It is not time for Bruce Buffer to win a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet. But the legendary UFC ring announcer wasn’t far off from winning a bracelet on Sunday.
Entering the third and final day of Event #39: $50,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em (8-Handed), the mixed martial arts enthusiast had the smallest stack out of 13 remaining players.
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Prior to the start of Day 3, Buffer picked up the mic and announced shuffle up and deal with his trademark “it’s time” introduction. Even Martin Kabrhel join in on the festivities.
Buffer Doubles Right Off the Bat
Buffer entered the final day in a difficult position — last in chips against some of the best poker pros in the world. But he’d find an immediate double up with pocket kings against the ace-rag Jonathan Jaffe held. Doing so gave the UFC announcer some breathing room, and allowed him to ladder up.
Five players, including Artur Martirosian (12th for $106,810) and Kabrhel (10th for $131,876), would go on to bust before Buffer would run into almost the exact situation against Jaffe, except the roles were reversed.
Buffer was all in with A♥K♥ against Jaffe’s K♠K♦ and needed some help from the board to stay alive. No improvement would come from the 10♦9♣6♦8♥2♣ board, leading to an eighth place elimination for $212,423.
For Buffer, it was his first World Series of Poker final table appearance, and his first WSOP cash since 2013. Poker is just a hobby for the legendary announcer, but he now has over $550,000 in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob, and he’s appeared a few times on Hustler Casino Live.
At the time of publishing, on dinner break, the $50k High Roller, which had 177 entrants, was down to just six players. Chance Kornuth, Viktor Blom, and Jaffe were among those still standing. The winner, to be crowned before the Sunday’s session concludes, will take home $2,026,506.
Buffer, who has a longstanding relationship with PokerStars, will appear on an upcoming episode of PokerNews’ Life Outside Poker podcast.
Follow the $50k High Roller Final Table Live at PokerNews