Daniel Lee Wins PGT Venetian Las Vegas Classic; Lily Kiletto Runner-Up
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Daniel Lee, who defeated Lily Kiletto heads-up, won the $3,300 PGT Venetian Las Vegas Classic Main Event on Monday for $250,000.
Lee joins Jeremy Ausmus and Sam Laskowitz among the group of three series winners thus far. The final $5,100 High Roller kicks off on Tuesday to close out the series.
Ausmus Goes from First to First Out
Ausmus, a seven-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, entered the final table with the chip lead by a wide margin. He started play on the Venetian livestream with 89 big blinds. Kiletto was his nearest competitor at 48 big blinds. The tournament began with 418 entrants, generating a $1,254,000 prize pool.
Lee began play with 36 big blinds, plenty of chips, but a sizable distance from the chip leader. Things took an unexpected turn early at the final table when an Ausumus bluff didn't get through.
Ausmus, holding J♦10♦ on a Q♣5♦7♣ flop, floated in position to Lee's continuation bet with A♣K♥. Lee checked the 2♥ turn, which didn't help either player. But the chip leader used it as an opportunity to potentially take down the pot with a bet.
That wager, however, didn't convince the eventual champion to fold ace-high. The river was the K♦, a bad card for Ausmus as it gave his opponent top pair and top kicker. He moved all in with jack-high, and Lee made the call to move into the chip lead.
Final Table Results
Ausmus would continue to battle for quite some time before losing nearly his entire stack in a 60/40 to Doug Lee. The start-of-day chip leader and Poker Hall of Fame candidate lost his final two big blinds moments later and had gone from first to first out at the final table, a seventh-place finish for $35,000.
Lee would then bust the next three players: Santiago Montes (sixth place for $48,000), Ryan Leng (fifth place for $63,000), and Daniel Marcus (fourth place for $82,000).
Kiletto still wasn't far off the chip lead, and she'd nearly even it up after she busted Doug Lee in third place ($120,000). The chip lead quickly swung the other way, as Kiletto showed aggression. But she gambled with a flush draw on the flop with an all-in raise and received a call from top pair, and it didn't pay off.
The flush didn't come through on the turn or the river, and Lee opened up a 13:1 chip lead. Kiletto didn't quit and would double twice before getting it in with A♣10♦ against K♥J♥. The best hand didn't hold up, as a Jx appeared on the flop. Kiletto collected $170,000 for second place.
Lee, who is from California, took home $250,000, his second-largest live tournament score ever, according to The Hendon Mob. He previously had $586,000 in career cashes, the biggest being a $258,645 score for winning the $5,000 Asian Poker Tour Manilla Main Event last October.
