After the oddity of beginning the day with a 10-handed final table, Justin Young exorcised the demons of an earlier World Poker Tour final table loss in defeating Garrett Greer to emerge victorious in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in Hollywood, FL, last night.
Instead of having the official six-handed WPT final table to start the festivities on Wednesday, ten players came back for action. Hyoung Chae was atop the mountain with his 6.225 million in chips, but Tim Reilly, Sam Soverel, Matt Haugen and Ben Tarzia were all within two million chips. Young and Greer were in the bottom half of the table alongside the player that many eyes were on, Cate Hall, who had the chance to take over the WPT Player of the Year lead with a third place finish or higher and the opportunity to become the first woman to win an open WPT event.
It would only take four hours to work down to the official final table. Eight hands into the start of the day’s play, William Foxen would be eliminated by Reilly, Reilly’s A-9 catching an unnecessary Ace on the flop against Foxen’s K-8 to take the hand. Hall’s run at poker immortality would end in ninth place after Soverel’s pocket Queens nailed a set on the flop on Hand 11, easily topping her A-5 to eliminate her. As Hall collected her $65,404 for her finish, it also confirmed that Mike Shariati would win the Season XIV WPT Player of the Year award.
The eliminations would calm for a bit as the final eight players vied for the right to be in that special six who would make it to the television broadcast. Both Young and Greer would get key doubles, Greer getting his through Reilly and Young through Andrey Plotnikov, before Chae knocked off Plotnikov on Hand 47 with the classic cooler, Chae’s pocket Aces over Plotnikov’s pocket Queens. Once Tarzia took down Soverel, his pocket Queens winning the race against Soverel’s A♦ J♦, the “official” WPT final table was set with Haugen in the lead and Chae, Tarzia and Young in hot pursuit.
Chae took over the lead on the very first hand of the “official” final table, using a pip on his A-9 to take a nearly six million chip pot from Haugen’s K-9 on a 9-8-2-5-2 board. The action then immediately slammed to a halt, with the play taking a “raise it and take it” style for the next 17 hands. Then Chae and Haugen clashed again, this time with Haugen emerging on the other side victorious in a 5.4 million pot after his A-6 found two pair on an A-8-6-J-9 board.
Young would seize the lead on Hand 26 after a battle against Haugen. The active Haugen popped the pot to 300K from middle position and Young made the call off the button. On a Q-10-6 flop, Haugen fired out and, after a Young call, the duo saw a 9♠. Haugen fired again, but this time Young came over him with a raise to 1.8 million. After a pause, Haugen made the call and saw another Queen come on the river. Haugen checked and, after Young popped a massive 2.6 million bet into the pot, Haugen decided to muck, handing the pot and the lead to Young.
Young would hold the lead over the next 50-plus hands until Chae got active. He eliminated Tarzia in sixth place and Reilly in fifth to take a seven million chip lead by Hand 77. Over the next 30 hands, however, Young would climb back to the lead over Chae as Haugen and Greer looked to catch up. Greer would be the one who would do that, powering over the 10 million chip mark in taking four consecutive hands, while Haugen would fall in fourth place at the hands of Young when Haugen couldn’t find an Ace for his A-J against Young’s pocket Jacks on a K-10-7-7-3 board.
Now down to three players, the combatants were separated by only 1.8 million chips with Chae holding the edge. They shuffled chips for 20 hands before, on Hand 146, Greer and Chae went to battle in a hand that would seismically change the competition. After a Greer raise, Chae three-bet from the small blind and Greer made the call. A J-9-3 flop hit the felt and Chae fired out a two million chip bet, which Greer called. When the 10♥ hit the turn, Chae moved all in but it was the wrong moment; Greer called off the remainder of his stack and showed pocket threes for the flopped set. Chae was drawing dead with his A-J and, after the meaningless river card (the 8♣, for the record), Greer rocketed to the lead with 22 million chips and Chae was left with scraps, barely over a million.
On Hand 150, Chae would be eliminated by Young in third place and the heads up match was set. Greer was in a dominant position, his 22.45 million in chips towering over Young’s 14.2 million, and Greer quickly powered to more than a 3:1 lead after only 11 hands of play. Young fought back, however, and on Hand 163 he would pull a double off of Greer when his A-9 found magic on the flop (A-Q-5-6-Q) against Greer’s pocket fours to take back the lead.
That would prove to be the hand that won the tournament. Although it would take another 11 hands, Greer never returned to the lead. It would take a bit of a bad beat, however, to take down Greer in this tournament.
On the final hand, Young would push the betting up to 900K and Greer moved all in for his 10 million chip stack. Young didn’t hesitate in calling and, after the cards were up, he was in difficult shape. Young’s K-Q was a statistical underdog to Greer’s A-8 and, after an Ace came in the window, looked to be in even more trouble. There was a King on the flop too, however, keeping a glimmer of hope alive for Young. A Jack on the turn wasn’t the face card he was looking for, but the Queen on the river was as Young’s rivered two pair eclipsed Greer’s Aces to earn Young the title at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown.
1. Justin Young, $669,161
2. Garrett Greer, $458,722
3. Hyoung Chae, $297,336
4. Matt Haugen, $220,207
5. Tim Reilly, $164,113
6. Ben Tarzia, $132,560
With the victory, Young will be a part of the Monster WPT Tournament of Champions, which starts on Friday.
Today’s action in Florida will wrap up the other tournament before the play of the ToC. The WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Finale, the $10,000 buy-in event that started on Sunday, will conclude with its six-handed final table today. David ‘Chino’ Rheem is at the helm of the final table in looking for his third WPT championship (which would tie him with Carlos Mortensen, Gus Hansen and Anthony Zinno), but another story to watch is that of Adrian Mateos. The former World Series of Poker Europe Main Event and European Poker Tour Grand Final champion, Mateos is looking for the final piece of the pie to complete poker’s Triple Crown, which would put him in rarefied air with only five other men who have achieved that honor (Gavin Griffin, Roland de Wolfe, Jake Cody, Bertrand Grospellier, Davidi Kitai). Mateos sits in fifth place at the start of the day, but he can’t be counted out of making a run towards the top of the charts and making history in Florida.
