In three-months time, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) opens its doors for the 51st Annual poker extravaganza, and what better way to prepare than to take down an event at the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) taking place in the same gaff.
The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino was the venue for the $2,200 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) High Roller as part of the WSOPC Las Vegas, and Martin Zamani took a whip to the 179-entrants, and they all tapped out.
While Zamani isn’t a high stakes reg, his last win before this one was at the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), winning a $25k NLHE event for $895,110. His latest first past the post moment is the third of his career.
Zamani has now earned $2.1m playing live tournaments. He finished 3/43 in a $10,000 NLHE during the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic in December, and 11/169 in the AUD 25,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions in January.
To win the title Zamani had to overcome a final table containing more gold rings than Mr T. Roland Israelishvilli had six, Jasthi Kumar had four, Nick Pupillo had three, Viet Vo had a couple, and Brent Roberts and Alexander Rocha had one apiece.
Zamani had none.
Viet Vo, won the WSOPC Las Vegas II Main Event this time last year, beating 952-entrants to win the $274,030 first prize, and would finish eighth in this one. Pupillo finished fourth in that event and made it to heads-up in this.
Here is the pistachio nutshell action.
The Pistachio Nutshell Action
The final day began with 70-players in the haybarn looking for the fork, and by the time only two tables remained, Zamani had found it.
With the final table set, Vo was the first to exit when his deuces lost a race to Michael Rossitto’s AK, and then the experienced Israelishvilli fell to the experienced Jasthi Kuma when K7 beat AT.
It was at this point in proceedings that Rossitto started throwing bodies down the stairwell. His AK beat the KK of Kumar to send the former WSOPC and WPTDeepStacks Champ into the cold night air. Then his pocket sevens outdrew Alex Rocha’s ladies when a third seven hit the turn.
Zamani took care of Brent Roberts when AQ beat K8, and then overcame Rossitto’s massive chip lead to axe him in the third spot when 98 beat A5, blind on blind, with Zamani hitting a straight.
Heads-Up
Pupillo was the most experienced heads-up player when it came to the live tournament end game, winning 13 and losing 15 of his 28-encounters. Zamani had played two, won two.
Make that three.
Pupillo faced a significant chip disadvantage and did double-up twice, but finally fell when JJ beat K8. Pupillo also lost versus Jeffrey Copeland in a $300 NLHE side event at the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) in St Louis a few days before hopping into this one.
Here are the final table results.
Final Table Results
- Martin Zamani – $89,143
- Nick Pupillo – $55,085
- Michael Rossitto – $38,365
- Brent Roberts – $27,334
- Alex Rocha – $19,932
- Jasthi Kumar – $14,884
- Roland Isrealashvilii – $11,388
- Viet Vo – $8,934
Three more stars who echoed deep into this one were Justin Young (11th), Aaron Massey (13th), and Brian Green (14th).