Chris Dombrowski began travelling to Las Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker as soon as it was legal for him to do so. He experienced some success right away; in 2008, he cashed four times, including a top fifteen finish. He cashed eleven more times in the years to follow, but was never able to make a final table. Until now. On Tuesday, Chris Dombrowski not only made his first WSOP final table, but also won his first WSOP bracelet in Event #30: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em. The $346,332 first place check was far and away the most significant payday of his career.
Perhaps the most important hand of the final table occurred during three-handed play. Going into the three-way match, the chip stacks were virtually dead even. The turning point came when Jesse McCuen raied to 125,000 pre-flop and Matthew Moore called. Both men got all their chips in on the A♥-7♠-Q♠ flop, with McEuen having Moore covered. The hands: A♦-2♥ for McCuen and Q♣-7♣ for Moore. The turn was the 7♦, giving Moore a boat, and the river was a harmless J♣, allowing Moore to pull close to the chip lead and sending McEuen’s stack close to the felt.
McCuen fought well after that, staying alive for quite some time, but he eventually bowed out in third place, leaving Dombrowski and Moore to battle it out heads-up. Dombrowski had the lead at that point, 3.905 million chips to 2.420 million. Moore snatched the lead on the 7th hand of heads-up play, but on the 16th hand, Dombrowski grabbed it right back. Moore raised to 120,000 pre-flop, Dombrowski re-raised to 330,000, and Moore called. On the flop of J♠-5♦-Q♠, Dombrowski bet 285,000 and Moore called, bringing on the 7♠ on the turn. Dombrowski pondered his next move, eventually betting 545,000. Moore then went all-in and Dombrowski snap-called, showing K♠-3♠ for the second nut flush. Moore was on a semi-bluff, as he had K♥-T♥, an open-ended straight draw. He was drawing dead. At that, Dombrowski saw his stack soar to 5.5 million, while Moore’s fell to 825,000.
Moore held strong, though, and gave Dombrowski a run for his money despite never being able to take back the chip lead. In the end, Moore got it all-in with K♥-6♦ against Dombrowski’s A♥-7♠. Dombrowski flopped an Ace and Moore couldn’t hit running cards on the turn and river, giving Dombrowski his first World Series of Poker bracelet.
Afterwards, Dombrowski was incredibly humble about his victory. In his post-game interview with WSOP officials, he said he “ran pretty well,” “just caught some cards,” and “won a lot of coin flips.” Hey, he’s a poker player. To celebrate, he’s going to “Play some more tournaments.”
2013 World Series of Poker Event #30: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Final Table Results
1. Chris Dombrowski – $346,332
2. Mathew Moore – $215,578
3. Jesse McEuen – $149,850
4. Dimitar Yosifov – $107,922
5. Carter Myers – $78,876
6. Chris Bolek – $58,348
7. Matt Seer – $43,730
8. Mike Pickett – $33,191
9. John Thompson – $25,488
