Cary Katz Finally Gets His Hands On A Bracelet After Victory in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout

How The Day Started

Katz came into the unscheduled Day 4 at the Horseshoe and Paris on the Las Vegas Strip. He was the third of the now final four players that remained in pursuit of bracelet glory. 

Breno Drumond of Brazil topped the counts with Katz fellow countryman Preston McEwen in third. Jaehoon Baek of South Korea was at the bottom of the pile. 

The field was fairly shallow, Drumond had 31 big blinds, McEwen 21, Katz 14 and Baek 10. 

Katz Doubles Early, McEwen First to Fall

Katz jammed around 11 big blinds from under the gun with king-jack suited and was called and covered by McEwen. 

McEwen had jacks and was in good shape until two diamonds emerged on the flop, which gave Katz a flush draw. He got there on the turn, and McEwen was drawing dead. 

He then called in on the button over a Baek open from under the gun. Drumond defended the big blind. Drumond checked the ace-high rainbow flop to Baek, who bet 2 big blinds. McEwen called for the remainder of his stack and Drumond called. 

Drumond then check-folded to an increased wager from Baek and he tabled aces for top set. All the aces in the deck were on display as McEwen had ace-jack offsuit for top pair. Baek filled up on the river, and McEwen was stacked dramatically.

Katz Takes The Lead

Katz continued taking from the stacks of Drumond and Baek after McEwen’s departure and was firmly on the up. 

He got paid with a full house versus Baek, who seemed to be a non-believer on a double-paired board.

Katz did lose a few small ones to Drumond as he clawed back at the deficit that Katz had established. 

It wasn’t much longer after that when Baek found himself all in and at risk in a preflop confrontation with Drumond. Drumond open-jammed fours on the button, and Baek called off from the big blind. 

Baek turned and open-ended draw, but couldn’t find a ten or one of his two overs to best the fours of Drumond, and his departure left Katz and Drumond heads-up for the bracelet and the top prize. 

A Tale of Two Rails, Katz Stacks Up

Courtesy of eliminating Baek, Drumond came into heads-up with a decent lead over Katz. He also had the support of a noisy rail of Brazilians in his corner, providing moral support through chants and songs throughout. 

Katz had his family in his corner, who attempted to drown out the Brazilian noise with chants of their own. Katz went on to admit, after the play had ended, that “I was feeding off it” about the noisy rail, adding, “It was beautiful. That was just special, the Brazilians bring so much.”

It wasn’t long before Katz retook the lead. He slowplayed a straight, having flopped the nuts with eight-five suited and made two pair after the board paired a few hands later. 

Drumond tried to fight back, but Katz kept up the pressure, betting big whenever the opportunity arose. 

Katz successfully caught Drumond speeding and snap-called a river raise with a pair of nines on a flush draw, completing the card. The flop and turn were checked around before Katz led out on the river, having paired the nine. Drumond raised with king-ten offsuit with a blocker to the flush. 

A Back-and-Forth Heads-Up, Katz Gets it Done

Katz continued chipping away at Drumond until the Brazilian won a couple of back-to-ack pots. He caught Katz trying to steal the pot with bottom pair and called with middle pair before taking a decent one down on the turn. 

Katz then put some distance between himself and Drumond once more before Drumond took two pots before the break. 

Drumond was then left with a sub-10,000,000 stack having fired two streets on an ace-high board. Both checked the river, and a ten was good for Katz. 

Drumond then managed to secure a double after jamming the button with nine-eight suited. Katz called with ace-ten offsuit. Drumond flopped the nut straight and a flush draw, leaving Katz drawing extremely thin. The turn changed nothing, and the ace river gave Drumond an unneeded flush. 

A few hands later, the players were flipping. Katz shoved the button with threes, and Drumond called off with ace-jack suited. The ten-high runout was clean for Katz, and that sealed the deal and his first career bracelet.

Payouts

About The Winner – Cary Katz

Cary Katz is an American businessman and high-stakes poker player who founded PokerGO, a streaming service that offers coverage of various high-roller tournaments and WSOP events.

Katz won his first WSOP Bracelet in Event #83: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em and has amassed $41,014,565 in live tournament earnings. His largest score of £2,100,000 came in the £250,000 Super High Roller Bowl London back in 2019.