Kyle Kitagawa and Ray Adam Capture WPTDeepStacks Titles Over Weekend
On Monday, the Season 6 WPTDeepStacks $1,500 Main Event wrapped up at California’s Thunder Valley Casino Resort. Coming out on top of the 356-entry field was tour regular Kyle Kitagawa (pictured above), who claimed his first WPTDS title, a $106,250 top prize, and a $3,000 Championship prize package.
"This means a lot because I've been traveling with the tour for the last few years,” Kitagawa told WPT officials after the win. “In 2017 I went hard, I traveled and went to nearly every single stop but I didn't have the year I was looking for, so I really felt like I was under-performing. I really wanted to just win this tournament, it meant more to me than the money. It was personal, I needed to win.”
"I really wanted to just win this tournament, it meant more to me than the money."
In regards to the venue, which will also play host to the WPTDS Championship, Kitagawa added: "This is the best place to have tournaments, it's close to me so I'm super excited and thankful it's hosted here at Thunder Valley for the championship. You've got the prize pools, you've got the players.”
In the final hand of the tournament, Kitagawa three-bet all in with pocket sevens and Thu Tran called off holding ace-queen. It was a big flip and while Tran flopped a gutshot straight draw, Kitagawa’s pocket pair ultimately held to secure him his long-awaited title.
Others to cash the tournament were Ryan Awwad (8th - $13,115), Pradip Singh (15th - $5,475), Josh Prager (20th - $4,540), Valerie Cross (24th - $3,810), and Randy Gil (31st - $3,240).
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Kitagawa | $106,250 |
| 2 | Thu Tran | $69,025 |
| 3 | Zihad Men | $50,875 |
| 4 | Mark Bansemer | $37,920 |
| 5 | Dann Turner | $28,580 |
| 6 | Taylor Pollard | $21,790 |
| 7 | Roman Shainiuk | $16,805 |
| 8 | Ryan Awwad | $13,115 |
Ray Adam Victorious in Johannesburg
Another WPTDeepStacks stop to wrap up took place at the Emperors Palace Hotel & Casino in Johannesburg. The R12,000 (~$800 USD) Main Event attracted 436 entries and offered up a prize pool of R4,656,500 (~$315,000 USD)
After three days of play, Ray Adam came out on top to capture the title and accompanying R1,000,000 ($67,882.53 USD) first-place prize.
According to updates from the event, the final hand of the tournament took place when Vaughan Thomson got his stack all in holding ace-jack only to run it smack dab into the ace-king of Adam. The board ran out eight-high and the superior ace held to send Thomson to the rail in second place for R640,000 ($43,444.82 USD).
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize | USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ray Adam | R1,000,000 | $67,882.53 |
| 2 | Vaughan Thomson | R640,000 | $43,444.82 |
| 3 | Chad Moolman | R405,000 | $27,492.43 |
| 4 | Eben Lottering | R283,000 | $19,210.76 |
| 5 | Clinton Reddy | R216,000 | $14,662.63 |
| 6 | Motokatsu Uhara | R177,000 | $12,015.21 |
| 7 | You Zeng | R145,000 | $9,842.97 |
| 8 | Conrad Coetzer | R119,000 | $8,078.02 |
| 9 | Maneesh Singh | R95,000 | $6,448.84 |
Others to cash the tournament were Gary Allen (11th - $5,406.84), Rocky Brooks (14th - $4,487.04), Gavin Sardini (19th - $3,064.90), Gareth Anthony (25th - $2,117.94), Jason Strauss (26th - $2,117.94), and Jarred Solomon (35th - $1,744.58).
Images courtesy of WPT.
PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
