After battling from the brink of elimination, Mike Shariati stunned Freddy Deeb early Saturday morning to capture the championship of the World Poker Tour’s Legends of Poker Main Event at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, FL.
As he had for the prior two day, Aaron Kweskin came to the six-handed WPT final table with a decent chip lead (7.675 million to 5.23 million) over Shariati. Deeb had settled into the third place slot at the table with his 4.495 million in chips and Brent Roberts was still quite viable in the tournament with 3.585 million in chips. The two short stacks at the table, Stan Jablonski (1.56 million) and Craig Chait (1.035 million) had their work cut out for them if they were to make it to the top of the table.
Unfortunately, it was the two “shorties” that had their issues in making the charge but, to be honest, they both ran into bigger hands. Only six hands into the final table play, Chait decided to take a stand with a strong A-J off suit from under the gun and pushed all in, but Deeb woke up on the button with Big Slick and made the call. After the board ran Queen high, Chait’s stack was pushed over to Deeb as he exited in sixth place. Deeb, meanwhile, rode those chips to eventually take over the lead.
The players then settled in for a few hands before Jablonski’s tournament would come to an end. On the button, Jablonski pushed his more than a million chip stack to the center in an attempt to force out the blinds. It worked against Shariati, but Roberts in the big blind looked him up with an A-10. Jablonski was on the steal with a Q-10 and, after no Queen came on the 6-5-2-K-7 board, he was the next out in fifth place as Roberts rose to challenge Deeb.
Four handed play would last for an astonishing 46 hands that were virtually dominated by Deeb. Looking for his record-tying third WPT championship, the veteran poker pro put all of his skills on display, including a stunning bluff of Kweskin that sent a 4.7 million chip pot into his stack. That hand put Kweskin low enough that he would be the next player out of the tournament.
After raising from the button, Kweskin saw Shariati three-bet the action off the big blind. Kweskin didn’t want to play post-flop, pushing all in, but Shariati wasted no time in calling and showing A-K to go to battle against Kweskin’s A-10. Five board cards later without a ten, Kweskin was headed for the door of the Bike in fourth place.
After Kweskin’s elimination, the fans in attendance at the Bike returned to “The Freddy Deeb Show.” He took a good part of Roberts’ chip stack to break the 12 million chip mark (more than half of what was in play) and increased that stack in taking the rest of them, putting down Roberts in third place when Deeb’s pocket Aces crushed Roberts’ pocket nines.
Going to heads up play, there were few that gave Shariati any chance against Deeb. Holding almost a 2-1 lead, Deeb went on the attack over the next 50 hands to build that lead to almost 7-1 (Deeb’s 20.095 million against Shariati’s 3.485 million). Just when it looked as if Deeb’s coronation as the Legends of Poker champion were almost complete, Shariati came to life.
Down 21.585 million to 1.985 million on Hand 142, Shariati doubled on two consecutive hands to get out of danger, but the real drama was yet to come. On Hand 146, Deeb limped in from the button and Shariati pushed the betting to 1.1 million, which was called by Deeb. On a J♣ 6♠ 10♠ flop, Shariati came out firing with an 800K bet, but so did Deeb as he responded with a 2.3 answer. Shariati moved all in and Deeb immediately called.
Shariati had the goods, his pocket tens nailing a set on the flop, while Deeb caught with his Q♠ J♠ for top pair with a flush draw looking to take Shariati out. An A♠ brought Deeb his flush draw and, looking for the case ten, another Jack or a six, Shariati was in dire straits. The river, however, came down with a 6♥, flipping the hand back to Shariati along with the chip lead after being on the precipice of elimination only four hands earlier.
Deeb would retake the lead on Hand 159 after flopping a Broadway straight with his A-10 against two pair (K-J) for Shariati, but Shariati would get the tournament back to nearly even only four hands later. Another Deeb surge on Hand 173 would put some distance between the duo and Shariati once again fought back to even six hands later. The tenacity of Shariati seemed to get to Deeb a bit as the clock passed the midnight hour.
Shariati began to use the all-in move effectively at this time, forcing Deeb to lay down hand after hand until he built up a nice lead. On the final hand after Shariati limped into the pot, Shariati once again pushed in and Deeb decided to make his stand and called. Shariati had a strong pair of Queens in the hole as Deeb could only reply with a K-10 off suit for the final battle. Deeb would catch a ten on the flop but that would be it, with Shariati denying Deeb’s run at a third title in taking his first WPT championship.
1. Mike Shariati, $675,942
2. Freddy Deeb, $383,090
3. Brent Roberts, $251,035
4. Aaron Kweskin, $168,664
5. Stan Jablonski, $117,673
6. Craig Chait, $91,523
