Cliff Goldkin’s Wonderful Moment
Jul 6, 2012 Poker Bracelet Winner Poker Celebrities
Yet another event at the World Series of Poker concluded and this time with a winner who was not a prominent name in the world of poker. On 11th June, 2012, Cliff Goldkin, a student from Potomac, Maryland took down the final table of event #19 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, beating the likes of David Peters, Barry Shulman and Jason Wheeler. This was Goldkin’s first WSOP. On winning the tournament, Goldkin took home a cash prize of $559,514 and the much sought after WSOP gold bracelet.
The final table of the event #19 consisted of 19 players. Gregg Wilkinson was leading the chips with 1.227 million. Jean-Paul Delay was eliminated — pocket jacks against the ace-nine of Justin McGill — and the field was reduced to the final two tables in the initial ten minutes. When there were 16 left at the table, Goldkin took the chip lead. By the time there were 11 left, he had lost almost all of those chips. The river blanked and Goldkin was down to 445,000.
When the field was down to nine, Gary Burks was the chip leader with 1,775,000 but with blinds at 15,000/30,000, nobody was in danger. The shortest stack had over 17 times the big blind, with 525,000. After 2 hands, Burks was out of the table and he gave in his chip lead to Goldkin in the first hand. Goldkin took down the massive pot, after Wilkinson folded and Burks declared he was all-in. Burks was down to the ninth place for $41,145.
Eventually, the board ran out giving Goldkin a turned full house. Shulman exited in eighth place for $53,669. Goldkin did not have to put much of an effort as the other players knocked each other out till there were four left at the table. Before the dinner break, Goldkin eliminated Patrick Smith, who finished fourth for $176,229 and Balaguer, who finished third with a cash prize of $245,197, leaving only Goldkin and his last opponent, Kennii Nguyen at the table.
The match was over after just one hand where Goldkin defeated Nguyen, who collected $347,036 for his second place finish and Goldkin was declared the winner of the event #19 of the World Series of Poker 2012.
Event #19 Results
Place Player Prize
1 Cliff Goldkin $559,514
2 Kennii Nguyen $347,036
3 Adria Balaguer $245,197
4 Patrick Smith $176,299
5 Gregg Wilkinson $128,441
6 Justin McGill $94,815
7 David Peters $70,886
8 Barry Shulman $53,669
9 Gary Burks $41,145
