David Peters takes WSOP High Roller event for $1.16M

David Peters’ drive at the poker table was waning recently, and the high-stakes pro considered taking a break from the game.

But after Thursday, Peters is now recharged. And that could be bad news for the rest of the participants at the World Series of Poker this summer.

Peters won the $100,000 buy-in High Roller Bounty No-limit Hold’em event at Bally’s, defeating Las Vegas resident Chance Kornuth in a brief heads-up match.

It was Peters’ fourth career WSOP victory, as he outlasted 45 of the world’s top players and earned $1,166,810 plus more in bounties.

“I definitely think I’m more motivated to get back in there and grind more, especially now that I have points. Maybe try to make a run at Player of the Year,” Peters said. “I’m definitely back in poker mode right now.”

Peters, 35, needed a little more than an hour to claim the gold bracelet, as the final table lasted a mere 26 hands. He now has more than $40 million in career live earnings and moved into fifth place on the all-time money list, according to HendonMob.com.

Kornuth entered the final table with more than half the chips in play, but Peters picked up several premium hands along the way and was responsible for the final three eliminations.

“I picked up a bunch of good hands, ran pretty hot,” Peters said.

Ali Imsirovic, who is at the center of recent cheating allegations, went out in fourth after running into Peters’ pocket aces.

Peters then knocked out Dario Sammartino, the runner-up in the 2019 WSOP Main Event, in third place with pocket jacks against the Italian pro’s ace-eight.

Peters held a 3-to-2 chip lead over Kornuth entering heads-up action with both players deep-stacked. But they wasted little time getting them all in the middle.

On the final hand, Kornuth went all-in with pocket eights and was snap called by Peters holding pocket kings. Kornuth flopped an open-ended straight draw but was unable to improve.

“It feels great, especially the first event of the series, first event being away from the Rio. It’s such a prestigious tournament, so many great players,” Peters said. “Getting No. 4 is big. There are not too many people who have four. It’s a very, very nice start to the series.”

Kornuth, a three-time WSOP bracelet winner, earned $721,144 for second place and continued his recent hot streak.

Last week, Kornuth won the World Poker Tour Choctaw Main Event that was completed at HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas. He now has more than $11 million in live tournament earnings, according to HendonMob.com.

“I don’t think I necessarily need to get eights in there preflop,” Kornuth said. “But in general I think I’m playing pretty well. I’m excited to see how the series goes.”

Phil Ivey, who did not participate in last year’s series, made his return to the WSOP felt and finished seventh. Daniel Negreanu was eliminated in ninth place, two short of the money.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.