2007 WSOP Event #35 – Ryan Young Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

Another $1,500 no-limit event, another monster field.  With 2,541 players, event 35 only ranked third of the four $1,500 no-limit events this summer.  Our winner was another youngster (no pun intended), 23-year-old Ryan Young, who, not surprisingly, plays most of his poker on the internet.  He won a whopping $615,955 and, of course, a gold bracelet, for his victory. 

Young went into the final table with $2.5 million, which amounted to a significant chip lead over his next closest opponent, Dustin Dirksen, who had $1.68 million.  He only relinquished the chip lead for a few hands during heads-up play, having cruised throughout most of the final table. 

It was the two original chip leaders who faced off in the one-on-one match, with Young starting with a $3 million advantage.  Dirksen gradually chipped away at Young’s stack and then took the lead for the first time with a sick, sick call on the 24^th hand of the match. 

Dirksen raised to $220,000 pre-flop and was called by Young.  They both checked on an A-2-3 flop.  Check, check again on a turn Jack.  Young led out for $175,000 when a Jack fell on the river and Dirksen called after some thought.  Dirksen only had 10-7, but that was better than Young’s 8-7.  Wow. 

Eight hands later, however, Young took back the lead for good.  On a flop of 10-3-2, Dirksen pushed with J-10.  Young insta-called with 10-3 and two pair.  Young’s hand held up and he doubled through Dirksen to take a commanding lead. 

On the 137^th hand of the day, Young moved in pre-flop with A-7 and Dirksen called with K-J.  Dirksen wasn’t in terrible shape with two live cards, but he still needed to improve by hitting one of his six outs.  None of them came, nor did any sort of straight or flush, and Young grabbed his first WSOP bracelet. 

1. Ryan Young -- $615,955
2. Dustin Dirksen -- $381,381
3. Nam Le -- $239,230
4. John Esposito Jr. -- $156,020
5. Michael Trimby -- $109,214
6. Paul Cheung -- $79,743
7. Raj Jain -- $62,408
8. Darren Glenn -- $46,806
9. Joseph Holmes -- $36,751

Final Table Standings