Coming from the short stack at the final table, Brazilian online poker pro Alexandre “allingomes” Gomes stunned all in attendance at the Fontana Lounge in the Bellagio by winning the championship of the Bellagio Cup V over many strong competitors.
268 players began the event last week, a drop from the 446 of last year, but the quality of players shone throughout the week. After Mimi Tran was dispatched from the tournament in seventh place on Saturday afternoon, the WPT six-handed television final table was set for play on Sunday afternoon. Leading the way was skillful online player Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, who had dominated the tournament since Day Three on Thursday. With his slightly over five million in chips, he held a sizeable edge over fellow online pro Justin “Boosted J” Smith and professional Erik Seidel, who could only muster 2.9 and 2.1 million chips each.
The pace of play bore no resemblance to the frenetic pace that had taken place throughout the tournament. It took over five hours and over 100 hands before a player was eliminated, setting a new WPT record. Surprisingly, the first to go was the eight-time WSOP bracelet winner Seidel, who couldn’t nail a flush draw against “Boosted J’s” pair of nines. Only fifteen hands after the departure of Seidel from the table came a battle between the last live professional at the table, Christoffer Sonesson, and Gomes, ending with Gomes’ A-Q outracing Sonesson’s pair of fours.
With the two live professionals out of the tournament, it came down to the four veteran internet players – Gomes, Smith, Jaka and Alec “traheho” Torelli – to battle for the championship. In a vast change of style, the eliminations came quicker with only internet players at the table. Twenty hands after Sonesson’s elimination, Gomes was able to double up through Jaka to seize the chip lead, but immediately gave it back when his K-J failed to beat “The-Toilet‘s” pair of Kings. Gomes took out his frustration on the new Doyle’s Room professional Torelli, whom he eliminated in fourth when “allingomes” pocket tens survived against “tradeshow’s” A-Q.
The pace accelerated even more as three-handed action took place. Gomes and Jaka continued to accumulate chips and Justin Smith tried valiantly to maintain the same pace. After playing a patient waiting game through the early half of the final table, “Boosted J” was able to double up on consecutive hands – both on river drawouts – and attempt a comeback. It wasn’t to be, however, as his A-Q ran into Gomes’ A-K to lose most of his stack and Jaka finished Smith off in third when no Ace saved him against Jaka’s pocket Kings.
Down to heads up play, Gomes held a slight lead over Jaka but the duo would trade that lead back and forth. After an hour and a half of heads up action, though, Gomes began to grind down Jaka with the final hand coming after over ten hours of play total at the final table. When the chips went to the center and the cards were shown, Jaka’s A-7 was outdone by Gomes’ A-J and, once the board ran dry, Alexandre Gomes was crowned the champion of the Bellagio Cup.
Here’s what the gentlemen earned for their week of work at the Bellagio:
1. Alexandre Gomes $1,187,670
2. Faraz Jaka 774,780
3. Justin Smith 464,870
4. Alec Torelli 271,165
5. Christoffer Sonesson 203,385
6. Erik Seidel 164,640
Gomes becomes the latest internet poker veteran to capture the Bellagio Cup championship, following in the footsteps of Shannon Shorr (2006) Kevin “beL0WaB0Ve” Saul (2007) and Mike “SirWatts” Watson (2008).
With the first event of Season Eight in the books, the WPT now heads to Los Angeles and the Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino. Last year, John “The Razor” Phan virtually sealed his Player of the Year championship with a victory at this event. Because of its location, the Legends of Poker normally draws one of the toughest fields on the WPT schedule. Play at the Legends begins August 22nd with the champion determined August 26th.