Green wins first bracelet of 2019 WSOP

Name: Brian Green
Nationality: U.S.
Birthplace: Arlington, Texas
Current Residence: Las Vegas, Nevada
Age: 45
Profession: Subprime finance/auto dealer
Number of WSOP Cashes: 27
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 4
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories (with this tournament): 1
Best Previous WSOP Finish: 2nd - 2002 $5,000 Limit Hold'em
Total WSOP Earnings: $1,705,897

Brian Green has achieved one of his major poker goals and claimed his first World Series of Poker Bracelet in the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty tournament. He won $345,669 and claimed the bracelet on his 27th WSOP cash.

“It feels wonderful,” he said after he won.

“I’ve come close several times so to finally win one kind of gets the monkey off my back. Now I can play poker and not really have that on my mind.”

This is Green’s fourth WSOP final table and he has a second and a third place finish. In consecutive years, 2001 and 2002, he finished in the top three of the $5,000 Limit Hold’em. In 2001 he finished third to Hemish Shah and in 2002 he finished second to WSOP Hall of Famer Jen Harman. He also finished fifth in the 2016 High Roller for One Drop.

“I tend to do well when I’m playing against pro-heavy fields. I know a lot of those guys. Plus, I love turbo style tournaments.”

The Event #2 field drew 204 entries and a field full of poker’s finest. Beyond just the final table that included Daniel Negreanu (6th), Loren Klein (4th), and Ali Imsirovic (2nd). The list of players who cashes is filled with superstars like Erik Seidel (25th), Nick Schulman (15th), Benjamin Pollak (16th), Darren Elias (11th) were just some of the players in the stacked field.

Green said he has played a lot with many of the players in the field and loves the style of turbos, but knows he needed some luck to take home the bracelet.

He defeated his good friend Ali Imsirovic, who is only 24. Over the last two years, Imsirovic has earned $5,098,110 in live tournament cashes. At the start of 2017 he had only $11,541.

“We hang out a lot, so we were joking a lot that I didn’t have a chance because he runs so great. I actually kind of believed it a little bit. In the end, I got lucky. I think either one of us was going to be happy if the other had won.”

Green recently moved to Vegas and thinks that the “home-field” advantage might have been helpful.

“I’ve been coming out here for at least one hundred days a year over the last few years. I got my dog here, sleeping in my own bed, I thought that might be an advantage this summer.”

Green entered the day with nine big blinds. He was the short stack with six remaining and he managed to outlast a few players who were looking to leave their own marks on the 2019 WSOP.

Daniel Negreanu finished in sixth place for $52,099, after he famously sold pieces of his action to the public. He’s off to a good start, but couldn’t manage to gain any footing today after entering fourth in chips.

Ping Liu was eliminated in fifth place and won $71,614, bringing his lifetime WSOP tournament winnings to $197,487.

Loren Klein came into the day with a shot at winning a bracelet for the fourth year in a row. He won the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Mix event in 2016, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event in 2017, and the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship last year. Klein fell in fourth place for $100,775.

Asher Coniff entered the day as the chip leader, but found himself on the rail in third place. He took home $147,097.

It didn’t take too long for Green to capture his first WSOP gold bracelet and defeat Imsirovic heads up. Green takes the early lead in the Player of the Year race with his finish and perhaps the home-field advantage will help lead Green to even more success this summer.

Final Table Results
1- Brian Green ($345,669)
2- Ali Imsirovic ($213,644)
3- Asher Conniff ($145,097)
4- Loren Klein ($100,775)
5- Ping Liu ($71,614)
6- Daniel Negreanu ($52,099)

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)