Etching his name into the history books, David ‘Chino’ Rheem became only the fourth player in World Poker Tour history to take down three WPT championships (following Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen and Anthony Zinno) when he was able to defeat Aditya Prasetyo in heads up play to win the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Finale last night in Hollywood, FL.
Rheem started off the day in good shape, sitting behind Richard Leger’s 4.01 million stack with a decent 3.43 million of his own. Prasetyo held down the third place slot on the start-of-day leaderboard with his 2.62 million in chips and William Benson was in the mix with 2.23 million. Someone else with something on the line for the day was Adrian Mateos, looking to capture poker’s Triple Crown but starting the day as the second lowest stack with only 850,000 in chips. World Series of Poker bracelet holder Bryan Piccioli was in the unenviable position of looking up at all of these competitors with a lack of ammunition, only 535,000 in chips.
In fact, it was that lack of ammunition that saw Piccioli leave rather rapidly. On the third hand of play, Piccioli found an A-10 that was good to jam with; the only problem was Leger woke up with an A-Q that eliminated him from the tournament in sixth place. Roughly 30 hands later, it was Benson’s turn to take the long walk from the tournament arena as he also fell at the hands of Leger after Leger flopped an unnecessary set of sevens that Benson’s A♥ 9♥ could never catch up with.
Down to four handed, Leger held a slim lead over an active Rheem as Mateos stayed viable (after a key double up through Rheem) and Prasetyo hung on for dear life. After a break to move up to Level 26 (30K-60K blinds, 10K ante), Mateos became even more active as, on Hand 50, he forced both Prasetyo and Rheem out of a pot with an all-in move to crack the three million chip mark. On Hand 60, however, Mateos would run into a hand that basically ended any hope of his Triple Crown dreams.
In a battle of the blinds, Mateos and Prasetyo saw a K♦ 7♣ 5♣ flop that Mateos bet 60K on, drawing a call from Prasetyo. An 8♣ on the turn brought a second bullet out of Mateos, this time for 250K, but Prasetyo didn’t go anywhere in making the call. A 5♥ on the river left Mateos trying to figure out just what he could get in value from Prasetyo, with the former WSOP Europe and European Poker Tour Grand Final champion finally settling on 625K as the bet. Prasetyo deliberated quickly and made the call, with Mateos showing a Q♣ 4♣ for a Queen high flush. It wasn’t good enough, however, as Prasetyo turned up A♣ 3♣ for the nut flush to take the massive hand. Left with only about 700K in chips, Mateos would be gone three hands later in fourth place, with Prasetyo cleaning up what he started.
Down to three players, the tournament bogged down. Almost 70 hands after Mateos’ departure, Leger would finally succumb to the two full-time professionals at the table. After a Rheem raise, Leger would move all in and Rheem looked him up. Rheem was happy to see that his A-10 was in the lead over Leger’s A-3 and the 9-9-5-6-K did nothing to change the situation. Gone in third place, Leger still racked up his biggest ever tournament score for his third place finish ($311,305).
Rheem held a 3.4 million chip lead over Prasetyo as their heads up battle began and it also would be a lengthy fight. Although he would never take the lead, Prasetyo made Rheem work for his third WPT title, dragging out the fight 40 hands before committing his final chips with K-9. Rheem went to work with a 7-6 that, following a J-10-4 flop, didn’t look that good. A seven on the turn changed the fortunes, though, and another seven on the river would seal the deal, earning David ‘Chino’ Rheem his third WPT title in sunny southern Florida.
1. David ‘Chino’ Rheem, $705,885
2. Aditya Prasetyo, $484,130
3. Richard Leger, $311,305
4. Adrian Mateos, $200,510
5. William Benson, $154,585
6. Bryan Piccioli, $127,905
Not that he needed it as a former WPT champion (who would have had to pay a $15,000 buy-in), but Rheem also earned his buy-in to the Monster WPT Tournament of Champions, which started on Friday, via his victory in this event.
That is the final matter of business for the WPT’s Season XIV schedule. The Monster WPT Tournament of Champions – the invitation event that is only open to the past champions on the circuit, with every tournament winner other than those winning during the past season having to pony up $15K – is replacing the WPT World Championship. Rheem may have the chance to do something that no one has done on the WPT – win two WPT titles within a week’s time!
