Battling through what proved to be an entertaining final table, poker pro James Carroll captured his first major championship in winning the World Poker Tour’s Bay 101 Shooting Star early this morning in San Jose, CA.
Carroll would start the day on Friday in a difficult position. Chip leader Mukul Pahuja was stacked with 6.47 million chips, good for the lead over Dylan Wilkerson (5.85 million) and Shaun Suller (4.2 million). Carroll’s 2.075 million in chips was good for the fourth spot on the leaderboard, but he had to be concerned with being seated between both Pahuja and Wilkerson. Rounding out the field were former Bay 101 Shooting Star champion Nam Le (1.715 million) and Garrett Greer (1.235 million), who would prove to be the first two eliminations.
Only 27 hands into the final table play, Greer opened up the betting with a min-raise to 120K and Wilkerson pounded in a three bet over him. After some contemplation, Greer decided it was time to make a stand, pushing his stack to the center of the felt. Now it was Wilkerson’s turn to debate his decision, but he would eventually call and turn up a leading pocket pair of nines over Greer’s pocket eights. The flop was blank and a nine on the turn left Greer drawing dead and out of the tournament in sixth place.
Le wasn’t exactly having any success either as his start-of-day chip stack dwindled in the early action. On Hand 42, Le would push his roughly 600K in chips into the pot and Carroll was the player who would look him up. Carroll’s pocket fives held a slim edge over Le’s A-3 off suit and, once the board blanked off for both players, Carroll scooped up Le’s chips as he hit the doors of Bay 101 in fifth place.
After Le’s departure, the final four men settled in for an epic battle. Over the span of over 100 hands, every one of them would hold the lead at one point or another. Pahuja suffered some tough luck during this span, losing out to Wilkerson after Pahuja’s Big Slick was run down by Wilkerson’s A-7 on a 9-9-5-J-7 board, to drop to the short stack at the final table. Although he would double up once through Suller, he would be the next departure from the event.
For Pahuja, it was once again a case of bad luck. After Wilkerson min-raised the pot to 400K, Pahuja pushed over 1.6 million into the pot and Wilkerson made what could be described as a loose call. Pahuja’s A-Q was in front of Wilkerson’s Q-10 pre-flop, but an A-K-J was a Broadway jackpot for Wilkerson. Looking for a ten to split the pot or some running cards to best the straight, Pahuja instead saw an eight on the turn and a seven on the river to end his tournament a disappointing fourth.
Down to three players, the pace of play picked up suddenly. Wilkerson would surge to the lead a few hands after eliminating Pahuja and actually closed in on the ten million chip mark after more than 150 hands of play. It was Carroll, however, who would eclipse that point with his elimination of Suller.
After calling a Carroll min-raise pre-flop, both Suller and Carroll checked to a K-4-2-J turn, at which point Suller check-called a 375K bet from Carroll. A Queen landed on the river, which started a betting war between the duo. After checking, Suller pushed out a check-raise on Carroll, who responded by moving all in. Suller called off and showed a Q-J for a strong two pair. Carroll, however, bested that with his A-10 for the rivered Broadway straight and took down the pot in sending Suller to the rail in third place.
Carroll held slightly more than a three million chip lead over Wilkerson as the twosome headed off to heads up action. Wilkerson would work his way to the lead over the first eight hands of play, but Carroll brought the two stacks back to virtually even only two hands later. It would only take four more hands for the champion to be determined.
On the final hand, Wilkerson opened the betting with a min-raise that was called by Carroll and they looked down at an innocuous 9-4-2 rainbow board. Carroll checked his option and check-raised Wilkerson’s 500K bet to 1.3 million. Wilkerson made the call and, when a deuce paired the board, responded to another check from Carroll with an all-in move. Carroll took a bit of time before making the call, turning up a 6-4 for two pair. Wilkerson mustered an A-5 for a gut shot wheel draw and two over cards but neither would come on the Queen river, delivering the championship to Carroll.
1. James Carroll, $1,256,500
2. Dylan Wilkerson, $728,650
3. Shaun Suller, $477,470
4. Mukul Pahuja, $320,800
5. Nam Le, $223,810
6. Garrett Greer, $174,080
Although Carroll has had success in the tournament poker world (he won the Heartland Poker Tour stop in Las Vegas in November 2013), this was his first major tournament championship. The big payday rocketed his career earnings over $2.2 million and puts him in the mix for the WPT Player of the Year race. Wilkerson, Suller and Pahuja also added points to their POY candidacy, making the final stops on the Season XII schedule incredibly important.
Those stops actually begin today in what is a busy time for the WPT. The WPT Gioco Digitale Venice final table is ongoing at this moment, while stateside players are in action at the WPT Rolling Thunder tournament at the Thunder Valley Casino in Sacramento beginning today. Following the completion of these tournaments, there are only three stops remaining on the Season XII WPT schedule.
