Nearly leading the tournament wire-to-wire, Antonio Esfandiari took down the Five Diamond World Poker Classic, a stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT). Esfandiari, a Victory Poker pro, banked $870,000 for his efforts. The tournament can be seen as part of Season 9 of the WPT on Fox Sports Net next year.
After entering the six-handed final table with just over 10 big blinds, Ted Lawson was eliminated on the second hand. Lawson 3bet all-in pre-flop with pocket nines and PokerStars pro Vanessa Rousso, who entered the final table as chip leader, woke up with pocket queens. Lawson flopped a nine to make a set, but Rousso hit a queen on the turn for a better set. The river was a king and Lawson earned $126,000 after the wild hand.
On the 47th hand of final table play, Kirk Morrison bit the dust in fifth place. Andrew “good2cu” Robl shoved all-in on a board of A-10-5-9 and Morrison called for his tournament life, flipping over A-J for top pair. Robl, however, held pocket fives for a set and Morrison was drawing dead to the river. Morrison picked up $168,000 for his fifth place finish in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member John Racener was the next to go. A short-stacked Racener shoved all-in under-the-gun with Q-8 of clubs and received a call from Esfandiari, who tabled K-Q. Esfandiari flopped a king to take a commanding lead and no help came for Racener, who earned $232,000. His runner-up finish to Jonathan Duhamel in the Main Event last month was worth $5.5 million, or 23 times his payday at the Bellagio WPT event.
On the 89th hand of final table play, Esfandiari was crippled to just 10 big blinds. However, he mounted the comeback of the century, ultimately doubling up through Rousso and then scooping a pot worth 3.2 million to become the tournament’s chip leader. Rousso ultimately hit the rail in third place after pushing pre-flop with Q-2 of hearts and running into Esfandiari’s A-Q. The board came 7-6-5-3-8 and Rousso, a GoDaddy Girl, earned $358,000.
Robl entered heads-up play against Esfandiari with a slight chip lead, 9.5 million to 8.1 million, with each player having over 40 big blinds to work with. On the last hand, the 181st of final table play, Robl open-shoved all-in with Q-10 and Esfandiari made the call with K-J. The A-K-6 all diamond flop gave Esfandiari a pair, but also gave Robl a flush draw. The six of clubs and five of spades filled out the final community cards and Esfandiari earned his second WPT title.
On the final table, which ended with two Victory Poker pros battling it out, Esfandiari told WPT hostess Kimberly Lansing, “It was legendary. It was tough. It was fun. It was exciting. It was all of the above and I’m so glad to come out ahead. You have no idea. I don’t think it’s sunk in.”
Here’s how the final table cashed out in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic:
1. Antonio Esfandiari – $870,124
2. Andrew “good2cu” Robl – $549,003
3. Vanessa Rousso – $358,964
4. John Racener – $232,271
5. Kirk Morrison – $168,924
6. Ted Lawson – $126,693
The WPT will now take a six-week break for the holidays, reconvening on January 23rd for the Southern Poker Championship at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi. The $10,000 buy-in poker tournament will crown a winner on January 27th.
