WSOP $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed bracelet goes to Lally

The 2021 World Series of Poker Event #7: $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed attracted 307 entries, which generated a $409,845 prize pool. After three days of play, it was Jaswinder "Jesse" Lally coming out on top to win $97,915 and Canada's first gold bracelet of the series.

"I was so excited to make the final table first of all, but now that my dream has come true, it's just an amazing feeling," the 58-year-old from Vancouver said. "I learned a lot playing all these games. Some of these games I've never played like Badacey or Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Regular."

Lally, who was down to just 900 in chips on Day 1 of the tournament before turning things around, first learned to play poker in the early 1990s beginning with Stud and then hold'em after Chris Moneymaker's game-changing win in the 2003 WSOP Main Event.

While he's played poker for more than 25 years, Lally doesn't get to play as much as he might like. That's because he spends a lot of time with his business within the liquor store industry and family time with his wife of 37 years and his two children, a 25-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son who is learning to drive right now.

"I do get away for 10 days to play," said Lally, who usually plays cash games in Vancouver when time permits. At the final table, Lally eliminated all but one of his opponents thanks in no small part to early success in the Stud variants.

"I haven't played for maybe 15-20 years, but I like Stud now," he said with a smile. When asked if he had any plans for the money, he replied: "Pay some bills. Enjoy it. Come back here. It was my dream to win one, so this was it."

The day began with 11 players returning to action and it didn't take long for the field to play down to the final table. Among those to fall early were Craig Chait (11th - $5,612), Adam Friedman (10th - $5,612), Jeremy Heartberg (9th - $7,307), Naoya Kihara (8th - $7,307), and Nathan Gamble (7th - $9,768).

Others to cash the tournament from Day 2 were Phil Hellmuth (18th - $4,429), Eli Elezra (20th - $3,593), Norman Chad (21st - $3,593), and Andrew Donabedian (32nd - $2,812).

At the final table, Christopher Lindner was the first to fall in a round of Seven Card Stud 8 or Better when his two pair went down in flames to Lally's rolled-up deuces, which improved to a full boat.

Lally would later be called the "Stud master" by Ian O'Hara after notching the next two eliminations in near succession. First, Adam Kipnis was eliminated in a hand of Stud when his nines in the hole quickly fell behind Lally's fives full of kings on fifth street. Not long after, O'Hara followed him out the door, never overcoming Lally's pocket aces in a hand of Stud (the latter actually improved to a diamond flush on seventh).

Reigning WSOP Global Casino Champ Andrew "AJ" Kelsall then dispatched Houston's Ray Henson in third place after drawing one to a nine-eight in no-limit 2-7 single draw, which bested a pat jack-ten.

Lally took a near 6:1 chip lead into heads-up play against Kelsall and closed it out in a hand of pot-limit Omaha. Kelsall got the last of his chips in on the turn holding two pair and a flush draw against Lally's nut straight. The river was a brick and Kelsall was denied a second bracelet, though he received $60,514 in prize money to ease the pain (not a bad result given he was the extreme short stack with seven players remaining).

Final Table Results
1 Jesse Lally Canada $97,915
2 Andrew "AJ" Kelsall United States $60,514
3 Ray Henson United States $40,062
4 Ian O'Hara United States $27,147
5 Adam Kipnis United States $18,839
6 Christopher Lindner United States $13,396

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)