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Norbert Szeci and Anson Tsang Win Bracelets at WSOP Europe

Two more bracelets have been awarded at the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe. Norbert Szeci held off a strong challenge from Shaun Deeb and denied him his fifth career bracelet. Meanwhile, Anson Tsang became the first player in history from Hong Kong to win a WSOP bracelet.

Norbert Szeci Wins Event #6 – Shaun Deeb Just Misses Third Bracelet

Heading into the final table of Event #6, €1,650 Mixed PLO/NL Hold’em, the poker world was watching two players at the final table. Shaun Deeb was looking for his third WSOP bracelet of the year and to put away the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year title while Netanel Amedi was looking to become the fourth bracelet winner from Israel.

Both players managed to make deep runs at the final table with Amedi finishing the event in third place. At the start of heads-up play, Norbert Szeci had a 1.18 million chip lead over Shaun Deeb. Deeb took the lead in early action but Szeci regained the lead prior to a massive cooler in the final hand.

On a board of As-10d-6d-4c, the players got their chips into the middle with Deeb holding Ac-Qc-Qs-10c for top two pair while Szeci held Ad-Ah-6h-3h for a set of aces. Deeb was drawing dead and had to settle for second place.

Norbert Szeci won his second career bracelet in this event along with €86,596. While Deeb fell short of his fifth career bracelet, he did pick up valuable Player of the Year points.

Anson Tsang Wins €2,200 PLO 8-Handed Event

The €2,200 PLO 8-Handed Event concluded on Wednesday and Anson Tsang emerged as the first player in history from Hong Kong to take down a WSOP bracelet. A field of 187 entries entered this event on Monday and several big names went deep in this event. WSOP Player of the Year frontrunner Shaun Deeb followed up his runner-up finish in Event #6 with a 20th place finish in this event. At this point, it would take a miracle run from another player for him to lose the POY title.

Other bracelet winners cashing in this event included Chris Ferguson, Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Anthony Zinno, and 2013 WSOP Main Event Champion Ryan Riess. One of the most notable players to make the final table is Australian Poker Hall of Famer Jason Gray. He managed a deep run in this event, and ultimately finished in third place, good for €39,508.

Ultimately, it was Anson Tsang and Ilya Bulychev battling for the bracelet. Bulychev was the chip leader heading into the final table while Tsang started the final table second in chips. By the time heads-up play started, positions had flipped with Tsang taking the chip lead into the heads-up battle.

Tsang quickly jumped to more than a 3:1 lead but had to suck out to take down the bracelet. In the final hand, Bulychev was all-in with the nut straight against Tsang’s set of threes and backdoor heart flush draw. Unfortunately for Bulychev, the board ran out hearts to give Tsang the hand and the bracelet.

Anton Tsang became just the first player from Hong Kong to take down a bracelet and afterward he spoke to PokerNews, stating, “Asia has a lot of good poker players, and they start to travel around for poker tournaments. I am happy to be with them together.”

There are only three events left at the 2018 WSOP Europe. The event currently underway is the €25,500 Super High Roller. At the time of this writing, the event just made the money with Rainer Kempe near the top of the leaderboard. The event will play down to the final table today and will conclude on Friday.

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