William Kopp topps competition en route to WSOP victory

On Friday night, William Kopp bested a 1,125-player field and defeated Michael Rodrigues heads up in a one-sided match to claim his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet and the $259,549 first-place prize in Event #66: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better.

The Ohio native added to his $1 million in career-tournament earnings and joined his sister, Katie Kopp, who won the 2022 Casino Employees Event, as a WSOP bracelet winner. Today's victory marks Kopp's eighth cash of the series and his biggest cash to date.

"It feels really good, especially since my best friend won a bracelet this year and my sister won one last year," said Kopp when asked how he felt about his victory.

Kopp attributes part of his success to having a strong poker family.

"When we were growing up, we were always about poker,” said Kopp. “We're pretty close...me, my sister, and my mom. We all talk poker and help make each other better," Kopp said.

...a pair of lucky socks may also have helped, according to Kopp.

"It's the first time I wore my lucky socks in two years," said Kopp. "The last time I wore them I had a big score too."

Day 3 began with a flurry of double-ups that saw Mike Linster, Anthony Zinno, and Philipp Krieger all double up through Kopp — more than halving his stack from the start of play. The escalating blinds kept forcing the action, however, and after Jorge Leon was knocked out early, Kopp was able to quickly rebound through the eliminations of both Krieger and Yuval Bronshtein to retake the chip lead and reduce the field down to a final table.

Wallace fell in ninth place in short order after getting his aces cracked by Kopp and Zinno quickly followed suit after bricking with a pair and a flush draw against Kopp's top pair.

Despite entering the final table second in chips, John Goyette hit a bad run that saw both Linster and Joseph McCarthy double up through him to leave him short-stacked. Goyette would end up running into McCarthy's aces and failing to improve to bow out in seventh place.

McCarthy and two-time bracelet winner Loni Hui, who had been nursing short stacks for much of the day, managed to hold on for multiple pay jumps before exiting in sixth and fifth place respectively.

Four-handed play saw momentum shift massively in Rodrigues' favor after he managed to double through Kopp and take the chip lead. Rodrigues continued his ascension by eliminating Sterling Savill in fourth place, at which point Rodrigues held more than half the chips in play.

Kopp wouldn't be denied, however, as he gained a much-needed chip boost after knocking Linster out in third in a pot where Linster's low was counterfeited by a running two pair that left him second best.

Kopp began his heads-up duel against Rodrigues with a fairly significant chip deficit but was quickly able to grind Rodrigues' stack down with relentless aggression. A key turning point occurred when Kopp quartered Rodrigues with a six-high straight and nut low — giving Kopp an over two-to-one chip advantage. Just a few hands later, Rodrigues made his last stand with a flopped flush draw that ended up bricking out against Kopp's Broadway straight to end the tournament.

Final table results:
Place Player Country Prize
1 William Kopp United States $259,549
2 Michael Rodrigues Portugal $160,418
3 Mike Linster United States $113,991
4 Sterling Savill United States $82,104
5 Joseph McCarthy United States $59,953
6 Loni Hui United States $44,391
7 John Goyette United States $33,335
8 Anthony Zinno United States $25,394
9 Aaron Wallace United States $19,627