Pros Flying High at 2018 WSOP: Fox, Petrangelo and Cada Claim Titles

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Tuesday, June 5th, 2018 | Written by Charles Washington

The 49th World Series of Poker has gotten off to a blistering start since its May 29th opening at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Over the past eight days, there have been gold bracelets won by a number of notable pros, including the 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada, while the first of the Series’ online tournaments attracted a field of 2,972 players, making it the largest online tournament held in state history.

Elio Fox Earns 2nd Career Bracelet

One of the pros making early waves at the 2018 WSOP is Elio Fox, who in 2011 took down the WSOP Europe €10,400 Main Event for €1.4 million ($1,927,660). The US pro subsequently entered this year’s Event #2: $10,000 NLHE Super Turbo Bounty alongside a field of 243 players, eventually beating Adam Adler to earn a second career gold bracelet, as well as a top prize of $393,693.

“I’m really happy about this one because I haven’t won a live poker tournament in a really, really long time, so it feels good,” said Fox. “And I think the first one was just such a shock that I wasn’t really that excited about it in the moment, but I’m really happy about it now. It’s a great way to kick off a summer.”

Nick Petrangelo Wins $100k High Roller

Putting his winnings to good effect, Fox then jumped into Event #5: $100,000 NLHE High Roller, and made his way past its field of 105 players to face Nick Petrangelo heads-up for the title. Like Fox, Petrangelo also had a WSOP bracelet going into the 2018 WSOP, having in 2015 claimed the $3,000 NLHE Shootout for $201,812.

Petrangelo started the final battle holding a 3-to-1 chip advantage over Fox, and despite the latter mounting a slight comeback the deciding hand was soon reached. In the hand in question, Petrangelo (Q-8) raised preflop before calling Fox’s 4-bet holding 5-2. The A-A-2 flop subsequently saw Fox check-raise his opponent, and then check-call the 8 that fell on the turn. Finally, Fox checked the 3 on the river, prompting an all-in from Petrangelo, after which Fox elected to call and had to settle for a runner-up finish worth $1,798,658, while the bracelet and a top prize of $2,910,227 was awarded to Petrangelo.

Despite playing a solid game, Petrangelo also thanked his lucky stars for the win, stating: “I coolered everybody and ran super hot. No complaints. The last two days were super easy for me. The last time I played any tough pots were around the middle stages of Day 2. I’m happy with my decision making, but ultimately, I just had sick cards and it worked out.”

Joe Cada Claims 3rd Title

Another high-profile pro picking up more hardware in Vegas is Joe Cada, who won the 2009 WSOP Main Event for $8,547,044, and the 2014 WSOP $10,000 NLHE Six Handed event for $670,041. At this year’s Series, Cada then bought into Event #2 $10,000 NL Super Turbo Bounty, and managed to progress all the way through to the final table before exiting in 9th place for $27,582.

Next, Cada jumped into Event #3: $3,000 NLHE SHOOTOUT, and spectacularly succeeded in besting a field of 363 players to secure his third WSOP bracelet, and claim a top prize of $226,218. Commenting upon a victory that pushes his live earnings to $10,770,288, the 30 year-old US pro commented:

“It means a lot to win my third bracelet. I have loved the WSOP ever since being a kid, I watched it all the time on TV. Winning these bracelets, it’s unreal. You’ve got to just run good and I’m lucky to run better than everyone else. I like shootouts because you have to adjust constantly.”

France Flying High

In the meantime, France has already made its mark at the 2018 WSOP, with two of the country’s players having thus far claimed bracelets for their country.

Firstly, Julien Martini overcame a field of 911 players at Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better to earn a top prize of $239,771, representing roughly half of his $530,764 in lifetime winnings.

“I was dreaming about this for seven years. It’s one of the best things in my life. I’m super proud and very happy,” explained Martini after his victory.

Next, French player William ‘twooopair’ Reymond took part in the first of this year’s online tournaments, Event #10: $365 WSOP.com Online, with 2,123 unique entries and 849 re-entries making it the biggest online tournament since Nevada launched the industry back in 2013.

By the time the final table had been reached, all the remaining players hailed from the US, with the exception of the French journalist William Reymond. Ultimately, he would then face off against Shawn Stroke for the bracelet, and after dropping to a shortstack the latter’s K-3 preflop push faltered against his opponent’s J-7 to hand Reymond the title, and a top prize of $154,995.

Germany’s Becker Wins 1st Bracelet

Finally, Johannes Becker may have busted out of the $100,000 High Roller Event, but he has since made up for the loss after winning Event #8: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball for $180,455. Becker bested a field of 321 players to claim a first career WSOP bracelet, and increase his tournament earnings to $2,140,427, but admitted that he felt so jaded after his $100k bust-out that he almost skipped the tournament all together.

“I was kind of wondering whether I should play or not. But given that I’ve been looking forward to this specific tournament and it’s kind of my mix, I decided to give it a shot anyway.. It was a good decision,” stated Becker.

Lucky for him he did. In the process, he has also moved his country’s bracelet tally up to 33, placing Germany at number 4 on the ‘WSOP Bracelet Leaderboard by Country’, behind the US (1,036), Canada (55), and England (44).