Dentist Crowned WPT Florida Champion For $206k
March 26, 2014 12:26 pmIt turned out to be more than just another day at the ‘orifice’ for local dentist Nabil Hirezi, after ‘grinding’ his way past a field of 258 competitors over five days at the WPT Jacksonville to lift the trophy and be ‘crowned’ the champion. Impressively the 59 year old managed to do so on his own home turf, while turning an initial $3,500 poker tournament entry fee into a $206,041 payday. In addition, Hirezi was awarded a free pass to the $15,400 buy-in WPT World Championship come April 21st.
The World Poker Tour Jacksonville attracted some of the most talented players in the game to create a prize pool worth $825,600. Amongst the notable then casing in at the event was Amanda Musumeci in 24th ($7,616), Dan Heimiller in 18th ($9,722), Jason Mercier in 16th ($9,722), John Racener in 13th ($11,424) and Jared Jafee in 12th ($13,935).
The final table of six subsequently fielded two former WPT champions in the guise of Jordan Cristos and James Calderaro, top US pro Faraz Jaka, with other competitors in contention also including Nabil Hirezi, Peter Le and Brian Green.
Unfortunately for Jaka he woke up with pocket kings at the same time Peter Le was dealt A-A and so he exited in 6th for $38,241. Nabil Hirezi then eliminated Jordan Cristos in 5th ($47,802), before Brian Green did likewise to Peter Le in 4th for $63,682.
As three-handed play got underway, Brian Green was the short-stack at the table and despite being dealt Q-Q and going all-in on a J-10-5 flop, his opponent James Calderaro had already made two pair (J-10) and so after Green exited in 3rd ($133,764) the heads-up phase of the competition got underway between Hirezi and Calderaro.
As the final showdown commenced, the two players were fairly even in chips and 50 hands later the defining hand was played with both Hirezi (10-10) and Calderaro (A-K) all-in preflop. The dealer subsequently put out a K-6-5-Q-10 board to consign Calderaro to a runner-up finish worth $133,764, while Nabil Hirezi was crowned the 2014 WPT Jacksonville champion.
Final Table Payouts:
1 Nabil Hirezi – $206,041
2 James Calderaro – $133,764
3 Brian Green – $133,764
4 Peter Le – $63,682
5 Jordan Cristos – $47,802
6 Faraz Jaka – $38,241