Alexander Farahi Wins WPT Rolling Thunder Championship; Salsberg Runner-Up
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Alexander Farahi entered Wednesday's final table in the $3,500 WPT Rolling Thunder Championship second in chips. He left Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Northern California with all the chips.
The newest World Poker Tour champion beat a previous WPT champion — Matt Salsberg — heads-up for the title, and the $193,725 first-place prize, his share of the two-way heads-up deal. Salsberg, a Southern California tournament grinder and TV writer, went home with $151,275 as a consolation prize.
Chip Leaders Dominate
The six players at the final table all finished in the same position they were in at the start of the session. There wasn't much movement among the chip stacks.
Alec Gould, who started the day with just 15 big blinds, was the first out the door when his pocket kings lost to the ace-queen Marco Johnson held. Sixth place paid $43,000, and Darrell Cain, also a small stack entering play, earned himself a solid pay jump.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexander Farahi | $193,725 |
| 2 | Matt Salsberg | $151,275 |
| 3 | Arish Nat | $100,000 |
| 4 | Marco Johnson | $74,000 |
| 5 | Darrell Cain | $56,000 |
| 6 | Alec Gould | $43,000 |
Cain, however, lost a race and his final six big blinds to Farahi and was eliminated in fifth place for $56,000. Farahi then hit a flush to crack Johnson's top pair, sending the player with the losing hand to the cashier's cage to collect his $74,000 fourth-place payout.
It took just 28 hands to eliminate half the final table, and only nine more to felt Arish Nat in third place for $100,000 when Salsberg won a key race.
A chop would then be reached between Farahi, the chip leader, and Salsberg, before what would turn out to be a lengthy heads-up battle between two accomplished tournament grinders with millions each in The Hendon Mob cashes.
With $34,500 extra and a $10,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship in December to play for on top of the otherwise near-identical payouts, heads-up play began. Farahi would quickly extend his chip advantage by nearly 4:1, winning seven hands in a row, but his opponent still had plenty of chips — 36 big blinds.
Salsberg then took his turn to win pot after pot, and nearly caught up in chips. But Farahi came back with a check-raise on the flop, bet on turn, bet on river to induce a fold in a sizable pot that shifted the match back the other way.
Salsberg never gave in and would again close the gap a bit, but he couldn't ever find a double-up or win a monster pot to grab the chip lead. Farahi, with his opponent down to eight big blinds, moved all in on the 93rd hand at the final table with A♦6♦. Salsberg called it off with A♣2♣. The board came out 6♥5♠2♦7♥10♦, and that was the ballgame.
Farahi, who now has over $2.7 million in The Hendon Mob cashes, won his first recorded live poker tournament and joins the WPT Champions Club, a club that the runner-up joined in 2012.
*Images courtesy of the World Poker Tour/Rachel Kay Winter.
