Pat Lyons topped the 1,382-player field in Event #17 ($777 No Limit Hold’em) of the 2020 World Series of Poker Online to win $173,551.56 and the first bracelet of his career. Lyons now has a WSOP bracelet and World Poker Tour title on his resume.

Lyons, who won the WPT Legends of Poker in 2016, eliminated the final two players standing in between himself and victory early Saturday morning.

Dave ‘DunningKrugr’ Alfa opened to 240,000 from middle position with before Lyons re-raised to 637,500 from the hijack with . Alfa moved all in for 2,912,994 and Lyons called. The board ran out to give Lyons a full house against Alfa’s flopped two pair to eliminate Alfa in ninth.

Fresh off finishing runner-up in Event #16 just 24 hours earlier, Julian ‘Julian’ Parmann was back at the final table hoping to improve on that result. His tournament run ended sooner than he had hoped for. Parmann moved all in for 555,005 with from middle position only to have Barry ‘_MLB_’ Wenger call from the button with . Both players completely missed on the runout to send Parmann out in eighth place.

The next elimination played out very similar with Wenger still in control. Scott ‘BudLightLime’ Hempel moved all in for 884,182 from middle position with before Wenger called from the button with . Wenger took a firm grasp on the pot with the flop and Hempel was unable to get any help from the turn or river and was out in seventh.

Ten minutes later, Wenger sent another player to th rail. From UTG, ‘veepoh‘ moved all in for 437,104 and Wenger and Jim ‘BOCARATONE’ Collopy called from the small and big blind respectively. Wenger and Collopy checked through the flop and turn before Wenger bet 730,656 after the river. Collopy folded and Wenger showed for a rivered straight while ‘veepoh’ showed and was eliminated in sixth.

Collopy’s night lasted just another five minutes. From UTG, Collopy moved all in for 2,479,684 with and Wenger called from the big blind with . The board ran out to give Wenger another pot and end Collopy’s run with a fifth place result.

Wenger continued to maintain control over the table and sent yet another player to the rail just two minutes after busting Collopy. Action folded to Wenger in the small blind and he moved all in for 2,479,684 with and Event #1 winner Jonathan ‘Art.Vandelay’ Dokler called from the small blind for 2,572,760 with . Dokler could do nothing but watch the runout end his run at a second bracelet and eliminate him in fourth.

Those string of eliminations gave Wenger 65% of the chips in play three-handed but the next 10 minutes were anything but kind to him. Down to just 11 big blinds, Wenger shoved from the button for 2,798,736 with td] and Lyons called from the small blind with . Wenger got no help through the [ runout and was done in third place.

Lyons had a better than 9-1 chip lead over ‘NJ_Glive‘ when heads up play began. ‘NJ_Glive’ doubled twice in the first five hands between the two but ultimately was unable to get any closer. From the button, ‘NJ_Glive’ raised to 560,000 with and then called when Lyons moved all in from the big blind with . The flop gave both players a pair with ‘NJ_Glive’ in front with aces. The turn was the but the river gave Lyons trip queens and eliminated ‘NJ_Glive’ in second place giving Lyons the bracelet and $173,551.56.

Final Table Payouts

1. Pat ‘Ichiikawawa’ Lyons – $173,551.56
2. NJ_Glive – $107,478.14
3. Barry ‘_MLB_’ Wenger – $76,327.86
4. Jonathan ‘Art.Vandelay’ Dokler – $54,948.32
5. Jim ‘Bocaratone’ Collopy – $40,147.10
6. veepoh – $29,602.44
7. Scott ‘BudLightLime’ Hempel – $22,250.20
8. Julian ‘Julian’ Parmann – $16,832.76
9. Dave ‘DunningKrugr’ Alfa – $12,963.16

Faces in the Crowd

Daniel Negreanu finished 123rd for $1,354.36 to pick up his sixth cash of the Series. Other notables who managed to pick up a cash on Friday included Roland ‘prngls12’ Israelashvili (12th – $10,060.96), David ‘dehhhhh’ Coleman (32nd – $4,159.82), Chris Moorman (33rd – $4,159.82), Upeshka ‘gomezhamburg’ De Silva (50th – $2,902.20), Ryan ‘protential’ Laplante (69th – $2,128.28), and Dan ‘PepperPrince’ Zack (147th – $1,257.62).