Benjamin Ector picks up his first WSOP bracelet

Benjamin Ector is now a first-time bracelet winner after taking down Event #28: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout at the 2023 World Series of Poker for $406,403 following a brief heads-up battle with runner-up Adam Swan ($251,158).

The Freezeout event drew a field of 2,046 unique entries for a prize pool of $2,731,410 and saw 17 players returning for Day 3, including third-place finisher Nick Palma ($184,730) and Germany's Dietrich Fast (8th - $45,895), the only bracelet winner at the nine-handed final table.

Start-of-day chip leader Matthew Hunt was looking to close out on a maiden bracelet but lost two massive flips to Ector to give up the chip lead and eventually fall in seventh place for $59,468. Ector then used the chip lead to steamroll the remaining final table eliminating every player along the way.

Ector was ecstatic to have won his first gold bracelet after having a long successful career playing online, he moved to Mexico to play when Black Friday hit.

He also had a deep run in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Monster Stack Event at the 2019 WSOP. Ector recalled starting the final table with the chip lead and ending up in fifth place which was a real disappointment at the time. He moved back to Mexico to relax and take some time away from poker and just recently started playing live again.

Ector has played at many final tables and had a solid aggressive strategy heading into the final table despite not starting as the chip leader this time. He remained patient and waited for the right opportunities to make his moves.

A turning point for Ector was where his ace-king won a race against Hunt's pocket eights and from there, Ector started to run away with the tournament.

Once he gained a substantial chip lead, he systematically knocked out each player from eighth to second place and in between, used his aggression to win small pots, and continued building his stack.

In most of the eliminations Ector showed the dominating hand except against Santiago Plante where Plante had Big Slick suited, and Ector had five-four off but called due to the pot odds, ultimately hitting a straight.

His rail was chanting, "Smelling salts, smelling salts," as Ector had been using them to stay alert and sharing them with other players.

Ector was texting his mom in Atlanta and his sister in Salt Lake City to relay the good news that he had won.

He plans to play more events during this summer's WSOP and make some more final tables.

Day 3 kicked off with 17 players at two tables with Hunt as the chip leader. The tables played for about five hours and finally whittled down in players when Rene Lazaro was the last person eliminated before the final table redraw.

The unofficial final table consisted of ten players which included bracelet winner Dietrich Fast who was eliminated in eighth place and Day 2 chip leader Hunt went out in seventh place.

Swan and Palma were in the final three and attempted to overcome the chip leader's reign and doubled up a few times but couldn't keep up any momentum to surpass Ector.

Palma went out in third place when his jack-ten failed to complete a flush against Ector's dominating ace-ten.

The heads-up match between Swan and Ector did not last long and ended after Swan was betting third pair strongly and Ector made a big call with second pair.

The very next hand, Swan moved his short stack in with ten-nine suited and Ector called with the Deadman's hand. Swan didn't hit his outs and finished runner-up.

Final table results:
PLACE PLAYER COUNTRY PRIZE (IN USD)
1 Benjamin Ector United States $406,403
2 Adam Swan United States $251,158
3 Nick Palma United States $184,730
4 Jean Lhuillier France $137,159
5 Divyam Satyarthi United States $102,814
6 Santiago Plante Canada $77,814
7 Matthew Hunt United Kingdom $59,468
8 Dietrich Fast Germany $45,895
9 Dean Hutchison United Kingdom $35,773