Canadian Real Estate Broker Wins Bracelet in 2013 WSOP Event 3
They say a good salesman can persuade anyone to buy just about anything, but Canadian real estate broker Charles Sylvestre won’t have a hard time convincing anyone of his dominating talents on the poker table. Sylvestre used a 6-figure win from the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) to fly down to Vegas and enter the World Series of Poker, turning his prior fortune into a WSOP bracelet and nearly half a million dollars in cold, hard cash.
30 year old Charles Sylvestre has been playing online poker tournaments for quite some time. Although he does not consider himself to be a professional poker player, holding a full-time job and playing only in his spare time, he obviously has the skillset to compete with the big boys. He hit a huge $230,000 win at a SCOOP event just two weeks prior, then used those winnings to fund a Las Vegas vacation that included a stop at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino to compete in a few WSOP events.
He started by entering the 4-day re-entry event #3, a NL Hold’em tournament with a $1,000 buy-in and double-flight opportunities. Anyone who busted out early was able to post a second $1k buy-in for re-entry. The young Canadian had no need to put up another grand, however, chipping his way through a massive field of 3,164 to emerge victorious on the fourth day of action. Sylvestre earned a massive paycheck of $491,360 for his efforts.
The Canadian was among the chip leaders going into the final table, maintaining a fairly steady stack throughout the first three eliminations. He sat back, playing cautiously, folding average hands as his competition took care of Ping Lui, who finished 9th for $36,705, Ruben Ybarra in 8th with $47,925 and Darren Rabinowitz in 7th, pocketing $63,273. Charles took charge at that point, facing off with Ryan Olisar, who you may remember landing in this very same final table at the 2012 WSOP. Once more, Olisar was denied a bracelet, however, as his A-J fell to Sylvestre’s pocket 4’s. Olisar finished in 6th with $84,459, adding to his total of six WSOP bubble finishes valued at $336,838.
Binh Ta would exit the table in 5th place, being the first to cash for 6-digits in the event, $114,017. With only four players remaining, it was time to put up or shut up for the Canadian, who had already made it this far among an otherwise all-American final table. He quickly found himself in a showdown with evenly stacked Michael Cooper. The Texas native led out with a 3-bet. Charles 4-bet and Cooper made the call. The flop came down Q-9-7, and a few raises later, both men were all-in. Cooper turned 10-8, Sylvestre A-A. There weren’t many options for the American, who needed a 6 or J to hit an open ended straight for the win. The Q on the turn and 2 on the river sealed Cooper’s fate, sending him to the rails in 4th with $155,706.
Sylvestre now faced William Guerrero and Seth Berger, the latter leading going into heads-up play. Guerrero was looking to make a move, but pushing his stack with 9-9 turned out to be a big mistake when Sylvestre called, flipping A-4, only to watch the flop come down A-4-6. No help came and Guerrero was eliminated in 3rd with a $201,107 payday.
The heads-up battle ensued between Sylvestre and the Californian, Berger. The real estate broker became super aggressive, and it paid off enormously. A series of all-in shoves forced Berger to fold repeatedly, giving Charles the upper hand. When Berger finally decided to perform, he let the board play out to A-K-3-10-8 before shoving all of his chips into the middle. Sylvestre called, turning A-J. Berger mucked K-2 and it was all over. Seth took home a worthy $303,952 for the 2nd place finish.
“Half a million dollars is very nice, that’s for sure,” commented an enthusiastic Sylvestre after the big win, adding a whopping $491,360 to his wallet, along with a WSOP bracelet to commemorate the victory. “I don’t know what I’ll do with it yet, make some investments and play some more tournaments. The bracelet means more, but the cash is amazing, for sure.”
Overhyped casino hype dressed as prestige when it’s just a flashy scheme. Disappointing nonsense!