Local Amateur Player Tops Distinguished Field for Nearly $1 Million First-Place Prize
Late Friday night in San Jose, one of poker’s most exceptional tournaments came to an end after an exhausting 218 final table hands. Earlier in the week, the biggest names in poker had flown into town to compete for their share of the $3,458,000 prize pool and the honor of becoming the newest WPT Champion.
Once again, passionate Bay area poker fans turned out in droves to support their favorite players and this year crowded the Royal Flush Girls Social Bar. For the first time in World Poker Tour history, not a single Shooting Star made it past the penultimate day and into the WPT final table at Marko Trapani’s Bay 101 Shooting Star. On the final day, amateurs besting pros continued to characterize the action. After more than nine hours of intense play, local satellite qualifier Moon Kim topped fellow amateur Ubaid Habib to etch his name onto the WPT Champions Cup.
In total, 364 players entered the WPT Season X Main Event, creating a $960,900 first-place prize. As part of the innovative format developed by WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage, Day 1A and Day 1B chip leaders Bryce Yockey and Brandon Wong received a $10,000 bonus. Among the famous poker pros in attendance were 47 Shooting Stars including two-time WPT Champions Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Michael Mizrachi, Barry Greenstein and Freddy Deeb. Other Shooting Stars in play included Phil Hellmuth, Erik Seidel, Jason Mercier, Kathy Liebert, Vanessa Selbst, Will Failla, Maria Ho, ElkY, Ben Lamb, Mike Matusow and many others. On Thursday, Ubaid Habib eliminated Jonathan Duhamel (13th place – $25,620 + $10,000 in Bounties), the last remaining Shooting Star in the tournament.
Poker pro Erik Cajelais made his second WPT final table and similar to his first run, came in as the chip leader. This time around, French Canadian Cajelais was unable to better his runner-up finish at the WPT Season VI Turks & Caicos Poker Classic and bowed out at the hands of Habib in 4th place. The first elimination of the night came after 113 hands, when young pro Joseph Elpayaa fell to the red-hot Andrew Badecker. 2011 was a tremendous year for the 24-year old Badecker, who won both a WSOP bracelet and the Borgata Winter Poker Open. Unfortunately for Badecker, his momentum slowed following his knockout of Elpayaa. All-in versus Kim in a race situation, Badecker’s AcKc lost to Kim’s pocket Fours when the eventual champion made a 5-high straight.
Three-handed action did not last long as American pro Joe “Floes” Serock squared off against Kim, pocket Nines versus KcQc. A King on the turn gave Kim the better pair and sent Serock to the rail. That left the two local amateur players to battle for nearly $1,000,000 and entry into the WPT Champions Club. The first all-in showdown of heads up action saw Kim shove after the flop holding Jd7d for a diamond flush draw. Habib tanked for a few minutes before calling with Qc9h for top pair. Much to the crowd’s delight, Moon Kim caught a diamond on the river to win the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star.
For the second consecutive WPT Main Event, an amateur player has conquered a tough international field to become the new WPT Champion. WPT Boot Camp Alumni Sean Jazayeri captured $1.37 million by winning the recent WPT LA Poker Classic. Moon Kim picks up 1,200 WPT Player of the Year points and moves into a tie for 7th place in the tight race.
The WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star will air in three parts on Fox Sports Net starting July 15. Included in one episode will be coverage of the Silicon Valley Poker Challenge, which took place on Day 1B of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star. The second annual charity tournament raised more than $30,000 for WPT Foundation™.
Many of the Shooting Stars are now heading down to Los Angeles for the official launch of WPT Foundation. The series of philanthropic poker events titled WPT Playing for a Better World™ kicks-off on Sunday, March 11, at the SLS Hotel Beverly Hills. The exclusive star-studded launch is officially sold-out. For details on this extraordinary night, please visit www.WPTFoundation.org.
Final Table Results
1. Moon Kim – $960,900
2. Ubaid Habib – $570,200
3. Joe Serock – $320,400
4. Erik Cajelais – $256,300
5. Andrew Badecker – $192,300
6. Joseph Elpayaa – $128,200
Player of the Year Standings
1. Will Failla – 1,650
2. Vitor Coelho – 1,500
3. Sean Jazayeri – 1,400
3. Bobby Oboodi – 1,400
3. James Dempsey – 1,400
6. Soi Nguyen – 1,250
7. Moon Kim – 1,200
World Poker Tour next heads to Austria for WPT Vienna (April 10 – 15). Last year, this €3,500 buy-in WPT Main Event set the then-record for largest WPT field in Europe with 555 entrants. The following week, WPT returns to Florida for the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown (April 18 – 23). During WPT Season IX, more than 400 players turned out for this debut $10,000 buy-in tournament, creating the largest prize pool in Florida poker history.
New episodes of World Poker Tour Season X air every Sunday at 8:00pm and 11:00pm local time on Fox Sports Net and its regional affiliates including Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, MSG New York and Root Sports. Check your local TV listings.