the flop came a cooler K-Q-8 and the rest of the board was neutral.

Benny Chen – 21,650,000
Michael Bennington – 7,200,000

Chen had a major lead and the tournament was over in just about a couple of hands. Chen 4-bet all-in on Bennington’s 3-bet to 1,600,000 and the latter insta-called.

Chen: 9 9
Bennington: 3 3

Board: K 8 2 J A

The top pair gave the victory to Chen.


For a first ever major tournament result, Chen took home a record-breaking $1,198,780 first prize in a $1,500 event.

The end results are as follows:

1st: Benny Chen – $1,198,780
2nd: Michael Bennington – $741,903
3rd: Jonathan Gray – $534,506
4th: Justin Liberto – $400,408
5th: Dan Kelly – $302,104
6th: Chris Hunichen – $229,575
7th: Upeshka Desilva – $175,714
8th: Robert McVeigh – $135,467
9th: Theron Eichenberger – $105,154