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\tBy DAVID SCHOEN
\n\tLAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
\n\tThe crew from ESPN was breaking down the set late Tuesday night, and the Rio\u2019s Penn & Teller Theater was nearly empty when Ryan Riess\u2019 boisterous fans started the chant again.<\/p>\n
\tIt likely won\u2019t be the last time \u201cRiess the Beast\u201d is heard around a poker table.<\/p>\n
\tRiess, a 23-year-old professional poker player living in Las Vegas, won the 2013 World Series of Poker\u2019s Main Event, defeating amateur Jay Farber in a heads-up battle that lasted nearly four hours.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI just think I\u2019m the best player in the world,\u201d Riess said.<\/p>\n
\tRiess, 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.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019ve been dreaming about it for a long time, ever since I was 14 and saw (Chris) Moneymaker win it,\u201d Riess said. \u201cI 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. \u2026 I was extremely fortunate to catch cards, and it held. But I just had a good feeling about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe 44th annual WSOP $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold \u2019em 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 \u201cNovember Nine\u201d during Monday\u2019s action.<\/p>\n
\tFarber, a local VIP host originally from Santa Barbara, Calif., earned $5.2 million for his first cash in WSOP tournament.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI felt like I played well. Ryan was just a card rack all night,\u201d Farber said. \u201cEvery time I\u2019d make a hand, he\u2019d river a better one. So, it\u2019s really hard beat someone that\u2019s running hotter than the sun. \u2026 I knew that if I could ever catch a hand I could beat him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tRiess ended the festivities on hand No. 261 of the final table when he called Farber\u2019s all-in bet for 14.2 million tournament chips and showed ace-king. Farber was holding queen-five, and the board didn\u2019t help the muscular 29-year-old with tattoos on both arms. Riess\u2019 rooting section mobbed the floppy-haired native of Michigan, who wore a Calvin Johnson replica Detroit Lions jersey throughout the final table.<\/p>\n
\tFarber 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.<\/p>\n
\tFarber 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\u2019s chip stack began to dwindle.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cOnce he got up to (70 million), I started playing a lot more aggressive,\u201d Riess said. \u201cWhen he was short, I couldn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tRiess 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.<\/p>\n
\tFarber was holding pocket aces against McLaughlin\u2019s pocket kings and won 79 million chips to wrest away the chip lead.<\/p>\n
\tRiess held the big stack for a large portion of Monday\u2019s action. He eliminated Mark Newhouse in ninth place, then used pocket aces to knock out Dutch poker pro Michiel Brummelhuis in seventh.<\/p>\n
\tRiess, whose cheering section chanted \u201cRiess the Beast\u201d 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\u2019s Sylvain Loosli in fourth place, and at 1:11 a.m., his pocket 10s held up against Amir Lehavot\u2019s pocket sevens to set up the final.<\/p>\n
\tContact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com<\/a> or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.<\/p>\n