Darryll Fish took down the latest WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open $3,500 Championship after what could easily be called an epic heads-up battle against Aleksandr Shevelev. Fish, a WPT regular and a frequent visitor of the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood Florida, captured his first title from the series as well as an attractive payout of $511,604.
The player proceeded into the final day of the event third in chips, with Shevelev and Ness Reilly being the only two players with larger chip stacks at that point. Shevelev navigated through the six-handed final table quite easily to eventually keep his lead into the heads-up duel.
Alan Krockey was the first player to leave on Day 5 of the Championship event. The player collected $104,784 for his sixth-place finish. Brett Bader, Ness Reilly, and former WPT champion Andy Frankenberger then busted in that order. They received $137,440, $182,249, and $244,342, respectively, for running deep into the event.
Heads-Up Duel
The two-handed match began with Shevelev holding 15.875 million to his final opponent’s 11.44 million. As mentioned earlier, the two players battled it out for four hours before the name of the winner became clear.
On Hand #111 of the event’s final table, Fish took the lead after winning a massive pot of nearly 8.5 million. While that turn of events was particularly important, it took three more hours of action, during which chips swung back and forth and the lead switched hands on several occasions.
Hand #209 turned out to be the final one played within the tournament. The two players found themselves locked into an all-in confrontation pre-flop. Fish was holding [Kd][Js] against his opponent’s [Ac][10h]. The [Qc][9d][8d][Kc][10d] appeared on the board to secure the title for Fish.
Shevelev, who ended Days 3 and 4 as the overnight chip leader and maintained it for a great part of Day 5, collected $331,116 for his runner-up finish.
Commenting on his triumph, Fish told WPT staff that it felt really special to win the tournament at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino Hollywood. The player went on to explain that the casino’s Tournament Director, Tony Burns, was a longtime friend of his and that they had even gone to a dealer school together. Winning a WPT event at his friend’s workplace felt “extra special”, Fish elaborated.
However, the player said that while he enjoyed his brand new title, he was somewhat used to playing poker for the money.
Including last night’s victory, Fish currently has more than $3.7 million in live tournament winnings. What is more, his cash from the Lucky Hearts Poker Open instantly became the largest one he has ever collected from a live tournament. Fish has cashed in as many as 150 different poker events, many of which WPT ones, over the course of the past ten years.
Source : www.casinonewsdaily.com
