Victory!

Cliff before the final table

It all started a few days ago with a bad beat.  I decided to play the WSOP $1k tournament on Sunday, June 10th, expecting to have another shot at making a deep run in a WSOP event.  Things went wrong quickly though, as I took a pretty sick bad beat that knocked me out of the tournament.  One of the best players many of you have never heard of got moved to my table: WPT Paris winner Matt Waxman.  Soon, he and I clashed and were all in on a flop of 10h 9s 7s with my 10s 8s vs his 8c 9c, making me a huge favorite.  However, things were not to be, as one of the only 2 really bad cards for me hit the turn: the 9h, and I couldn't hit my straight, flush, straight flush, or full house on the river.  I was a "good sport" about the beat and chatted it up with him for a bit afterward and wished him good luck, and Waxman even offered me 1% of him if he final tabled, which was really cool of him and unnecessary, but appreciated.  I was disappointed to be knocked out of the tournament, but it turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise.

After losing, I went over to check on Cliff, who had just made the money on Day 2 of WSOP event 19, a $1500 No Limit Hold'em event.  When I got there, Cliff was busy building a big stack.  I planned to stay for an hour or so and then go play on my own, but I ended up standing and watching for close to 11 hours.  I didn't know quite what I was witnessing yet, but something made me stay and watch that day when I almost always would have left to play my own game.  By the end of Day 2, Cliff was 3rd in chips with 19 left after a dominating performance where his aggression took over and made it very hard for the rest of the table to compete.

Odds on Cliff at the Rio Sportsbook

Coming into Day 3 of the tournament, we were very excited, as Cliff would be playing for a shot at a WSOP bracelet and more money than any of us had imagined ever winning in one tournament.  Already guaranteed 16,000 dollars for his efforts, it was time to go for the gold.  Cliff was unfazed, as he did not even know how much he was guaranteed or how much 1st place was.  But I knew: first would pay over $550,000 cash money to go along with the coveted WSOP gold bracelet.  Cliff and I, along with our friend Austin, made our way to the Rio, where the sportsbook would be offering bets on Cliff at 6 to 1 odds to win the title.  These are not great odds with 19 players left, but Austin and I decided they were good enough for us, and we booked small bets on the final day of play.

After starting with 19 players, a few hours in they were down to 11, and Cliff was still dominating.  Disaster struck, as he lost a huge hand with pocket Kings versus 67 of diamonds that could have made him chipleader but instead knocked him down to probably 9th or 10th place out of the remaining 11.  Cliff fought back though and entered the final table as 2nd or 3rd in chips out of 10!  With 9 left, a hand occurred that changed the course of the tournament and propelled Cliff into a major chiplead:  http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-world-series-of-poker/event-19-no-limit-hold-em/chips.28846.htm

After getting the chiplead, Cliff was relentless and knocked off a few more players on his way to a 9 to 1 chiplead heads up.  The final table was incredibly exciting, as we could feel that Cliff was inching closer to an incredible feat: defeating over 2,300 people in just his 4th WSOP event.  By dinner time, just 2 were left, and Cliff had over 9 million chips to his opponents 1 million.  After dinner break, we walked back with 12 seconds to spare on the clock, and one hand later it was all over:

Goldkind's pocket sixes held against the two Broadway cards of Nguyen, and the latter was sent off with nearly $350,000 as the runner-up.

It was the moment of victory for Goldkind, and he spent it celebrating in the arms of his friends on the rail. As we soon found out, he wasn't even sure how much money he'd just made.

"You wanna know payouts now, Cliff?" one of his friends (ME) asked.

"Sure," Goldkind answered.

"Five-fifty-nine," came the reply.

Goldkind's eyes rolled back in his head. "Oh," he said with an impenetrable grin.

Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2012-world-series-of-poker/event-19-no-limit-hold-em/

Victory!!!

Cliff won the tournament for over $550,000 dollars and a gold WSOP bracelet, the dream of every poker player.  It was amazing to be able to watch it unfold before my eyes over the course of the last 2 days of the tournament.  Winning a WSOP event is everything we have dreamed about and worked toward, and it is still unbelievable that Cliff is a WSOP bracelet winner and over a half million dollars richer.  That's crazy to try to wrap my head around.  There is so much more I could say about the tournament, but that is the gist of it.  It is the culmination of all of our hard work and focus that we have put into poker, and I am so happy for Cliff. It feels awesome to have played at least a small role in it all, and it will be something that we never forget.  Hopefully there will be more bracelets in our future soon!  I am currently away from Vegas for a few days, but I will be back soon to get back on the hunt for more bracelets.

-Danny