They say all it takes to turn a lump of coal into a diamond is pressure and time. When all was said and done, Ravi Raghavan relied on both those ingredients to work his way through a star-studded final table. He defeated fellow WPT Champions Club member Shawn Buchanan heads up to claim the title and add his name to the impressive list of champions at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
This always popular $10K event attracted 503 entrants to Bellagio, generating a prize pool of nearly $4.9 million and first-place prize worth more than $1.2 million.
Named for Doyle Brunson, the tournament has, in recent years, become the domain of another of the game’s greats – WPT Champions Club member Antonio Esfandiari who has made the money in this event for five consecutive years, reached the final table for each of the past three years, and won the tournament in 2010. Nearly as impressive as Antonio’s performance in this event was the play of Andrew Lichtenberger, who reached this final table for his second consecutive year and who finished 8th in this tournament in 2010.
Adding even more star power to an impressive final table was an appearance by Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps who, along with WPT Montreal third-place finisher Jeff Gross, turned the tables on Esfandiari by coming to cheer for him on his quest for his third WPT title. Last month, Phelps and Esfandiari surprised Gross at the final table of WPT Montreal, where he was chasing his first-ever WPT title.
Jeremy Kottler, who started the day as one of the short stacks, was the first player eliminated when he moved all in with Ad-Kd and failed to improve against the pocket 7s of Thomas Winters. Andrew Lichtenberger, who started the day third in chips, was the next player knocked out when he moved his short stack all in with Ad-9c only to be called by Raghavan in the big blind with Qc-4d. A flop of Jc-8s-4h gave Raghavan a pair and the best hand. The turn and river were blanks for Lichtenberger, who left in fifth place with a payday of nearly $235,000.
The fourth-place departure of Antonio Esfandiari, who had started the final table with the chip lead, stunned the crowd. Esfandiari had lost a couple of key pots before moving all-in with Ac-Kh from the small blind, only to be called by Raghavan’s pocket aces in the big blind. When Esfandiari couldn’t find a queen to complete a straight draw, he was sent home with a paycheck of nearly $330,000. Just two hands later, the final table’s only amateur, Tommy Winters fell victim to Shawn Buchanan when his As-7d couldn’t improve against the pro’s pocket 10s.
Raghavan started heads-up play with nearly a 2-1 chip lead over Buchanan, and applied constant pressure throughout the 69-hand battle before finally wearing his opponent down and capturing his first-ever World Poker Tour title when his pocket 7s bested Buchanan’s Kd-7s.
The star-studded field included some of the game’s best-known pros, including WPT Champions Club members, Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, Scotty Nguyen, Dwyte Pilgrim, Noah Schwartz, Jonathan Little, Will Failla, and Freddy Deeb. Other notable names that helped generate a prize pool worth nearly $4.9 million included WPT Season 10 Player of the Year Joe Serock, WPT Season 11 Ones to Watch Jason Somerville who finished in 10th place, and WPT Raw Deal host Tony Dunst, who finished in 27th position for his fourth cash on tour in the past year.
Final Table Pay-Outs
- Ravi Raghavan – $1,268,571, including entry into the $25,000 WPT World Championship
- Shawn Buchanan – $746,502
- Tommy Winters – $483,031
- Antonio Esfandiari – $329,339
- Andrew Lichtenberger – $234,197
- Jeremy Kottler – $187,845