Coming into the extra Day 4 needed for this event, Foster Hays was leading the final six competitors and looking to snatch himself a piece of World Series of Poker gold jewelry. Hays battled, eliminating Robert Koss in sixth place, Allan Le in fourth place and Jeffrey Lavelle in third place before being pitted against Casey Kelton heads up.
When Hays and Kelton got heads up, Hays held a massive chip lead. Kelton fought back to take the lead in the match, but Hays never got too far behind. When the final hand came up, the two players were so close in chips that it took a second and third count of the stacks to make sure Hays had Kelton covered. In the end he did and walked away victorious with the $735,400 first-place prize and his first WSOP gold bracelet.
Congratulations to all the winners and especially to Foster Hays, winner of Event #18: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em! Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the on-going coverage live from the 2011 WSOP.