Paawan Bansal

Paawan Bansal capped off a highly successful 2018 WSOP for Indian players by finishing runner-up in The Closer (Event #75), a $1,500 buy-in NLHE tournament, earning a payday of $378,765. Joe Cada, the 2009 WSOP Main Event champ, won his fourth gold bracelet and $612,886.

It was Cada’s 2nd WSOP title this summer, his first coming in the $3,000 NLHE Shootout (Event #3) for $226,218. Cada is running extremely hot, as he also final tabled this year’s WSOP Main Event, adding $2,150,000 to his massive bankroll that includes $8,546,435 for his 2009 Main Event championship.

For Bansal, his just miss of a WSOP gold bracelet was his seventh time cashing at the summer festival, poker’s most prestigious and talked about series. Paawan began the 2018 WSOP by landing 13th in the $565 Colossus (Event #7), navigating his way through 13,070 entries and coming up just a bit short of the final table for a prize of $35,087.

Paawan Bansal’s Cashes at 2018 WSOP

 

Event #75 – $1,500 NLHE – The Closer – 2nd – $378,765

Event #62 – $888 NLHE – Crazy Eights – 533rd – $2,106

Event #61 – $1,000 NLHE – Online Championship – 137th – $2,330

Event #51 – $1,500 NLHE – Bounty – 73rd – $2,952

Event #43 – $2,500 NLHE – 30th – $12,345

Event #34 – $1,000 NLHE – Double Stack – 74th – $6,803

Event #7 – $565 NLHE – Colossus – 13th – $35,087

 

The final day of The Closer began with Bansal possessing a healthy chip stack of 287,000 and among the top 25 chip leaders with 331 players remaining. He chipped up in fine fashion, taking over the lead in chips with five players left.

But Cada began making his move, doubling up through Bansal and picking up momentum. When Cada and Bansal were the final two players remaining, their heads-up battle lasted all of one hand.

Cada held the advantage with pocket tens, while Bansal was looking for help with his suited connectors of 8-9 in diamonds. When the dealer laid out a ten on both the turn and the river, Cada’s quads put an end to the tournament and Bansal’s quest for his first ever WSOP gold bracelet.

 

Final Table Results – Event #75 – The Closer

 

1 Joe Cada $612,886

2 Paawan Bansal $378,765

3 Jeffrey Tanouye $278,774

4 Richard Ali $206,813

5 Eric Afriat $154,660

6 Richard Cox $116,595

7 Jimmy Poper $88,615

8 Brayden Gazlay $67,904

9 Joshua Turner $52,465

 

Team India had a number of players that finished in the money in The Closer. Nishant Sharma, who made a historic run in this year’s Main Event and finished 34th for $230,475, grabbed 19th place and swelled his bankroll by $20,336.

Raghav Bansal (38th, $13,328), Aditya Agarwal  (73rd, $6,365), Sriharsha Doddapaneni (148th, $4,021,) and Muskan Sethi (453rd, $2,242) all earned a payday as well, with Sethi just barely making the cut of 457 players paid.