William Luciano Wins 2016 Chicago Poker Classic

A total of 736 players entered the 2016 Chicago Poker Classic Main Event at the Harrah’s Horseshoe Casino in Hammond to create a prize pool worth $1,307,136. Four days of action later, and it was William Luciano who emerged a top of the field to take the title, as well as the competition’s $254,892 first place prize.
Luciano originally qualified for the $2,000 main event via a $240 online satellite, and said that he also drew inspiration to take down the tournament from the 2014 WSOP Main Event winner Martin Jacobson. Following an impressive victory that now pushes his live tournament earnings to $322,599, Luciano commented:
“I was inspired by Martin Jacobson in the [WSOP] Main Event a couple years ago where he sat back with a shorter stack and then ran it up for the win. I was down to six blinds on Day 1 and I shouldn’t even be here. I had pocket tens on a king-high flop and he checked it all the way down. If he doesn’t do that, I wouldn’t even be here.”
The Chicago Poker Classic was attended by a number of notable pros, and amongst those subsequently booking a money spot was Matthew Shepsky in 54th ($6,013), Zal Irani in 53rd ($6,013), Andrew Rubinberg in 41st ($6,849), Shiva Dudani in 24th ($9,607), Ralph Massey in 12th ($18,561), and Aaron Steury in 11th ($18,561).
After the final table was set, William Luciano managed to survive until four-handed play when a big hand developed in which his pocket kings scored a double elimination over Mike VanderWoude (4th) and Mike Reick (3rd) to usher in heads-up play against Chad Freid for the title.
Several hours of play would then ensue before a short-stacked Freid pushed his remaining chips all-in preflop holding J-8, only to be called by Luciano with 7-7. With no help from the board, Chad Freid had to subsequently settle for a runner-up finish worth $158,556, while William Luciano was crowned the champion.
Final Table Results:
1: William Luciano $254,892
2: Chad Freid $158,556
3: Mike Reick $109,669
4: Mike VanderWoude $79,775
5: He Huang $60,886
6: Jorge Postigo $48,390
7: Fadi Hamad $38,364
8: Bryan Skreens $30,326
9: Thomas Peebles $23,790
10: Ben McCoy $18,561