The $5,000 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Scramble Championship concluded Tuesday night with Chilean poker professional Nick Yunis taking it down for $310,079 after defeating Yunkyu Tune heads-up.
Eric Afriat entered play on the closing desk with a large chip benefit over his 5 rivals. He was trying to win his fourth WPT title, which might have tied Darren Elias for the report. However his chip lead rapidly fell aside a pair hours into play and the Canadian poker professional inevitably bowed out in third place for $165,000.
Afriat, who hasn’t gained a WPT title since 2020, has reached two closing tables since Could. He misplaced a large portion of his stack throughout three-handed play with prime pair and a missed flush draw when Yunis bluff-jammed river with queen-high and a missed straight draw, a bluff that acquired by way of for the most important pot of the event.
WPT bestbet Scramble Last Desk Outcomes
Recapping the Last Desk Motion
Afriat entered play as a heavy chip chief, however no participant on the closing desk began the session with beneath 21 massive blinds. Practically two hours would go earlier than the primary elimination. Dion Jagroo was first out the door in sixth place for $71,000 when he moved all in on the flop with a gutshot straight draw and did not hit towards Afriat’s pocket jacks.
Nick Funaro, whose brother and fellow poker professional Frank Funaro was in attendance watching on the rail, started the ultimate session second in chips. However he’d choose the unsuitable time to point out some aggression when he bluffed off his whole stack lower than an hour after Jagroo busted.
The motion started with Yunis finishing the small blind to 60,000 with 8♣5♥ after the opposite three gamers folded round. Funaro then checked 9♣3♣ within the massive blind. The flop got here out Q♥8♦5♣ and Yunis led for 60,000 with two pair. Funaro then determined to get a bit frisky with nine-high and raised it to 180,000, to which his opponent referred to as.
This is the place issues actually began to escalate: Yunis guess 135,000 on the A♠flip after which referred to as a increase to 450,000. The Ok♣ on the river had Yunis test earlier than Funaro bluffed his remaining 835,000 chips. Yunis took two minutes to ponder his choice earlier than opting to accurately name off the guess. Funaro was out in fifth place for $93,000.
Joe Jordan was subsequent go in fourth place for $123,000 when he misplaced a 60/40 to Yunis.
Frank Funaro Rails Youthful Brother at WPT bestbet Last Desk
Three-Handed Play Begins
Jordan’s exit introduced the $5,000 buy-in no-limit maintain’em event, which started with 361 entrants, right down to the ultimate three. Afriat was nonetheless holding regular within the lead with almost half the chips in play. However the pendulum would swing the opposite means rapidly.
Tune, who gained the WPT Prime Playground in Montreal final month, scooped a 41-big blind pot towards Afriat to start the three-time WPT champion’s demise. But it surely was Yunis who would take over the chip lead, a lead he would maintain by a large margin when heads-up play started.
It appeared the heads-up match can be a fast one however then Tune doubled again to over 30 massive blinds, and it was an entire new ballgame at that time. The nice fortune, nonetheless, did not final lengthy as he bluffed off a major chunk of his stack moments later, after which he bumped into even worse luck on the ultimate hand when, right down to 11 massive blinds, he acquired all of it in with Qx5x towards Qx3x. A 3x hit on the river to place an finish to the event.
Tune, who agreed to an ICM chop earlier than heads-up play started, acquired $252,059 for his runner-up end, whereas the most recent WPT Champions Membership member took residence $310,079 and seats into the upcoming WPT World Championship and the historic ClubWPT Gold $5 Million Invitational Freeroll at Wynn Las Vegas subsequent month. Yunis now has over $2.7 million in reside event cashes, in line with The Hendon Mob, and this one is his greatest.
The World Poker Tour has two Fundamental Tour stops left this 12 months, beginning with the $3,500 buy-in WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Championship in Hollywood, Florida beginning Nov. 29, and adopted by the $10,400 buy-in WPT World Championship in Las Vegas starting Dec. 14.
*Photographs courtesy of Katerina Lukina/World Poker Tour.
