Whilst over in Europe the World Series of Poker Europe is coming to a close with the €10,000 buy-in main event heading into its last few days, there was still enough grinders out and about in Las Vegas, as well as those who made the trip from further afield, to make the $5,000 buy-in Festa al Lago Main Event at the Bellagio casino an attractive looking tournament for players and railbirds alike.
By the time all was said and done, it was American pro Justin Young who came away with the $349,590 top prize. Young now has over $3.5 million in tournament earnings and with this win takes his number of poker titles up to nine.
Whilst this win was only a fraction of his $936,760 runner-up prize in the Five-Diamond World Poker Classic main event back in 2008, it was still a sizeable increase to his bankroll and one he was clearly delighted with when he won it.
228 players showed up to the final event of the series out in Vegas and 26 made the money. The minimum cash prize was $7,562 and there was a big prize pool of $1,105,800 to battle it out for.
By the time the final table was reached, Young was by far the most recognisable name left in the field and he showed his dominance by running over the table for much of it, just as he had done for much of the 4-day event.
Whilst California local Sameer Aljanedi proved to be a worthy match for Young, he had a tough time keeping up with the popular pro and eventually fell at the final hurdle, pocketing $216,060 for his efforts.
The final table payouts were:
1st Justin Young $349,590
2nd Sameer Aljanedi $216,060
3rd John Krpan $119,913
4th Michael Katz $75,621
5th Thomas McCormick $56,716
6th Christopher Demaci $45,913
7th Joey Weissman $35,110
8th Zohair Karim $24,307
9th Justin Filtz $17,285
John
- hailing from Watford, UK John became hooked on the game of poker ever since his uncle taught him the rules of 7-card stud during a home game at the young age of 15. He caught the online bug three short years later after turning 18 and began regularly playing Texas Hold'em SNGs.
