WSOP Report Day #37: Joao Vieira and Juha Helppi Both Win First-Time WSOP Bracelets

Two more winners were given gold WSOP bracelets last night as Finnish player Juha Helppi won his first-ever WSOP bracelet after a career in poker spanning 18 years of tournament results and Joao Vieira celebrated victory with a rail of delirious Portuguese fans.

VIEIRA CLAIMS 6-MAX CROWN BEATING JOE CADA HEADS-UP

Joao Vieira won the  $5,000-entry No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max event, beating Joe Cada, and in doing so, won his first-ever WSOP bracelet and a massive $758,011 top prize. Cada, who was extremely short-stacked with both five and six players left, just missed out on more WSOP jewelry.

With what became the fourth-ever Portuguese winner at the World Series of Poker in it’s 50 glorious year, Vieira came into play as the chip leader, but didn’t have that lead for long. In fact, the lead changed over two dozen times during play, with Cada himself leading the pair into heads-up play.

One of Vieira’s toughest victims at the final table was his friend Pierre Calamusa, but it was Vieira himself who busted his buddy to see him bank $219,468 instead of the top prize. British player Jamie ‘Boz’ O’Connor got close but would bow out in third place for $317,956.

Final Table Results:

Place	Player	Prize
1	Joao Vieira	$758,011
2	Joe Cada	$468,488
3	Jamie O’Connor	$317,956
4	Pierre Calamusa	$219,468
5	Olivier Busquet	$154,112
6	Barry Hutter	$110,127

FINNISH PRO JUHA HELPPI FINALLY WINS BRACELET

Seasoned Finnish player Juha Helpi won his first-ever bracelet in the $10,000-entry Limit Hold’em Championship, beating Mike Lancaster heads-up. An epic four-hour heads-up battle produced one of the best final tables of the summer in Mixed Game Championships, and Helppi, who won $306,622 for his efforts finally had the bracelet his play over the best part of two decades has warranted.

With players such as Josh Arieh, Tommy Hang and Anthony Marsico all going close, it was Helppi’s hour in the sun and he gloried in the glow of the Rio lights as he posed for his winner’s photos. Lancaster had battled bravely for four hours, but Helppi would not be denied, and the Finnish player who has accumulated over $7 million in tournament lifetime earnings had the most priceless title of all, a World Series event victory!

Final Table Results:

Place	Player	Prize
1	Juha Helppi	$306,622
2	Mike Lancaster	$189,505
3	Tommy Hang	$133,718
4	Anthony Marsico	$96,272
5	Kevin Song	$70,750
6	Josh Arieh	$53,095
7	Kyle Ray	$40,709
8	Qinghai Pan	$31,902
9	Robert Como	$25,566

The next final table to play out is the $500-entry Salute to Warriors event, and you can check out all the action from when the cards are in the air to the final winning hand is announced by clicking right here.

Who’ll become the latest player to win a WSOP gold bracelet at the 2019 World Series of Poker? You can watch the WSOP Main Event action unfold on ESPN throughout, and check out additional coverage on PokerGO.