It wasn’t quite the historic moment we were waiting for, but the final table of the 2015 World Poker Tour (WPT) Rolling Thunder Main Event was pretty great, nonetheless. After nearly 150 hands and about eight hours, Ravee Mathi Sundar had his name engraved on the WPT Champions Cup as the latest WPT winner. For his efforts, Sundar received the WPT Champions trophy and more than a quarter million dollars.
The day started with just six players vying for the crown and two primary story lines: 1) Taylor Paur, second in chips, was aiming to be the third person in WPT Season XIII and fourth overall to win back-to-back World Poker Tour titles, and 2) Both Paur and Sundar made the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star final table, making them the first duo to reach back-to-back WPT final tables.
So, yes, back-to-back was a distinct theme on Wednesday.
It didn’t take too long for the final table to be trimmed in half, just 43 hands according to the live reports on WPT.com. I personally tuned into the Twitch live stream around 6:00pm on the east coast and was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly things were progressing, anticipating a swift finish. Plus, Paur was still in it, so I was looking forward to getting excited about another back-to-back title.
But wow, the rest of the final table took a long time. Another 100 hands and nearly six hours, actually. Just as it seemed like it was going to drag on and on, though, it ended just like that. On the 141st hand of the final table, Sundar raised pre-flop, and Paur, second in chips and in no real danger yet, re-raised all-in for 3.225 million. It may have been a play, it may have been impatience, but Paur was all-in with just A-T and Sundar called him with A-Q. Sundar paired his Queen, eliminating Taylor Paur in third place, tantalizingly close from his second consecutive World Poker Tour victory.
And then, just four hands later, it was all over. Again, Sundar raised pre-flop and Jesse Rockowitz shoved for 1.92 million chips. Sundar called quickly with pocket Jacks, well ahead of Rockowitz and his K-9. It was academic from there as the board rolled out Ten-high and Sundar collected all the chips on the table.
Another cool note about Sundar’s win is that it is just his second-ever live tournament cash; the first was at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star final table mentioned earlier. So not too shabby. Two cashes, both at the final table of World Poker Tour events. Poker is easy.
2015 World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder – Final Table Results
1. Ravee Mathi Sundar – $266,857
2. Jesse Rockowitz – $176,018
3. Taylor Paur – $113,154
4. Harrison Gimbel – $83,818
5. Rex Clinkscales – $62,864
6. Jeff Griffiths – $50,291
