Holiman Wins, Zinno Fifth at WPT Choctaw
Brady Holiman made quick work of the competition at World Poker Tour Choctaw $3,700 Main Event, claiming his first WPT title and $469,185 in prizes. Prior to the win, he had about $40,000 in lifetime poker cashes.
Holiman entered the final table with a huge chip lead as he had over a third of the total chips, and he didn't disappoint, wrapping things up in a tidy three hours.
In the process, he denied Anthony Zinno a chance to once again get his name in the record books as a four-time WPT champion, which would have tied the all-time mark set by Darren Elias in May. Instead, Zinno remains at three, knotted with Carlos Mortensen, Gus Hansen and Chino Rheem.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Home Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brady Holiman | USA | $469,185* |
| 2 | Viet Vo | USA | $302,725 |
| 3 | Christopher Smith | USA | $223,360 |
| 4 | Tony Ruberto | USA | $166,605 |
| 5 | Anthony Zinno | USA | $125,630 |
| 6 | Timothy Domboski | USA | $95,780 |
*includes WPT Tournament of Champions seat
The tournament, located in Oklahoma just north of the Texas border, drew 755 entries for a prize pool over $2.5 million. Some of those who made the 96 paid places included Brian Altman, Chris Moorman, Marvin Rettenmaier, defending WPT Player of the Year Art Papazyan and Men "The Master" Nguyen.
Nguyen followed up his controversy-filled run to third place at WPT Gardens with an 11th-place finish in Choctaw.
Final Table Action
Zinno gunning for a fourth title may have been the story heading into the final table, but Holiman's lead was large going in, and 21 hands in, it got far larger.
Timothy Domboski had the second-biggest stack with over 50 big blinds when play began. He opened for 255,000 from under the gun at 50,000/100,000/100,000, according to the live updates, only to see Holiman reraise to 650,000 in the small blind. Domboski shoved for 5.6 million holding pocket kings and Holiman put him at risk with ace-king. An ace on the flop sent the pot to Holiman and solidified his lead as he had about half of the chips in play.
Zinno continued to grind the short stack for the next 60-plus hands, while Viet Vo maneuvered himself to second place after making a full house over full house against Christopher Smith.
Finally, Zinno got looked up when he jammed from the button for 1.7 million at 75,000/150,000/150,000 with A♦4♥. Holiman called him with Q♠10♠ and took a big lead when Q♣6♣4♠ flopped. However, Zinno appeared to secure the double when the A♥ reduced Holiman to two outs. One arrived on the river as he made trip queens though, sending Zinno out the door.
The very next hand, Tony Ruberto busted shoving his roughly seven big blinds with jack-seven and running into Holiman's queens.
Smith managed one double but was still short with 13 big blinds and ran king-ten into Vo's ace-ten blind versus blind.
That left Vo and Holiman, with Holiman slightly ahead and both players over 80 big blinds deep. Holiman was about 2-1 by the time the decisive hand happened, at 100,000/200,000/200,000. Vo raised to 450,000 on the button, Holiman made it 1.2 million and Vo came back with 2.7 million. Holiman shoved for just under 10 million effective and Vo called with kings. Holiman had A♠J♠ and flopped trip jacks, fading the last two kings to end things on a bad beat for Vo.
