The Bellagio has been hosting the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Classic over the past week, and it finally came to a conclusion last night in Las Vegas.
Taking the spoils was Dan Smith, who added over $1.1 million to his impressive CV of results. It was his first WPT title and the second highest score of his career.
He was joined at the final table by Joe Serock, who was looking for third or better for the biggest score of his career. It wasn’t to be though, as he three-bet all in with Q♠-T♥ only to be called by Smith’s A♥-J♠. An Ace on the flop effectively sealed Serock’s elimination in sixth.
Barry Hutter was next to go in an interesting pre-flop war between three players. Eddy Sabat – who featured heavily in the PCA 2013 programmes – opened the action to 90,000 and Hutter made it 275,000 from the small blind, only to see Dan Smith call from the big. When the action made it back to Sabat he made it a cool million to go, Hutter moved all-in and Smith folded. And it was the pocket Kings of Sabat that prevailed against Hutter’s A♠-K♣ on a safe board, knocking him out in fifth.
It took a long time for the next bustout but eventually Shaun Suller fell in fourth. He moved all in from the button with A♦-9♦ and Eddie Sabat found pocket Queens in the blinds to make the final table three-handed.
Sabat had taken the chip lead but it was him to leave us in third. After a swingy period three-handed he moved all-in from the button with the same hand as fourth placed Shaun Suller. Smith called from the small blind with K♠-Q♠ and was stacking chips once the K♦-J♣-6♠-3♣-T♠ board fell.
Gary Benson had been quiet during the final table and had managed to ladder to heads-up play with just 14 big blinds. Unfortunately for him Smith had built a huge stack and it didn’t take long for him to use it to full effect. Benson committed his short stack with pocket Fours but had already resigned himself to second place once Smith’s K♠-T♦ had made top pair on the flop. It left Smith just needing to avoid a four, and the two-outer failed to materialise, handing Smith another major win!
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Brian Rast takes down Five Diamond high roller
On Tuesday night Brian Rast defeated poker legend Erik Seidel heads-up to claim victory the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Classic $100,000 high roller event.
A small field of just 22 runners meant just three players would finish in the money. And it was a harsh bubble for Jean-Noel Thorel, who missed out on the $433,400 min cash. That prize went to Roger Sippi, who now has two cashes in the same event, following his return in the 2011 Five Diamond high roller.
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Photo courtesy of WPT Live Updates
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