Michael Banducci wins WSOP Event #5, $1,000 NLHE Rebuy

Michael Banducci, at the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em with Rebuys, walked away with $636,736 in prize money. His highest performance before this big win was 3rd place at last year’s WPT Borgata Poker Open. He has had 14 previous cashes in major events, that includes four in last year’s WSOP, but this was by far his biggest earnings.
When the final table began, this was the seat assignments and chip counts:
Seat 1: Michael Banducci- 1,655,000Seat 2: Jonathan Aguiar- 361,000Seat 3: Michael Binger- 186,000Seat 4: Steve Gross – 112,000Seat 5: Jamie Rosen – 475,000Seat 6: Jeff Williams- 683,000Seat 7: Alan Jaffray- 1,222,000Seat 8: Peter Gould- 702,000Seat 9: Lyric Duveyoung- 659,000
On the fifth hand, they were two eliminations. Steve Gross moved all in with his last $104,000 and Jamie Rosen followed by also going all in for $420,000. After pondering over the situation for awhile, Lyric Duveyoung made the call. Gross showed Kc, 10c. Rosen showed Ad, Qh, but Duveyoung
had them both beat with Qs, Qd. The flop gave Gross a pair of tens boosting his hopes, but the turn and river gave them a 9 and a 5, sending both Gross and Rosen home. Gross was gone at ninth with $57,881, Rosen went out in eighth with $79,587.
Three hands later, Michael Binger moved all in from the small blind with $156,000. Jeff Williams made the call. Binger had a As, Jc and William’s had a Kd, 8h. The flop gave William top pair, and the river and turn did nothing but confirm Binger’s elimination in seventh with $101, 293.
After some slow play and little chip movement, Jonathan Aguiar was hit with two blows. In the first hand, Aguiar had raised in early position to $81,000 and Peter Gould moved all in. Aguiar quickly made the call and flipped over Ah, Kh to Gould’s 5c, 5s. The flop came giving Aguiar not only the overcard draw but also the possibility that Gould’s pocket pair would be counterfeited. But, when a 5h came on the turn it left Aguiars in trouble. Losing that hand really hurt Aguiar, leaving him with just $113,000. Then, on the next hand he pushed all in and both Jeff Williams and Peter Gould called. The flop came 8h, 5s, 10h and the turn was a 8h. When the Jc hit on the river Williams bet 30,000 and Gould folded. Williams won the pot and Aguiar was eliminated in sixth place with $130, 234.

Jaffrey was eliminated in fifth place after running into Banducci’s Qc, Qh and a flop of 2s, 9d, Qd. He walked away with $164, 963 in winnings.
Duveyoung was the next to go in fourth place. Once the hands were dealt, Gould quickly raised to $155,000 and Duveyoung moved all in. Gould thought for a moment and called it, he showed a hand of Kd, 10d and Duveyound showed Qh, Js. The flop was 7s, 10c, 6c giving Gould a solid pair. The turn presented a Kh giving Gould a two pair but also giving Duveyoung the possibility of an open-ended straight draw. But the 5c on the river sent Duveyoung walking with $201, 139.
The next elimination proved to be an exciting one to say the least. Banducci lead with a raise of $100,000, Williams folded but Gould re-raised to $480,000. Banducci went all-in and Gould called. Banducci confidently turned over a pair of sevens, but was disheartened when Gould showed a pair of tens. Banducci’s friends became shouting for a seven in the flop, and when the flop showed a Jc, 9c…and a 7c the crowd went wild…but Banducci wasn’t out of the woods yet. Gould picked up an inside straight draw on top of his two 10 outs. But after the turn and river came 2c and 5h, Gould was out in third place, $245,993 richer.
As the heads-up play started, Banducci had a comfortable lead with a chip count totaling $5,260,000 over William’s total of $1,225,000. Banducci sat comfortable in his chair as the play continued, he played safely as him and William bounced around a few small pots. William’s decided to make it interesting when he saw he was dealt an ace, he raised to $130,000. Banducci re-raised to $400,000, William went all-in and Banducci called. William must have been rather confounded when he saw that Banducco’s Ad, Jc hand easily over powered his Ac, 5d. The flop gave the two players Jh, 2d, Kc giving Banducci and even better chance. When the turn and river presented a 10d, 3c Banducci knew that he had won the $636,736 in prize money. Jeff Williams took home $406,330 for his 2nd place finish.