2007 WSOP Event #51 – Dao Bac Wins $1,000 S.H.O.E.

Who says you have to pay attention to the action when you are not in a hand?  Not Dao Bac.  The 51-year-old Californian via Vietnam is a practicing Buddhist, and rather than studying his opponents religiously (pun intended) after folding, he curled up with a meditation and prayer book.  Forget poker books, we should all be reading meditation books.  For $157,975 and a S.H.O.E. bracelet at the World Series of Poker, most of us would try anything. 

Bac seems to have nine lives as well, as this was his ninth event at the 2007 WSOP, finally cashing (in a big way) after coming up empty in his previous eight attempts. 

He was in good shape to start the final table, near the top of the chip stacks.  He got even healthier on the fourth hand of the day, when he eliminated bracelet winner from 2005 and 2006, Pat Poels, when he caught a set of 3’s versus Poels’ pocket Aces. 

Bac was relatively quiet after that until the game got to four-handed.  He was second in chips at the time with 359,000, well behind Adam Geyer who had made his way up to 657,000.  After eliminating Raymond Davis in 4^th place, Bac did a good job at winning big pots and keeping his losses minimal, picking up a significant pot in both an Omaha 8/B level and a Stud level. 

Once Chip Jett was eliminated, Bac dominated Geyer heads-up.  He picked up a boatload of dead money, taking away the blinds, and won pot after pot.  Even with all that, Bac still needed a ton of luck on the final hand to win. 

In a hold’em level, Geyer raised pre-flop and Bac called.  The flop was 5-7-10 rainbow, and Bac check-raised Geyer, who called.  He check-raised again when a 3 hit on the turn and Geyer, down to his last bet, moved all-in.  It turned out that Bac was in bad shape – his 4-7 was way behind Geyer’s A-7.  But, a 4 landed on the river to give Bac his first bracelet and a six-figure payday. 

Final Table Standings 

1. Dao Bac -- $157,975
2. Adam Geyer -- $86,691
3. Chip Jett -- $55,801
4. Raymond Davis -- $34,012
5. Imre Leibold -- $26,572
6. Vladimir Shchemelov -- $20,793
7. Michael Craig -- $15,943
8. Patrick Poels -- $11,957