Farid Yachou Crowned 2016 WPT Tournament of Champions Winner

Dutch player Farid Yachou has won the 2016 WPT Tournament of Champions, after defeating a field of 64 players over three days on his way to capturing the inaugural event, and collecting its first place prize of $381,600. The 36 year-old also picked up a bevy of other prizes worth around $150,000 for his impressive victory, including a 2016 Corvette, a Hublot King Power Unico Titanium watch, and a seat through to Tiger Jam, the charitable event hosted by Tiger Wood, and sponsored by the World Poker Tour.
According to Farid Yachou’s Hendon Mob statistics, he has now cashed in at just two live tournaments throughout his career, both of which he won for a grand total of $606,673. In May 2015, Yachou triumphed at the €3,300 WPT Amsterdam for €201,000 ($225,073) for which he subsequently received the $15,000 seat that took him to the recent WPT Tournament Of Champions held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood.
On Day 3 of the event, Farid Yachou entered a final table jam-packed with notable pros in fifth place out of six contenders. Yachou (J-J) then eliminated Darren Elias (Q-10) in 6th for $58,300, before later being dealt pocket fours and taking out Michael Mizrachi (K-9) in 3rd to go heads-up against Romanian player Vlad Davie for the title.
As the final battle got underway both players were fairly even in chips, and just 12 hands later the deciding round took place with Yachou (A-2) moving all-in on an 8-2-2-10-8 board. Davie made the call holding K-7, and after seeing the bad news had to settle for a runner-up finiish worth $224,190. Meanwhile, Farid Yachou was crowned the WPT Tournament of Champions winner, after which he commented:
“It’s something I cannot believe. I am sitting with only champions. I said to myself, ‘I will be glad finishing 30th or 35th.’ Then, slowly, day by day, hand by hand, it all came together. Everything came to me.”
Final Results:
1st: Farid Yachou – $381,600
2nd: Vlad Davie – $224,190
3rd: Michael Mizrachi – $140,450
4th: Jonathan Jaffe – $95,400
5th: Noah Schwartz – $74,200
6th: Darren Elias – $58,300
7th: Andy Frankenberger – $47,400
8th: Yevgeniy Timoshenko – $38,160