After 5 hours of play, Michael Sullivan has bested the rest to take down Day 2 of the $1,000 NLH. He beat Eliuth Hernandez in heads-up play to win his first WSOPC Ring. The tournament saw a total of 209 entries to create a $178,695 prize pool. For his efforts, Sullivan took the lion share of $42,835.
Sullivan came into the day with a middling stack of 315,000 (21 big blinds). He found an early elimination onto Owen Mathison when his Tens held against Ace-Queen suited. Eliminations were rapid, with Sheng Qiu finding of them to maintain his chip lead into the final table. The trend would continue with Qiu calling off against Danesh Luthra’s all in. Qiu was a huge underdog with Tens against Luthra’s Jacks. The 8♣J♦3♠ flop improved Luthra to a 96 percent favourite. However, the running 7♥9♥ sent him out in 9th place ($3,399). Qiu now sat with 1,860,000 of the 6,100,000 chips.
Hernandez (1,660,000) and Marco Ferrone (1,225,000), also sat with leading stacks by the time of the break. Sullivan was dead middle with 660,000 at the time. Soon after, Sullivan would find a double elimination against Mal Hagan and Christopher Lahey when his nines made a four card flush. Ferrone lost a chunk of his chips calling off the hand prior, and moved all in against Sheng Qiu. Qiu’s rivered pair of aces, bested Ferrone’s bluff to bring play four-handed.
Jeffery Cormier, found a double making a straight. He found another double with queens, before moving all in with A♥6♦. Qiu called off with queens. The flop favoured Cormier coming 10♦5♣A♦. However, the 7♦Q♠ saw Qiu hit his one outer to end his run. Qiu sat with 2,830,000, Sullivan with 2,300,000, and Hernandez with 1,120,000.
Hernandez found back to back doubles to gain the middling stack. The short stacked Qiu moved all in with Threes, and Sullivan called off with Ace-Jack suited. Sullivan picked up flush outs on the turn, and rivered an ace to bring play heads-up. Sullivan sat with 5,060,000 of the 6,100,000 chips in play.
Hernandez found a quick double, when his K♦8♦ held against Sullivan’s Q♠10♦. Soon after, Hernandez opened to 130,000 from the button, and Michael Sullivan moved all in on the big blind. Hernandez made the call, and both players revealed their holdings.
Eliuth Hernandez: A♠6♠
Michael Sullivan: A♣5♣
The board ran out 8♦3♦8♠3♥5♥ for Sullivan to take the pot, and his first WSOPC Ring.
Event #9: $1,000 NLH Final Table Results
| Position | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Michael Sullivan | $42,835 |
| 2 |  Eliuth Hernandez | $28,296 |
| 3 |  Sheng Qui | $19,134 |
| 4 | Jeffery Cormier | $13,307 |
| 5 | Marco Ferrone | $9,526 |
| 6 | Christopher Lahey | $7,025 |
| 7 | Mal Hagan | $5,341 |
| 8 | David Quang | $4,192 |
| 9 | Danesh Luthra | $3,399 |
| 10 | Leonardo Song-Carillo | $2,850 |
