WPT Bellagio Bursts Bubble, LaPinta Wins WSOPC, Ochana Wins HPT

WPT Bellagio into the Money

The World Poker Tour was settled in at the Bellagio in Las Vegas for the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event. The $10,300 reentry tournament attracted a total of 449 entries for a $4,355,300 prize pool.

Day 2 finished with 140 players, and Day 3 ended up with 59 of them and Don Nguyen in the chip lead. Only 45 players were to be paid.

Day 4 started with Paul Klann and Trevor Pope exiting the field, and the 47^th place elimination of Cliff Josephy launched hand-for-hand play. Kevin Eyster then had pocket kings cracked by Steven Silverman and his pocket jacks, which eliminated Eyster in 46^th place. The remaining players were then guaranteed at least $21,700.

Michael Benvenuti was the first player to cash, followed by Adam Bilzerian, Galen Hall, and Mike Sexton. At the next break, only 40 players remained, and Dan Martin was the chip leader with 1.1 million.

Joseph LaPinta Wins WSOPC Atlantic City

The World Series of Poker Circuit stop at Harrah’s in Atlantic City hosted its $1,675 NLHE Main Event with two starting flights on December 7. There were a total of 578 players and an $867,000 prize pool.

Day 2 thinned the field from 189 players all the way to the final table, bursting the money bubble along the way to begin paying out the top 63 finishers. Ultimately, the final table was set with Fabrizio Sarra in the lead with 2 million chips.

Short-stacked Kevin Kernan was the first to exit, but another short stack, Joseph LaPinta, doubled up early and found momentum that led him to dominate the table from four-handed play on. LaPinta took a massive chip lead into heads-up play with Wertz and won the tournament handily to capture the WSOPC ring.

Results:

1^st place: Joseph LaPinta ($182,070)

2^nd place: Joseph Wertz ($112,615)

3^rd place: John Jones ($82,384)

4^th place: Keith Donovan ($61,106)

5^th place: Fabrizio Sarra ($45,977)

6^th place: Jeremy Wien ($35,070)

7^th place: Melad Marji ($27,120)

8^th place: James Dorrance ($21,259)

9^th place: Kevin Kernan ($16,889)

Edward Ochana Wins HPT Majestic Star

The last stop of the Heartland Poker Tour’s ninth season was in Gary, Indiana. The Majestic Star Casino Hotel hosted tournaments for the HPT from November 22 through December 9, but the Main Event began on December 5 with four starting flights over the course of two days.

Ultimately, the tournament drew a total of 448 players for a prize pool of $654,080. The top 45 players were to be paid, with the winner looking at a payout of more than $150K.

Day 2 brought back 90 players with Christopher Underwood leading the pack with 665K chips. Later in the day, it was the 46^th place elimination of Alan Wehbi on the money bubble that assured the rest of the field $3,504 each.

Play then moved on until Andrzej Rogowski was ousted by Edward Ochana in tenth place for $11,355. The final table was then set for December 9 with Imari Love in the chip lead.

Action played out with Love finishing in third place and Ochana taking a solid chip lead into heads-up play against Aaron Massey. About a dozen hands later, Ochana grabbed the final HPT title of the year.

Results:

1^st place: Edward Ochana ($152,477)

2^nd place: Aaron Massey ($94,082)

3^rd place: Imari Love ($61,640)

4^th place: Nick Schwarmann ($42,823)

5^th place: Joseph Hebda ($31,793)

6^th place: Nemesio Alegado ($24,656)

7^th place: John Grace ($21,347)

8^th place: George Diezt ($17,519)

9^th place: Ryan Olson ($14,274)