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
- Sean Winter – $342,000
- Cary Katz – $228,000
- Matas Cimbolas – $152,000
- Elio Fox – $95,000
- Stephen Chidwick – $76,000
- Paul Volpe – $57,000