Let’s just say that Ryan Tosoc will be staying at the Bellagio whenever he is in Las Vegas. This weekend, Tosoc won the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event and nearly $2 million, just a year after finishing this same tournament as the runner-up and earning over $1.1 million. Methinks he can splurge for the Bellagio’s Presidential Suite* during his next stay.
Last year’s event was the largest-ever for the Five Diamond, as it garnered 791 entries. This one was bigger, with the re-entry format helping the field climb to 812 $10,000 entries. If you did the math above (with my rounded-off numbers), Tosoc has now won more than $3 million at the Five Diamond, accounting for the vast majority of his live tournament earnings. He has a nice list of cashes, but only one other is even in the low six-figure range (and it is at this point that I give my usual disclaimer that I would KILL for a low six-figure poker score).
“It feels unreal,” Tosoc told WPT.com afterward. “I kind of feel like I’m in a dream right now.”
Poker can be an emotional game, especially since you can make perfect decisions and still come out on the losing end, but Tosoc tried not to get too high or too low during the Main Event.
“During the tournament, I like to just keep even-keeled,” he said. “The only time like I felt like I was going to win was when I was all in with Queen-Ten. I just felt that jack coming.”
It is not every day that players feel ultra-confident when all-in with just Queen-Ten, but I guess that’s the mojo you get when you are on your way to winning one of the World Poker Tour’s most prestigious events.
That Queen-Ten was on the final hand of the tournament and frankly, Tosoc had every right to feel that victory was coming, as he had an enormous chip lead at that point over Alex Foxen, 21.450 million chips to just 2.925 million.
Tosoc raised pre-flop with the aforementioned hole cards, as one would expect, and then Foxen shoved all-in with a dominated A-T. With little to lose by calling (and not REALLY all-in), Tosoc looked him up.
The flop was 9-3-K, a good one for Foxen, though Tosoc did gain a gutshot straight draw. As he already told WPT.com, he felt the Jack coming and it certainly did so on the turn. Foxen, though, now had a chance at a better straight. Another Jack was dealt on the river, shutting the door on Foxen’s chances and given Ryan Tosoc a one-spot better finish than last year and his first WPT title.
2017 World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event – Final Table Results
1. Ryan Tosoc – $1,958,065
2. Alex Foxen – $1,134,202
3. Mike Del Vecchio – $752,196
4. Sean Perry – $504,090
5. Away Chabra – $350,500
6. Richard Kirsch – $271,736
*I do not know if the Bellagio has something called the Presidential Suite.