The highly anticipated 2023 Poker Masters kicked off recently in Las Vegas. Many newcomers formed its final table as Vladas Tamasauskas bagged the $239,400 top prize.
Day 1 Highlights
Thursday was a busy day for poker players as 114 of them signed up for the Event No.1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold ’em and created a $1,140,000 prize pool. But only 17 of them cashed in the tournament.
Sam Soverel, the reigning Purple Jacket champion, was busted on Thursday. Steve Zolotow, Anthony Zinno, and Matthew Wantmann followed him shortly. Yet, Zinno was the first participant to cash after finishing in 17th place.
Many tournaments’ pace slows down after players burst their money bubble. But Poker Master’s entrants continued battling it out until the last seven formed the final table. However, Dylan Linde, Byron Kaverman, Ping Liu, and Ryan Riess missed a seat at the table.
Ben Yu left the tournament in the ninth position after 10? 2? lost to Aram Zobian’s A-3 off suit on the A-6-3-9-K board. Victoria Livschitz was the only female player among the remaining eight finalists.
Zobian was the stack leader when eight-handed action began, and he drastically extended his lead. Livschitz used a J-9 to flop a boat and reduce Jesse Lonis’ stack. Yet, Ren Lin sent Lonis packing in eighth place.
The Top Seven Finalists’ Payouts
- Vladas Tamasauskas from Lithuania-$239,400
- Aram Zobian from the U.S.-$171,000
- Ren Lin from China-$125,400
- Filipp Khavin from the U.S.-$102,600
- Victoria Livschitz from the U.S.-$79,800
- Samuel Laskowitz from the U.S.-$68,400
- Scott Jacewicz-O’Kelly from the U.S.-$57,000
How the Final Table Played Out
The table’s action began on Friday afternoon. Laskowitz doubled up Jacewicz-O’Kelly 30 minutes after his A-Q landed a lady on the turn to beat his opponent’s Big Slick.
Still, the latter didn’t surrender as they used A-K to face the former’s A? 10?. However, three spades appeared on the J-4-2-K-3 board, sending Jacewicz-O’Kelly packing in the seventh position.
Livschitz lost the chip lead after a being rivered, a few minutes after Jacewicz-O’Kelly’s exit. Zobian used A? 3? to go all-in against Livschitz’s pocket kings. Nevertheless, the board landed two diamonds on the turn before Zobian doubled up to regain the stack lead.
Then, he used a King to face Livschitz’s A-10. Tamasauskas used Q-10 to flop two pair and remove the lady from the felt, hence dominating Livschitz’s open-ended straight draw. Zobian bursted Khavin in the fourth position.
He eliminated Lin in the third position. Zobian had a 10,700,000:3,550,000 chip advantage over Tamasauskas when their heads-up action began, and many spectators cheered him. But, tables turned after twenty minutes when Tamasauskas took the chip lead.
Tamasauskas limped in on the final hand, and Zobian wagered over two million chips. The former used pocket nines to call fast against the latter’s Q-2 offsuit. King High completed the board as Tamasauskas’ pair earned him the top prize, and Zobian took home a $171,000 consolation prize.
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