WPT Seminole Hard Rock Won By Taylor Von Kriegenbergh
May 3, 2011 12:25 pmTaylor Von Kriegenbergh has just won the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown, after overcoming a field of 433 players over six days to lift the prestigious title, and collect the $1,122,340 first place-prize.
Going into the final table of the $10,000 buy-in tournament, US player Taylor Von Kriegenbergh was the commanding chip leader with a 4.384 million stack, followed by Justin Zaki on 2.197m, and Abbey Daniels on 2.192m. Also at the table was Allen Bari (1.984m), Tommy Vedes (1.57m) and a short-stacked Curt Kohlberg on 655k.
However, short-stacked Curt Kohlberg managed to chip himself up before then finding himself well back in contention after being dealt 6d-5d to Tommy Vedes ‘s Kh-9h. Both players pushed all there chips in on the 9c-6h-5h flop, but with Vedes’ hand failing to improve he found himself out in 6th place for a $166,272 pay-day.
Next to leave the arena was a frustrated Allen Bari, who had earlier tweeted, “5 handed with 2 nits a clown and a question mark.. Gonna try and grind it back from 1.3 mill.”
Bari never got the chance, though, after losing a pre-flop race holding Ad-Td to Justin Zaki’s pocket fives and so just like that Bari was eliminated in 5th place ($211,997).
Soon after, Abbey Daniels, too, bid good-bye to her tournament hopes after shoving pre-flop with As-8d only to be defeated by Kohlberg holding 6d-6h. She did, however,collect an impressive $286,819 for her 4th place finish.
Hand 185 then proved to be a turning point at the final table after an increasingly short-stacked Kriegenbergh managed a doubled up holding K-10 to Justin Zaki’s pocket aces , making two pair on the turn.
With huge blinds, Von Kriegenbergh then pushed pre-flop with 7c-6c only to be called by Zaki with Ad-Js, who subsequently exited in 3rd place ($415,680) to a 6 on the turn.
The David and Goliath heads-up battle which then ensued saw Von Kriegenbergh on a 11.125 million stack taking on Kohlberg with 1.85 million in chips. Just 8 hands later and Von Kriegenbergh pushed preflop with Qc-8d and was called by Kohlberg, who needed his As-Tc to hold up.
It was not to be, though, and the Q-4-4-K-Q ended his tournament hopes, but nevertheless Kohlbergh still collected a massive $586,109 for his runner-up finish.
Meanwhile, Taylor Von Kriegenbergh was crowned the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown Champion and added the $1,122,340 first place-prize to his previous life time tournament earnings of $200,000. He was also awarded a $25,000 entry into the upcoming WPT World Championship.