WSOP's No-Limit Hold'em Turbo Deepstack goes to Cheung

On Wednesday night, the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #22: $500 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo Deepstack attracted 1,082 players who rebought 497 times. The 1,579-entry field created a $710,550 prize pool and after seven hours of play, Allan "Treeoflife" Cheung claimed the bracelet and $120,082.95 top prize.

To claim victory, Cheung played a patient game at the final table, carefully biding his time with the blinds so high. In fact, he didn't score any eliminations until he made it to heads-up play against Myles "Shipthemoney" Kotler, who four days earlier had finished second in Event #18: $1,000 NLH 8-Handed Turbo Deepstack for $111,955. Unfortunately for Kotler, he was once again denied the bracelet and had to settle for another runner-up finish.

According to WSOP.com, Cheung hails from Little Neck, New York, and had three prior cashes in the online series leading up to his victory. The first was 248th in Event #10: $600 Monster Stack for $1,008, followed by 156th in Event #11: $500 NLH Turbo Deepstack 6-Handed for $913. The third came in Event #16: $500 NLH Turbo when he placed 113th for $963.

After Giuseppe "Pantalette" Pantaleo bubbled in 249th place, the in-the-money eliminations came at a fast and furious pace. Among those to go deep but fall short of the final table were Anthony "heheh" Zinno (93rd - $1,065.82), Melisa "NJ_Melisa" Singh (86th - $1,207.93), Erica "huckcheevers" Lindgren (69th - $1,492.15), Robert "bustinballs" Kuhn (40th - $2,415.87), Daniel "DNegs" Negreanu (32nd - $2,913.25), and final table bubble boy Mike "mouth123" Matusow (10th - $7,247.61).

The first casualty of the final table was Robert "Nvrstsfied" Natividad, who lost a race with pocket nines to the ace-queen of Kotler.

Not long after, Kara "theLMT90" Denning got it in good preflop with ace-king against the king-ten of Derek "this1smyvice" Salgals, but the latter flopped the nut straight to send the former out the door in eighth place. Kotler then used an ace-king of his own to dispatch Salgal, who got it all in preflop holding ace-ten.

Louie "pongpong" Valderrama bowed out in sixth place after failing to get there with ace-jack against Daniel "juice" Buzgon's pocket jacks, and then Event #16: $500 NLH Turbo winner Terrell "heezahustla" Cheatham ran ace-nine into Kotler's ace-queen to exit in fifth place.

Buzgon busted in fourth after losing a flip with pocket sevens to Brian "JackBogle" Altman's ace-jack, and then Altman, who had started the final table as the chip leader, followed him out the door in third after flopping deuces and threes against Kotler, who flopped the same two pair but held the better kicker.

Kotler began heads-up play with 41 million to Cheung's 22 million, but the latter managed to double into the lead before closing it out with ace-seven after calling a three-bet jam from Kotler, who had ten-eight suited. An ace on the turn sealed the deal and Cheung laid claim to the gold bracelet.

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)