The World Poker Tour wrapped up their 2014 tournament poker schedule on Saturday night at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, with Mohsin Charania joining the ranks of multiple WPT winners in taking down the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic and Andrew Lichtenberger emerging victorious in a heated battle in the Alpha8.
WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic – Final Table
The six men who came to the felt on Saturday afternoon were all looking to take down the massive $1,477,890 prize, but it was Brett Shaffer who was in the best position to achieve that feat. With his 4.29 million in chips, Shaffer held a sizeable lead over Tobias Reinkemeier (3.625 million) and more than a million chips over WPT “Ones to Watch” Garrett Greer (3.26 million) and Ryan Fee (3.055 million). Charania started the day with 2.415 million, while Ryan Julius rode the short stack (940,000) and was looking to get back in the match.
Julius would do that only five hands into the action when he doubled up through Fee, his pocket sixes holding on against Fee’s A-Q. That hand would push Julius over Charania on the leaderboard, but it was still anyone’s tournament as the six men were separated by roughly two million chips. Following a period of chip shuffling between the sextet, the action ramped up and players began to hit the Bellagio’s cashiers’ cage.
On Hand 36, Reinkemeier (who had bled chips through the early going) made a bet from the cutoff position, but Greer moved all in against him to put him to a decision for his tournament life. After some contemplation, Reinkemeier made the call, tabling an A-10 against Greer’s pocket Jacks, and was able to stay alive on the 10-6-2 flop. A five on the turn and a Queen on the river didn’t improve Reinkemeier anymore, however, as the German hit the exits in sixth place.
Seven hands later, the next elimination was made. Fee min-raised out of the cutoff and Greer once again looked him up by calling from the button. A J-10-2 flop brought a continuation bet out of Fee and a sly Greer simply called. On a trey turn, Fee pushed out a million chip bet and Greer struck, pushing his chips to the center with Fee making the call. Fee had been out-flopped with his pocket Aces as Greer hit the set with his pocket Jacks (again); once the case Jack gave Greer unnecessary quads on the river, Fee was out in fifth place. Six hands later, it was Julius’ time to go. All in with pocket nines, Julius found a caller in Shaffer’s pocket Aces. Once an innocuous board ran on the felt, Julius was eliminated in fourth place.
After that flurry of eliminations, the three remaining players – Greer (10.675 million), Shaffer (5.065 million) and Charania (1.845 million) – would slog through what was at that point the longest run at the final table without an elimination. Over the course of 60 hands, however, Charania was able to rebuild his depleted stack, doubling up through Greer and picking up smaller pots along the way. Greer, however, would stay in the lead by knocking off Shaffer in third place to move to heads up play with more than a 3:1 lead over Charania.
Charania immediately went on the attack but, after 30 hands of heads up, fell even further behind Greer. Charania would then go on a magical run of ten hands in which he would double up three times to take over the chip lead from Greer. On the final hand, Greer moved all in and Charania made the call. Greer’s pocket deuces was locked in a virtual 50/50 fight with Charania’s 9-6 off suit, but the Q-10-8 rainbow flop brought a wealth of outs for Charania. A four on the turn changed nothing, but the Jack on the river gave Charania one of those outs to a straight, allowing him to defeat Greer and capture his second WPT title.
1. Mohsin Charania, $1,477,890
2. Garrett Greer, $869,683
3. Brett Shaffer, $562,736
4. Ryan Julius, $383,684
5. Ryan Fee, $272,842
6. Tobias Reinkemeier, $218,842
WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas – Final Table
Brian Rast led the final eight men to the felt for the inaugural WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas battle, but it would be a difficult fight for whomever became the latest champion in that series. Such players as Phil Laak, Bryn Kenney, Noah Schwartz, Brandon Steven, Jason Les, Tom Marchese and Lichtenberger comprised the final table and, with only six of the combatants earning a payday in the tournament, no one wanted to be left out of their piece of the $5.395,500 prize pool.
Laak, on the short stack for much of the last couple of days of the tournament, finally succumbed to Les when his pocket sixes came up short against Les’ rivered pair of Jacks. The unfortunate “bubble boy” would be Steven, who wound up in a race (A-Q) against Rast (pocket tens) and couldn’t find anything to work with on the eight-high board. With everyone now assured of a minimum $323,730 payday, the action slowed down tremendously.
At this point, Lichtenberger had taken over the lead from Rast and began a slow but steady march towards the championship. Kenney, Les and Schwartz would drop from the tournament over the course of 140+ hands, leaving Lichtenberger in firm command (10.18 million chips) over Rast (3.82 million) and Marchese (2.495 million). By the time Lichtenberger eliminated Rast in third place, however, Marchese had crept closer to Lichtenberger with only two million chips separating the final duo.
Lichtenberger and Marchese would battle over 40 hands (with little change in their chip stacks) before the penultimate hand occurred. After a Marchese raise, Lichtenberger three-bet the action to 900K in chips. Marchese took a little time in moving out a four-bet and, after Lichtenberger moved all-in, immediately called and tabled his pocket eights. Lichtenberger’s Q♣ 9♣ needed some help, which came on the J♣ 4♣ 4♥ flop; once a K♣ hit the turn, Lichtenberger moved into the lead just needing to dodge an eight on the river. When an innocent 5♦ completed the board, Lichtenberger scooped up the pot and the championship of the WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas.
1. Andrew Lichtenberger, $2,104,245
2. Tom Marchese, $1,240,965
3. Brian Rast, $755,370
4. Noah Schwartz, $539,550
5. Jason Les, $431,630
6. Bryn Kenney, $323,730
(Steven and Laak (seventh and eighth, respectively) finished out of the money.)
With the conclusion of these two tournaments, the WPT will take a break until 2015. The WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open in Atlantic City will be the next stop, with the WPT Main Event taking place from January 25-30.
