2007 WSOP Event #37 – Greg Hopkins Wins $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em

Think positive.  For years, that was what Greg Hopkins had to do.  A dedicated professional poker player, Hopkins has toiled on the tournament circuit for thirteen years, cashing many times, but going home with nothing many more, and never winning a major event.  While he continued to work hard and loved the game, years of not breaking through took their toll on him, and the look of relief and gratefulness showed on his face when he finally won his first bracelet this past weekend in the $2,000 pot-limit hold’em event. 

Hopkins went into the final table second in chips, but quickly took the chip lead when he eliminated Brian O'Connell.  About twenty minutes later, Hopkins lost the lead when he tried to bluff Jason Newburger, but he was still in very good shape.   

For most of the rest of the final table, Hopkins stayed away from huge confrontations, building up his stack gradually and allowing others to mix it up.  The biggest hand for Hopkins occurred during three-handed play, when all the stacks were fairly even.  Yuval Bronshtein raised pre-flop with K-Q, Hopkins re-raised with A-9 of hearts, and Bronshtein called.  Hopkins pushed on the flop of Q-8-10 with essentially nothing (an overcard, gutshot draw, and a backdoor flush draw) and was called by Bronshtein, who had top pair.  The 8 of hearts on the turn gave Hopkins a flush draw, but he nabbed an Ace on the river to double-up and take a large chip lead. 

Bronshtein was out soon thereafter and Hopkins took a $1.66 million to $740,000 lead into heads-up with Jason Newburger. 

Newburger was able to work his way back to even, but then for some reason decided he wanted all of his chips in pre-flop with K-Q.  Hopkins got his in after a raising battle, holding J-J.  The community cards read 9-10-2-10-4, giving Hopkins the hand and the win. 

Final Table Standings 

1. Greg Hopkins -- $269,274
2. Jason Newburger -- $165,707
3. Yuval Bronshtein -- $109,018
4. Pete Lawson -- $72,497
5. David Zarrin -- $52,874
6. Robert Collison II -- $41,427
7. Gioi Luong -- $31,070
8. Raymond Coburn -- $22,894
9. Brian O'Connell -- $16,353