By DAVID SCHOEN
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The crew from ESPN was breaking down the set late Tuesday night, and the Rio’s Penn & Teller Theater was nearly empty when Ryan Riess’ boisterous fans started the chant again.
It likely won’t be the last time “Riess the Beast” is heard around a poker table.
Riess, a 23-year-old professional poker player living in Las Vegas, won the 2013 World Series of Poker’s Main Event, defeating amateur Jay Farber in a heads-up battle that lasted nearly four hours.
“I just think I’m the best player in the world,” Riess said.
Riess, who entered the heads-up showdown nearly 20 million chips behind Farber, snatched the chip lead early on Tuesday and took home nearly $8.4 million along with his first WSOP gold bracelet.
“I’ve been dreaming about it for a long time, ever since I was 14 and saw (Chris) Moneymaker win it,” Riess said. “I just had a great feeling about it. The table was tough. Some people said it was the hardest final table, and the first day was extremely difficult. … I was extremely fortunate to catch cards, and it held. But I just had a good feeling about it.”
The 44th annual WSOP $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship started July 6 with 6,352 players from 83 countries, generating a prize pool of $59,714,169. The tournament culminated with the Las Vegas residents, who ran over the rest of the “November Nine” during Monday’s action.
Farber, a local VIP host originally from Santa Barbara, Calif., earned $5.2 million for his first cash in WSOP tournament.
“I felt like I played well. Ryan was just a card rack all night,” Farber said. “Every time I’d make a hand, he’d river a better one. So, it’s really hard beat someone that’s running hotter than the sun. … I knew that if I could ever catch a hand I could beat him.”
Riess ended the festivities on hand No. 261 of the final table when he called Farber’s all-in bet for 14.2 million tournament chips and showed ace-king. Farber was holding queen-five, and the board didn’t help the muscular 29-year-old with tattoos on both arms. Riess’ rooting section mobbed the floppy-haired native of Michigan, who wore a Calvin Johnson replica Detroit Lions jersey throughout the final table.
Farber pulled off an audacious bluff early Tuesday evening, betting 24.5 million on the river with no pair and momentarily regained the chip lead. Riess took control nine hands later, winning a pot worth 58.5 million.
Farber started Tuesday with 105 million and fell to 16.5 million chips at one point, but was able to climb back into contention. Farber got Riess to call a big river bet with queen high and showed a flush to take down a pot worth 49 million chips. The win gave Farber nearly 70 million in chips, but Riess applied pressure for the next hour as Farber’s chip stack began to dwindle.
“Once he got up to (70 million), I started playing a lot more aggressive,” Riess said. “When he was short, I couldn’t really do that. I had to play a little bit smarter. But once we got higher, I decided to turn the pace up a little bit, just grind him back down to what he had before.”
Riess and Farber were responsible for all seven eliminations during the first day of the final table, which ended early Tuesday. Farber eliminated David Benefield in eighth place, then steadily built his stack before he eliminated Marc-Etienne McLaughlin in sixth place in the biggest pot of the tournament to that point.
Farber was holding pocket aces against McLaughlin’s pocket kings and won 79 million chips to wrest away the chip lead.
Riess held the big stack for a large portion of Monday’s action. He eliminated Mark Newhouse in ninth place, then used pocket aces to knock out Dutch poker pro Michiel Brummelhuis in seventh.
Riess, whose cheering section chanted “Riess the Beast” every time he raked in chips, was also responsible for the final two rapid-fire eliminations that abruptly ended play early Tuesday morning. Riess took out France’s Sylvain Loosli in fourth place, and at 1:11 a.m., his pocket 10s held up against Amir Lehavot’s pocket sevens to set up the final.
Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.
original article http://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/riess-beast-wins-world-series-poker
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