JP Kelly comes up short in Event #2

If the first few days of the WSOP 2012 are anything to go by, this summer could be a profitable one for Team UK after two-time bracelet winner JP Kelly narrowly missed out on a third WSOP title in Event #2 ($1,500 NLHE), eventually finishing eighth on a brutal final table.

Kelly came into the last day 4/15 and went on to recording his first final table of the series. But after a tough few levels, the Brit crawled into the final nine sixth in chips, and with Vanessa Selbt and four-time WSOP final tablist Bret Hanks making a charge, the cards just wouldn’t come for the ex-PokerStars pro.

20 minutes into the action, Kelly was clutching a handful of big blinds after running As-Qs into Abdel Konjuhi’s Kings, and despite a lucky double up with Kd-Qd through Andrew Badecker’s Aces, he was knocked down to a single big blind when his 10s-9s couldn’t outdraw Michael Kaufman’s Kings. Defeat finally came a few minutes letter when, with no option but to call with any two cards, Kelly got his last chips in with Jd-4h against Hanks’ As-Qs and hit the rail.

Hanks would go on to win his first career bracelet and a tidy $517,725 after seeing off Jacob Bazeley heads-up, while Selbst was forced to settle with $161,345 for her efforts after busting in fourth.

The key heads-up moment came when Hanks called Bazeley’s five-bet shove with As-8c and outdrew the challenger’s pocket nines, an Ace on the flop giving him a deciding chip lead. In the very next hand, Bazely shoved what little he had left in with 10h-4d and Hanks’ Ah-10d held to bring the first open event of the 2012 World Series of Poker to a close.

The bracelet wins will be coming thick and fast over the next few weeks, and we wouldn’t bet against Kelly putting his eighth place to one side and bringing back some gold from this year’s series. WP JP, you’ve done us proud!

Here’s how Event #2 $1,500 NLHE finished up:

1. Brent Hanks  $517,725
2. Jacob Bazeley  $322,294
3. Andrew Badecker  $224,029
4. Vanessa Selbst  $161,345
5. Ryan Schmidt     $177,921
6. Adbyl Konjuhi  $87,231
7. Michael Kaufman  $65,377
8. JP Kelly  $49,621
9. Richard Park  $38,106