Alan Smurfit Wins Event No. 33 at the WSOP

Alan Smurfit came out on top of a heads-up battle lasting that lasted over 160 hands in event No. 33 at the World Series of Poker. He beat out 293 players and took home $464,867 of the nearly $1.7 million prize pool.His opponent, Qushqar Morad, endured the same five-hour battle only to lose in second place. He took home a very respectable $279,595.

The end of this epic battle came when the blinds had escalated to an astronomical $80,000-$160,000. Smurfit limped on the button and Morad checked. Morad moved all in on a flop of J 8 6 and was called by Smurfit. Smurfit showed Q J 8 2 and was ahead of Morad, who flipped up 10 9 9 6. The turn was the 6 and the river the 8, which gave Smurfit the win, the money, and the gold bracelet.

Before the marathon match ended, the players had to get through a final table that started with: Morad ($995,000), Chris Bjorin ($605,000), Brandon Adams ($500,000), Chau Giang ($360,000), Hilbert Shirey ($335,000), Van Marcus ($220,000), Robert Fellner ($210,000), Sunny Nijran ($195,000), and Smurfit ($90,000). As you can see Smurfit started the final table lowest in chips, making his win that much more impressive.