Anthony Astarita (pictured) topped a field of 538 players to win the WPTDeepStacks Tampa Main Event on Monday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa, Florida. Astarita was awarded $130,541 in prize money, the WPTDeepStacks trophy, a custom guitar trophy from the Seminole Hard Rock, and a $3,000 Championship prize package.
There were some interesting story lines in play today with poker tournament veteran Sam Grizzle, 18-year-old Cody Sullivan, previous WPTDS Jacksonville champion George Wolfe, and recent WPTDS finalist Mario Lopez all in the mix at the final table. In the end it came down to a very lopsided battle between Wolfe and Anthony Astarita.
Wolfe barely had half a big blind to his name when heads-up play began. It only took two hands to decide the final battle. Wolfe survived on a chopped pot on the first hand of heads-up play, and the chips went into the middle again the very next hand. Wolfe held 
, but Astarita woke up with 
. An ace fell on the flop for Astarita, and there was no more help to be found for Wolfe, who has an impressive run of final-table appearances at WPTDS stops held in Florida. But to the victor go the spoils, so congratulations to our new champion – Anthony Astarita!
Here is a look at the final table results:
1: Anthony Astarita – $130,541 + $3,000 Championship Package
2: George Wolfe – $73,394
3: Justin Fawcett – $47,182
4: Sam Grizzle – $37,483
5: Cody Sullivan – $29,357
6: Mario Lopez – $24,115
7: Bob Gallo – $19,135
8: Tim Kegel – $14,941
9: Steve Trizis – $10,485
That concludes our coverage from the WPTDeepStacks Tampa Main Event. Thanks to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for hosting a great inaugural event on the tour. The next stop takes us back to the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno, Nevada for the WPTDS Reno Summer Main Event that will run from August 26-29. The tournament features a $1,100 buy-in and a $250,000 guaranteed prize pool. The WPTDeepStacks live reporting team will have live updates, chip counts, photos, and videos for you from Nevada.