The WPT500 Aria Las Vegas ended with Jon Borenstein topping a huge field of 3,541 entries and winning the coveted title for $230,000. For Indian poker community, the biggest story was Adda52 Team Pro Nikita Luther who made it to Day 2 through the Day 1B flight and was trailing Sapra at 3rd place in chips. The female pro enjoyed all the way a good run and went on to emerge as the final table chip lead in this event. But her run eventually came to an end when she moved all-in with Q-J and was called by Joep Raemaekers with A-K. The board ran A-6-5-J-6.Nikita finished in 5th place for $65,000.
This was the biggest individual cash by any Indian woman in WPT500 Las Vegas this season. Nikita has several big cashes to her credit this year. Before this, she won HK$ 3,600 + 400 No Limit Hold’em – Teams Event at Macau Poker Cup 26, Macau. Very recently, she also cashed out in the ongoing World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2017.
WPT500 Las Vegas was a big tournament from India’s point of view. Many renowned Indian players took part in this event and some of them made deep runs and some even managed to lead starting flights on various days.
India’s Nipun Java who had the chip lead of Day 1F with 110 big blinds also reached the final table in this event along with Nikita Luther but ended his run in 7th place, taking home an impressive $35,000 in prize money.
Adda52 Team Pro Kunal Patni also made a roar by leading the final 28 players on Day 1G of WPT 500 Las Vegas with 975,000 in chips. Kunal ended up his game finishing 15th for $12,700 in this tournament.
Adda52 online qualifier Sumit Sapra who won his seat into this tournament via an online satellite on Adda52.com survived the 279-player field on Day 1C with 763,000 in chips ( 95BB). He eventually finished 30th for $7,000.
India’s Dushyant Shekhawat made Day 2 with 284,000 in chips and managed to make it in the money in this event finishing 35th for $7,000.
The tournament also saw Vinod Megalmani making Day 2 with a stack of 370,000 (62 blinds). He managed to make in the money and finished 53rd for $5,200.
Final Table Recap
The first elimination came on the very first hand when Christopher Bonita and Aleksander Gorman move all-in. Gorman held his hand with pocket aces, Borenstein lost with pocket jacks on the board reading A-8-2-3-8. Bonita went out in ninth place.The next elimination was Antonio Scalzi who moved all in preflop with pocket deuces and Scott Montgomery holding A-J suited made the call. The board gave Montgomery a flush to eliminate Scalzi in eighth place.
One hand later, it was a three-way all-in.This time Joep Raemaekers holding A-Q had two players covered, Borenstein (A-K), and Nipun Java (A-J). The board gave Borenstein a king, and he tripled up to survive. Remarkers won the side pot, while Indian player Java got out in seventh place.
Afer a few hands, Remarkers had Brian Gorman covered all-in preflop on Hand 19. Raemaekers led with pocket kings over Gorman’s A-J. Finally, the kings held and Gorman went out in sixth place.
One hand later, Luther moved all in preflop, and Raemaekers quickly shoved all in over the top so she was at risk for her tournament life. Raemaekers held A-K against the Q-J of Luther on a board dealt A-6-5-J-6. The Adda52 Team Pro Luther was eliminated in fifth place after her deep run in this big field event.
Four-handed play became a bit slow and took over 20 hands of play before there was another all-in confrontation. Montgomery moved all in against Raemaekers preflop. Montgomery’s A-8 lost to pocket kings held by Raemaekers. After Montgomery went out in fourth place, the final three players then advanced to Hand 48 where the players took a break to discuss a deal, and they eventually made an agreement as per their chip counts. Finally, it was Jon Borenstein who won the massive field and walked away with $230,000 for his win.
Final Table Payouts:
- Jon Borenstein – $230,000
- Joep Raemaekers – $160,000
- Aleksandr Gofman – $115,000
- Scott Montgomery – $85,000
- Nikita Luther – $65,000
- Brian Gorman – $50,000
- Nipun Java – $35,000
- Antonio Scalzi – $26,100
- Christopher Bonita – $21,000