Category: The Third Rail

Heading into the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic, players would have had visions of grandeur; thoughts of hearts tumbling around rib cages; priceless poker preserved like Polaroid pictures.

Only a few of those visions came true.

Let’s check out for whom dreams and reality merged into one with a short round-up of the $10,000 action at one of the WPT’s most iconic festivals.

Two people stood out as salt of the $10,000 Bellagio earth, and we’ll begin with Alex Foxen.

Coming into the series, Foxen sat in 12th place in the 2019 Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) race, a title he had in a locket engraved ‘2018’. At the end of the 29-event marathon, he sat on the throne, and it will take a miracle to oust him.

Foxen finished in the money (ITM) of six Five Diamond events, including winning the Main Event for $1,694,995, picking up 1,155.96 GPI PoY points. Amongst that bag of goodies were three ITM finishes in the $10,000 events (2nd, 3rd and 5th).

If Foxen is a lock to defend the GPI PoY, then the same can be said of Sam Soverel, who will almost certainly retain his Poker Central High Roller of the Year title, after also cashing in three of the five $10,000 events. The Poker Central team hasn’t updated the rankings since Nov 14, at which time, Soverel held an 820 point lead over Cary Katz. Katz has had 3 ITM finishes during that time, including a one and two, but Soverel has finished ITM in six events.

So Foxen and Soverel were the stars of the $10,000 events, but this batch of ruffians didn’t do too badly for themselves.

Dan Shak won his first tournament since taking down the €25,000 NLHE Super High Roller at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) in 2017. It’s the first time PLO title for Shak, although he did finish runner-up to Chris Bell in the 2010 $5,000 PLO Hi/Lo 8 at the WSOP – the closest Shak has come to winning a WSOP bracelet.

James Carroll took down his first tournament since winning his second WPT title in April after imprisoning the 1,360-entrant field in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown on his way to locking up a $715,175 payday. Carroll’s first WPT title came in 2014 when he beat 718-entrants on his way to a lifetime best score of $1,256,550 in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars.

Anthony Zinno kept the light glowing on his faint hopes of winning the 2019 Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) award, picking up 211.97 points for his runner-up finish to Carroll. The triple WPT Champ is ranked #4 in the GPI and sat in 9th place in the GPI PoY rankings as of Wednesday, Dec 17.

Chance Kornuth followed up his Poker Masters workshop with another sterling display in the Bellagio. Kornuth finished second in three Poker Masters events before finishing 10/122 in the $10,300 NLHE High Roller at MILLIONS World in the Bahamas, before making two $10,000 final tables at the Five Diamond, finishing second and sixth.

The person who drilled Kornuth into the second position in that $10,000 was Cary Katz. The Poker Central founder proved he could switch his ARIA form to the Bellagio with his fourth victory of what’s been the most accomplished annual return of his career. All told, Katz earned $8.7m playing tournaments in 2019 and had the most significant piece of Bryn Kenney’s action during his $20.5m display at the Triton Million – not bad for someone who calls poker his hobby.

Zachary Clark won his second $10,000 NLHE event of the year after overcoming a field of 60-entrants, including Alex Foxen, heads-up. Clark took down a 32-entrant $10,000 NLHE event at the ARIA in May – the only other time Clark has won a game with a 5-figure buy-in.

Christopher Vitch continued to prove that he’s one of the best card-for-card poker players in the world with a victory in the 8-Game Mix event. It’s the third win of his career, all in different disciplines, and his Bellagio bump was his first outside of the WSOP.

Other poker farmers who have been turning poker tables into arable land all year, and made the final table of at least one $10,000 event include Jonathan Depa (3rd in the PLO), Joseph Cheong (7th in the NLHE), Shaun Deeb (2nd in the 8-Game Mix), Jeremy Ausmus (5th in the NLHE), and Justin Bonomo (9th in the NLHE)

Here are the results in full.

Pot-Limit Omaha

26-entrants

ITM Results

1. Dan Shak – $119,600
2. Sam Soverel – $72,800
3. Jonathan Depa – $41,600
4. Armando Collado – $26,000

No-Limit Hold’em

43-entrants

ITM Results

1. James Carroll – $113,704
2. Anthony Zinno – $100,816
3. Martin Zamani – $90,780
4. Sam Soverel – $43,000
5. Alex Foxen – $34,400
6. Chance Kornuth – $25,800
7. Joseph Cheong – $21,500

No-Limit Hold’em

27-entrants

1. Cary Katz – $124,200
2. Chance Kornuth – $75,600
3. Alex Foxen – $43,200
4. Ben Yu – $27,000

8-Game Mix

33-entrants

1. Christopher Vitch – $116,600
2. Shaun Deeb – $101,200
3. Denis Strebkov – $52,800
4. Adam Friedman – $33,000
5. Matt Glantz – $26,400

No-Limit Hold’em

60-entrants

1. Zachary Clark – $180,000
2. Alex Foxen – $120,000
3. Sam Soverel – $84,000
4. Ralph Wong – $60,000
5. Jeremy Ausmus – $48,000
6. Sean Winter – $36,000
7. Barry Hutter – $30,000
8. Byron Kaverman – $24,000
9. Justin Bonomo – $18,000

At the end of the $10,000 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, a 43-year-old cash game grinder from Dallas, Texas, named Aaron Van Blarcum, collected his $50,855 prize for finishing 212/8569, and said to himself, “I’m going to give this tournament thing a shot.”

Van Blarcum planned to play in six World Poker Tour (WPT) events. He had never competed in one before, and when he entered the first one – the 520-entrant $5,000, $2m GTD NLHE WPT Legends of Poker – he walked away with the first prize of $474,390.

What a rush.

November rolled into town.

Van Blarcum followed the parade to the Bahamas for partypoker’s MILLIONS World, and finished runner-up to Adrian Mateos in the $10,000, $10m GTD MILLIONS World Main Event, earning $970,000, after cutting a three-way deal with Chris Hunichen, and the eventual winner, Adrian Mateos.

By the time Van Blarcum had entered the 37-entrant, $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) High Roller, at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in the Bellagio, Van Blarcum wasn’t merely a cash game; he was a tournament player on fire.

Van Blarcum would make his way to the final table.

Joining him would be five of the best NLHE tournament specialists in the business.

Igor Yaroshevskyy came into the final on the back of a final table appearance in a $10,000 NLHE High Roller at the Merit Poker Retro in Kyrenia. The Ukranian finished 8/107 in that event, and he would be the first to eke into the money in this one, finishing in the sixth position.

It’s not been the best year for Nick Petrangelo.

The Massachusetts man has only finished in the money (ITM) in seven events throughout 2019, meaning he has been spending more time in the market, or his purple patch went on vacation, leaving only his skill to face the full uproar of the high stakes scene. Of those seven ITM finishes, six of them were final table appearances, including finishing 5th in a $25,000 at the Five Diamond Series. The same catch landed in this one.

Amongst the mighty Englishmen, only Stephen Chidwick ($33,358,121), Sam Trickett ($21,337,841), and Charlie Carrel ($9,571,776) have won more live tournament dollars than Jack Salter. Today, his earnings register in at $8,303,273 after picking up a 4th place finish in this one. Salter has been ruling the roost of late, winning a WPTDeepStacks title in Montreal, and a $1,200 NLHE Turbo event at the WPT Seminole Rock & Roll Poker Open in Hollywood.

Like Van Blarcum, the man who finished in third is a relatively new proponent of the NLHE tournament scene. Wolff had finished ITM 22 times in 2019, after barely a whimper since 2012. Amongst those finishes sit 13 final table appearances, including 7 top 3 finishes.

Heads-up fell between Van Blarcum and Jake Schindler.

It’s been Schindler’s lowest annual haul ($1,427,309) since 2015, but he still has the game to make anyone blush and blabber. Given his 47 heads-up matches, opposite the 3 of Van Blarcum, all of the experience, and arguably the skill, sat on the Top Trumps card with the name ‘Schindler’ emblazoned on the front.

It didn’t matter.

Van Blarcum erased the pain of finishing runner-up to Gediminas Uselis and Adrian Mateos in the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) High Roller in Choctaw and the MILLIONS World Main Event in the Bahamas, by taking this one down. It was Schindler’s 6th heads-up defeat of the year.

ITM Results

1. Aaron Van Blarcum – $333,000
2. Jake Schindler – $222,000
3. George Wolff – $148,000
4. Jack Salter – $92,500
5. Nick Petrangelo – $74,000
6. Igor Yaroshevskyy – $55,500

That’s a wrap for $25,000 NLHE events at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

Here is the summary of winners.

Seth Davies – 53 entrants – $424,000
Sean Winter – 38 entrants – $342,000
Aaron Van Blarcum – 37 entrants – $333,000

Word on the street is the final two-day, $100,000 Super-Duper High Roller will become a one day $50,000 Not-So-Super-Duper High Roller, rounding off the series.

The $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) High Roller at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic inside the salubrious surroundings of The Bellagio feels the bite of Winter.

In the wake of the Main Event, Winter placed 38-entrants into the crucible and ground away until there was nothing left. The win, his 10th of his career, and 4th of 2019 edge him over the $15m in live tournament winnings mark, once again proving that the cash game ace is much more than a dab hand at this art.

Aside from the $342,000, which now goes into the Winter children trust fund, the Floridian also picks up 297.76 Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) points. Winter was in the run-in coming into December. Still, his latest bounty won’t be enough given the incredible Five Diamond performances of Alex Foxen, who is sure to be unveiled as the new number one when the results tot up on Wednesday.

Winter has been like a spear through the heart of the winter months, cashing nine times since November 4, including in the money (ITM) finishes at The Poker Masters, MILLIONS World and the WPT Five Diamond. It doesn’t take much coaxing to get Winter to the Bellagio for a tournament. In 2015, he defeated 301-entrants to win the $10,400 NLHE Bellagio Cup XI for $562,772, a personal best at that time, and at this series, he finished 6/60 in a $10,000 NLHE side event.

The win also keeps him in contention for the Poker Central High Roller Player of the Year. Winter was sitting in the fifth position at the last tally (November 14). Still, the leader and defending champion, Sam Soverel, has been as consistent as ever, cashing in six qualifying events since then, and that might wrap it up for the British Poker Open (BPO) and Poker Masters champion.

As you would expect in a $25,000 buy-in event, it wasn’t all wagon wheels and hot chocolate for Winter.

Paul Volpe finished second to David Jackson in a 511-entrant, $2,700, $1m GTD NLHE Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship in November, earning $197,215, so his sixth-place finish wasn’t a surprise.

Stephen Chidwick, the current GPI World #1, flew into Las Vegas after winning the €50,000 NLHE Super High Roller at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Prague, earning €725,710. Chidwick is another player vying for the 2019 GPI PoY award but didn’t pick up any qualifying points despite his fifth-place finish.

Like Winter, Elio Fox is also a former Bellagio Cup winner. Fox won the 224-entrant, $10,080 Main Event in 2011 for $669,692, and his assault on this title ended in fourth place. The third-place finisher was the WPT Champions Club member, Matas Cimbolas. The Lithuanian won his title in the UK back in 2014.

That left Cary Katz, the most consistent non-pro in the business, to take on Winter for the title. Every day must seem like a wedding day for the Poker Central founder, who moves over the $26m in live tournament earnings mark after this latest cash, 15th in the All-Time Money List. Katz cashed in the Main Event in 44th place and won a 27-entrant $10,000 NLHE at the same series. He also won the inaugural Super High Roller Bowl London in September for $2.6m.

Neither player would have had the confidence of the only round wheel in a square wheel shop going into heads-up. Katz lost 50% of his previous 46 heads-up battles, and Winter had lost 15 of his 24.

In the end, the pro defeated the non-pro with Winter taking the $342,000 first prize, and Katz picking up $228,000 for his second-place finish.

ITM Results

1. Sean Winter – $342,000
2. Cary Katz – $228,000
3. Matas Cimbolas – $152,000
4. Elio Fox – $95,000
5. Stephen Chidwick – $76,000
6. Paul Volpe – $57,000

Seth Davies warmed up for the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event at the Bellagio by successfully defending his $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Bellagio High Roller title.

This time last year Davies defeated 50-entrants to win the $341,920 first prize after defeating Isaac Haxton, heads-up. Fast-forward 12-months and Davies was at it again, this time beating a 53-entrant field to take the woolly mammoth share of the $1,325,000 prize pool.

Coming into the final table, four players arrived with the taste of iron underneath their tongues. The world of poker is full of hammerheads, tigers and bulls, but in 2018 there was only one great white. Justin Bonomo won $25.4m in an all-conquering year, and he’s followed it up with the second-best annual haul of his career: $5.6m.

Amongst Bonomo’s recent results is the 8th place finish in the $250,000 Super High Roller Bowl Bahamas for $510,000, and two wins on the Triton Super High Roller Series tour, winning an HKD 250,000 NLHE Short-Deck event in Jeju for $586,114, and a £100,000 NLHE in London for $3.2m. The former One Drop winner came into this one on the back of a 9/60 finish in the $10,000 NLHE event, and won this event in 2017, beating 27-entrants to capture the $310,500 first prize.

Then you had Julien Martini.

The Frenchman is fast becoming known as one of the top tournament players in Europe with his $3.7m 2019 haul a personal best. Martini, who finished runner-up to Ramón Colilas in the $25,000 NLHE PokerStars Player’s Championship in January for $2.9m, came into this one on the back of a 7/541 finish in the €10,350 NLHE World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event for €132,017, and a victory in the Poker Masters, taking down the $10,000 Big Bet Mix for $166,400.

Alex Foxen waltzed into the Bellagio knowing that only a superhuman effort would give him a gnat’s thong chance of retaining the Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) title he won in 2018. He’s still got a long way to go (ranked #10), but what a shift he has put in finishing 5/43, 3/27 and 2/60 in $10,000 NLHE events, and 5/127 in a $5,200 NLHE event. Foxen finished third in this event last year.

If anyone was going to be holding the hound’s leash in pursuit of the fabulous Foxen, then the smart money was on Seth Davies. The Oregon All Time-Money #1, followed up his $25,000 NLHE win at the 2018 Five Diamond with a win in a $10,000 NLHE at the Bellagio (Foxen finished fifth). He strolled into this one in fine fettle, after finishing 5/34 in the $50,000 NLHE Poker Masters Main Event for $136,000, and 5/51 in the $250,000 NLHE Super High Roller Bahamas for $1,020,000.

Bonomo would finish in eighth, Martini in fifth, and Foxen would pick up a further 226.42 GPI PoY points for his third place finish. Davies would use all of his skills, savvy and subterfuge to defeat Giuseppe Iadisernia, heads-up, for the title and $424,000 in prize money, erasing the heartache of losing to Juan Dominguez in the heads-up phase of the €50,000 NLHE event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona in August.

Here is the final in the money results (ITM).

ITM Results

1. Seth Davies – $424,000
2. Giuseppe Iadisernia – $278,250
3. Alex Foxen – $185,500
4. Julien Martini – $132,500
5. Nick Petrangelo – $106,000
6. Freddy Deeb – $79,500
7. Joseph Orsino – $66,250
8. Justin Bonomo – $53,000