Takahiro Nakai Claims Second WSOP Bracelet for Japan

Takahiro Nakai has become just the second Japanese player in WSOP’s 46-year history to win a Gold Bracelet after he took out the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event (Event #57) last night.

The 36-year-old, who hails from the city of Osaka, beat a total field of 2,497 players to win the event and the US$399,039 cash prize for first place, not to mention the Gold Bracelet.

Nakai’s victory puts him in a very small club which he shares only with Naoya Kihara, who became the first ever Japanese WSOP Gold Bracelet holder when he won an event at the 2012 World Series of Poker.

Nakai had to work extra hard for his win, however; so hard, in fact, that an extra day had to be made for him and eventual second place finisher Mel Weiner to resume heads-up play.

Both players entered the final table with moderate stacks – both less than a million – while five other players had over a million chips when the final table got underway. However, the intelligent and stellar play of both players throughout Day 3 saw their chip stacks grow in a big way as they eventually found themselves battling it out with Paul Vas Nunes in three-handed play.

While Vas Nunes was in a solid position, he succumbed to Nakai after he hit a pair of Kings on the river, which beat Vas Nunes’s Pocket Nines. Vas Nunes’s elimination gave Nakai an adequate chip stack to go up against a WSOP Gold Bracelet holder (Weiner won a bracelet in 1996).

However, Weiner was in no mood to give up either early or late, and after 11 levels of heads-up play the decision was made for both players to get some rest and return on Wednesday.

Nakai had a rough 11-1 chip lead when both players returned for the fourth and final day of play, and it was a lead that proved to be too much as Weiner was unable to claw back. He did manage to get a double up to bring his stack to 1,550,000 chips, but it was not enough as Nakai eliminated him from the event just four hands later.

In the last hand of the event, Nakai went all in pre-flop with q7 and was called by Weiner, who was ahead withaj .

Both players hit the flop, which came qj6 , but Nakai’s pair proved to be the highest one. The k came on the turn, which kept Nakai ahead, but gave Weiner a number of potential outs on the river.

None of those outs came, though, as the 9 on the river gave Nakai the hand as well as he victory in the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event.