Femi Fashakin, a software engineer from Orlando, Florida and originally from Nigeria, outlasted the largest field in the history of the WSOP to win The Big 50. It took nearly eight days to play out, but Fashakin faded 28,371 runners to win $1,147,449 and his first bracelet.
Ship it to Femi Fashakin! After over a week of nonstop poker at the Rio Casino, the first-ever Big 50 played down to its final table. Seven players returned to action on Friday to determine which one would become the next bling winner at the 2019 World Series of Poker. 2019 WSOP Event #3 THE BIG 50 was a special $500 NL tournament to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the WSOP.
THE BIG 50 attracted 28,371 runners and a prize pool worth $13.5 million. The top 4,154 places paid out. Wow! I'd hate to be the suit that had to work on that payout spreadsheet.
The Big 50 needed a couple of extra days to determine a winner. It was that popular among the masses. I mean, for $500 you really can't get a better deal for the average poker fan or low roller or casual player or brokejokester. That's why over 28K showed up for a shot at a million bucks and a little bling.
The final table included Adrian Curry, David Rasmussen, Femi Fashakin, Morten Christensen, Paul Cullen, Nick Chow, Rafi Elharar, Walter Atwood, Daniel Ghobrial, and Morten Christensen.
Late on Thursday, the final table lost David Rasmussen in ninth place and Singapore's Morten Christensen in eighth place.
On Friday, Adrian Curry hit the road first in seventh place, followed by Daniel Ghobrial in sixth place, and Walter Atwood in fifth. Nick Chow's remarkable run ended in fourth place, but he took home $405K for week's worth of work.
Israel's Rafi Elharar busted in third place, which set up the heads-up finale. Elharar earned a third-place payout worth $534K.
When heads-up began, Cullen trailed nearly 2-1 in chips. Heads-up lasted only nine hands before Femi Fashakin put away Paul Cullen. For a runner-up finish, Cullen banked $709K. Not too shabby, eh?
Allen Cunningham went on a super-deep run. Cunningham has a knack for navigating these massive-sized fields. Alas, his run ended in 47th place.
Andrew McKenzie bubbled the final table in tenth place.
Among the notables who went super deep and cashed in the Top 555 for the 2019 Big 50 included Allen Cunningham, Lee Childs, John McAvoy David Bakes Baker, Kathy Holz, Diogo Vera, Khang Pham, Robert Rodriguez, Vincent Danny Wong, Steven Vargas, Jason Wheeler, Yang Zhang, Tot Leonidas, Mike Souza, Eric Wong, Vinny Roux, Shawn Daniels, Cory Albertson, Joe Leibman, Larry Wright, Amit Makhija, Amir Lehavot, Isamel Bojang, Kenny Tran, Robert Peacock, Scott Davies, Dan Zack, Ari Engel, Dat Vo, Upeshka De Silva, and Al Adler.
2019 WSOP Event #3 THE BIG 50 - $500 NL
Entrants: 28,371
Prize Pool: $13,509,435
Payouts: 4,154
Final Table Payouts:
1. Femi Fashakin (USA) $1,147,449
2. Paul Cullen (USA) $709,183
3. Rafi Elharar(Israel) $534,574
4. Nick Chow (USA) $405,132
5. Walter Atwood (USA) $308,701
6. Daniel Ghobrial (Canada) $236,508
7. Adrian Curry (USA) $182,192
8. Morten Christensen (Singapore) $141,126
9. David Rasmussen (USA) $109,922
