Last week the final big tournament series of the year was organized at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the two biggest events were the $100,00 buy-in WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas and the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger defeated an extremely tough final table to win the Alpha8, while Mohsin Charania overcame a 9-1 chip deficit to claim his second WPT Main Event title in two years.
The final table of the $100,000 WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas started with the following stacks and chipcounts:
Seat 1: Phil Laak – 441.000 (14 bb)
Seat 2: Bryn Kenney – 2.384.000 (79 bb)
Seat 3: Noah Schwartz – 774.000 (25 bb)
Seat 4: Brandon Steven – 1.190.000 (39 bb)
Seat 5: Jason Les – 2.384.000 (79 bb)
Seat 6: Brian Rast – 4.551.000 (151 bb)
Seat 7: Tom Marchese – 1.861.000 (62 bb)
Seat 8: Andrew Lichtenberger – 2.904.000 (96bb)
Lichtenberger started off by winning a big pot against Brian Rast, he check-called three times on a T-9-5-3-6 board with 5-5, while Rast only had a busted flushdraw.
Phil Laak busted in 8th after losing a flip against Brian Rast, and the paying spots were reached with the elimination of Brandon Steven, he also lost a coinflip against Rast.
Bryn Kenney finished in 6th after running his J-J into Noah Schwartz’s Q-Q and being left with only an ante chip and busting the next hand.
Jason Les finished in 5th position, he shoved a little more than 1 million chips on Level 19 (30,000/60,000-5,000 ante) from the button with A-6 suited, Brian Rast reshoved with 8-8 from the small blind, and the best hand held up on the 7-6-3-8-J board.
Four-handed play lasted for a long time and ended during Level 22 (50,000-100,000-10,000 ante) when Lichtenberger raised to 225,000 then snapcalled Schwartz’s 2.155 million shove with T-T. Schwartz held 5-5 and failed to improve.
He was soon followed by Brian Rast who got his final 1.15 million in with 6-7 suited and was called by Lichtenberger’s J-T suited. The 9-5-2-T-J board gave Rast some hope but he failed to catch his straight outs and busted in 3rd.
The heads-up started with Lichtenberger having 9.275 million chips while Marchese was working with a 7.22 million stack.
Marchese managed to grab the lead early on, but Lichtenberger soon doubled with 6-6 against A-5 and managed to build his stack to a slight chiplead. In the final hand of the tournament (60,000-120,000-15,000 ante level) Marchese raised to 300,000, Lichtenberger 3bet to 900,000, Marchese 4bet to 1.9 million, Lichtenberger shoved and Marchese called it off.
Lichtenberger showed down Q-9 suited and was flipping against Marchese’s 8-8. The board came J-4-4-K-5 with three clubs to make Lichtenberger a flush, and with that he won the $2.1 million first prize.
"Luckychewy" has had a lot of success in at the Bellagio in the previous years, having finished in eighth, fourth and fifth place in the WPT Five Diamond Main Event, but this was the first time he managed to won a title at the legendary casino.
Final table results:
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
In the WPT Five Diamond Main Event, the following players reached the final table from the 586 entrants.
Seat 1. Tobias Reinkemeier – 3,625,000 (60 bb)
Seat 2. Ryan Julius – 940,000 (15 bb)
Seat 3. Ryan Fee – 3,055,000 (50 bb)
Seat 4. Garrett Greer – 3,260,000 (54 bb)
Seat 5. Mohsin Charania – 2,415,000 (40 bb)
Seat 6. Brett Shaffer – 4,290,000 (71bb)
The first player to bust was Tobias Reinkemeier, he got all his chips in with A-T suited against Greer’s J-J and failed to get there on the T-6-2-5-Q board.
The next player to go was Ryan Fee, he minraised from the cutoff and Greer flatcalled on the button. Fee continued on the J-T-2 (with two diamonds) flop, and Greer once again flatcalled. The turn was an offsuit 3, Fee bet 1 million, Greer shoved and Fee called all-in, but his A-A was way behind Greer’s J-J, which improved to quads on the river.
Fourth place finisher was Ryan Julius, brother of live/online MTT crusher Kyle Julius, he got his money in with 9-9 only to be called by Brett Shaffer’s A-A.
Charania then doubled through Greer and later through Shaffer, who was eliminated a few hands later. Greer minraised then called for roughly 17 big blinds with KQ suited, which improved to a flush against Shaffer’s 9-9 on the A-J-3-A-3 board.
Charania started the heads-up with a 9-1 chip disadvantage, but he managed to double up four times, including a huge flip where Greer raise/called with A-K against Charania’s 3-3 which held up on the 9-5-2-J-2 board.
Greer managed to double up once, but busted not much later, he moved all-in with 2-2 preflop, Charania called with 9-6, and the board came Q-T-8-4-J to give Charania a straight.
Final Table Results:
1st: Mohsin Charania – $1,477,890
2nd: Garrett Greer – $869,683
3rd: Brett Shaffer – $562,736
4th: Ryan Julius – $383,684
5th: Ryan Fee – $272,842
6th Tobias Reinkemeier – $218,842
