The age requirement to qualify for the Seniors’ Championship at the World Series of Poker is 50, and Jim Hess took full advantage of that fact. The 50-year-old was the youngest player at the final table, and he put together an impressive late run to capture his first WSOP bracelet.

The pace at the start of the final table was slow to say the least, with just two players getting knocked out over the first several hours. But the rising blinds and pressure exerted by Hess allowed him to exert enough pressure on the rest of the table, and his prize was a handsome sum of $557,435.

After dispatching Craig Koch with QJ against Q6 to get it down to two players, Hess’ heads-up match with Dick Harwood took just a few hands. On a flop of 966, Harwood pushed the remainder of his short stack in with T9, but he had just two outs against Hess’ T6. The Q on the turn and 3 on the river sealed the crown for Hess.

From five-handed play through the end, Hess took over the final table.

“It was a slow grind, and I think patience was the key,” said Hess. “When it got down to about five players or so, that’s when I started getting confidence. I realized that everyone was asking what the money jumps were, and I didn’t care. I said you know what, I want to win.”

With 37 players returning on Day 3, it was going to be a long day no matter what happened. The pressure of the money on the line, with a massive $3,376,800 prize pool generated by the 3,752 Senior hopefuls was palpable, with no one wanting to make a mistake that could shift their fortunes by a six figure sum.

The first several hours of nine-handed play at the final table involved lots of preflop betting and not many boards. A raise or a reraise was often enough to take down a pot, and very few hands made it to the turn.

It took a pretty big cooler situation for the first elimination to happen. On a flop of 642, Leo Whitt went all-in with three players to act behind him, getting a call from Charles Cohen. Whitt had what should have been a massive draw with QJ, but only his diamond draw was live as Cohen had 44 for a set of fours. The Q on the turn and T on the river were no help, and Whitt was sent to the rail in ninth place, the first elimination in a number of hours.

The chips would shift between the players for a couple more hours as the blinds and antes creeped higher and higher. Walter Browne, who entered the final table as the chip leader, was crippled when he ran pocket jacks into Hess’ pocket kings. His last few chips found their way into the very next pot. The pot went three ways with Browne, Greg Alston and Cohen. The board ran out 8624J, with Cohen going all-in on the river. Alston folded, leaving Cohen’s hand to beat Browne, which it did as Cohen had J9 against Browne’s A7. This gave both the main and side pots to Cohen, and ended a disappointing day for Browne in eighth.

Cohen was still among the shorter stacks and one of the more aggressive players, going all-in on several occasions without a call. It was a smaller raise, however, that would be part of his undoing. Hess called a raise on the button from Cohen, and they saw a flop of AQ5. Hess checked to Cohen, who went all-in and was almost beaten into the pot by Hess, who had flopped a set with 55. Cohen would need runner-runner as he could only muster the A9. The J on the turn gave Cohen some outs, but the 6 brought an immediate end to Cohen’s tournament in seventh place.

The table did not remain six-handed for very long, as another elimination was on the horizon. James Jewell open pushed all-in with 44 only to run into the 77 of Harwood, and with no help from the board Harwood would be sent to the rail in sixth.

Escalating blinds continued to take their toll as another player was headed to the rail with just over an hour left in the day. Action folded around to Hess in the small blind, who open shoved and found a call from Alston. It was a classic race as Alston’s 66 was up against the AJ of Hess. The 922 flop and K on the turn brought Alston one card away from a crucial double-up, but the cruel J on the river gave Hess the pot and eliminated Alston in fifth place.

As play entered the final hour of the evening Sunday, the four remaining players were led by Hess, who had double the amount of chips of Koch, who was in second. Hess would continue to increase his lead by taking out Joseph Bolnick. Bolnick had KT and was live against Hess’ AJ. He flopped a few more outs on a Q96 board, and the 8 on the turn gave him more outs for the straight, but the 6 on the river was a brick, knocking Bolnick out in fourth.

Hess would never give up his sizable chip lead. After folding down to almost nothing, Koch fell by the wayside, and it was just a few hands of heads-up play before Hess would topple Harwood, and become the Senior’s event champion.

Here are the official results for the 2011 WSOP Seniors’ Championship:

1. James Hess – $557,435
2. Dick Harwood – $342,407
3. Craig Koch – $248,971
4. Joseph Bolnick – $182,347
5. Greg Alston – $134,801
6. James Jewell – $100,594
7. Charles Cohen – $75,775
8. Walter Browne – $57,608
9. Leo Whitt – $44,202

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