In a result that should surprise exactly nobody, Anthony Zinno won the 2015 World Poker Tour (WPT) Fallsview Poker Classic Main Event Monday night, claiming about $400,000 in combined prize money and a seat in the WPT Championship at the end of the season.
This is Zinno’s second WPT title, the first coming in 2013 when he won the WPT Borgata Poker Open Mani Event. He has now won nearly $1.9 million in live tournaments, the bulk of which came from his two WPT wins (over $1.2 million combined). Interestingly (or not), those are Zinno’s only two six-figure cashes; according to TheHendonMob.com, his next highest was for $86,964 when he placed fourth in the 2013 Deep Stack Extravaganza III Main Event.
Zinno went into the six-handed final table with a significant chip lead, holding 4.73 million chips while the second place player, Corey Hochman, had 2.795 million. Within minutes, not only was Zinno’s lead larger, but he only had three opponents, rather than five, to beat.
On the very first hand of the final table, short-stacked Erik Cajelais moved all-in pre-flop for 615,000 chips (he started with 620,000, but there was a 5,000 chip ante) after Hochman raised to 100,000. Hochman called with A-8, while Cajelais tabled A-2 suited. They both paired their kickers on the flop, but with no other improvement on the turn or river, Hochman won the hand with the better pair. Just like that, the tournament was down to five players.
On the very next hand, Zinno raised pre-flop to 125,000 and the new short stack, Jeremy Halaska, made the call. They both checked when the flop produced T-T-9, but on the turn King, Zinno bet 80,000. Halaska raised him to 175,000 and Zinno put the pressure on by shoving all-in. After some careful thought, Halaska put another 835,000 chips in the pot for an all-in of his own, turning over A-K for a pair of Kings. Zinno, though, had T-8, good for trip Tens. The river was of no help and Halaska was out in fifth place, the second player to be eliminated in the first two hands of the day.
Things didn’t operate that quickly from that point on, but it only took until hand 29 (thank you, WPT.com) for the next elimination. Corey Hochman raised pre-flop and David Cloutier moved all-in for nearly a million chips with Q-5 suited. Hochman called with pocket Eights, flopped an Eight, and that was that.
Surprisingly, Hochman was the next to go. He had actually built up his stack to take a sizeable lead, wresting control from Zinno, but on hand 69, Zinno doubled through Hochman to take back the lead in a major way. On the very next hand, Hochman put his last 1.32 million into the middle pre-flop with K-T and Zinno called him with A-Q. Both men hit their higher cards, but since Zinno’s was higher, he won and Hochman was eliminated in third place.
Zinno went into heads-up play against Mark Bailey with a big lead, 9.12 million to 3.485 million. Zinno was in control most of the time, even getting Bailey to under 2 million chips, but had trouble sealing the deal. On hand 123, Bailey scooped a big pot to pull almost into a tie, but that didn’t shake Zinno, who maintained the lead the rest of the way.
For as large of a chip lead Zinno had at points, it was a bit surprising that prior to the final hand, he was up by less than a million. On that hand, Zinno limped for 250,000, Bailey raised 750,000, and Zinno called to bring on a flop of 8-4-2. Suddenly, Bailey shoved for 5.175 million chips and Zinno quickly called, flipping over pocket Kings. Bailey had A-J suited, giving him a flush draw and an overcard that could beat Zinno’s Kings, but he didn’t hit any of his outs and just like that, it was all over.
2015 World Poker Tour Fallsview Poker Classic Main Event – Final Table Results
1. Anthony Zinno – $380,021 (plus seat in WPT Championship)
2. Mark Bailey – $266,394
3. Corey Hochman – $171,294
4. David Cloutier – $126,674
5. Jeremy Halaska – $95,100
6. Erik Cajelais – $76,194
