By Sean Chaffin
Sun, fun, and some cards on the Vegas Strip – who could ask for more? After ARIA became a hub of poker excitement in May and early-June for the WPT Main Tour Aria Summer Championship and Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions, the poker action returns for the Zynga Poker WPT500 Las Vegas.
Fans of poker at this high-end property should make an appointment to be back in Las Vegas for the $570 buy-in event set June 21-27. This re-entry event features eight starting flights (June 21-25) with payouts beginning in each flight.
Through the years, this event has produced some big moments. Here a look back at this event, now in its sixth year.
A Big Kickoff? Yu Bet
The first event held at ARIA came in 2014. The WPT500 offered a new lower buy-in option for players hoping to play some cards on the World Poker Tour. That first event attracted a nice 3,599 entries and a $1.8 million prize pool.
After six days of action, Sean Yu came out on top and took home $260,000. Yu, from Los Angeles, had his hands full at a final table that included Christian Harder and WPT Champions Club member Scott Clements. Kareem Marshall finished runner-up $180,000.
Yu has gone on to several other nice scores since then – including a WSOP Circuit ring later that same year with six more to follow as well as a WSOP bracelet.
The WPT500 proved to be a nice launching point – his first major tour victory in a career that now includes $2.3 million in live tournament winnings.
Craig Cashes In
Craig Varnell has had a nice run the last few years on the WPT. In June, he finished off a win on the Main Tour – winning WPT Choctaw at HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas. With only four cashes on the WPT, none are worse than fourth.
The first of his tour wins came in 2015 in ARIA WPT500. Varnell topped a field of 5,113 to take the title and $330,000. That win kicked off a huge poker career that now includes a WSOP bracelet as well as his WPT titles.
Before the Choctaw final table, Varnell spoke with WPT about overcoming an arrest for dealing drugs and turning his life around.
“Poker probably saved my life,” he said.
This year, Varnell had a big summer of WSOP action planned after his big score in Las Vegas. However, he passed out while playing basketball with friends in Las Vegas and fractured his skull on the court.
After spending time in the hospital, Varnell appears to be on the road to recovery and has received plenty of well wishes from the poker community. While he may be missing poker, he’s taking the time off in stride.
Just would like to thanks everyone for ur messages and visits it means a lot. Also stop complaining about life and wsop u guys don’t wanna know what it’s like to really have a real problem and not be able to do anything for urself. Puts thing in perspective I’m very lucky
— Craig Varnell (@imgrinding1) June 10, 2019
Olympios On Fire at Final Table
The WPT500 went international in 2016 when England’s Andreas Olympios took the title and $260,000 in first-place money. His journey to the winner’s circle included staging a massive rally at the final table.
Olympios started the day with just 15 big blinds – the second shortest stack. After being whittled down to eight big blinds at one point early in the day, Olympios found a nice double-up and continued to roll throughout the day.
When play reached heads-up, he held 43.4 million chips to Wesley Hickey’s 16 million. It then took just 10 hands for Olympios to finish off his opponent.
The Englishman now has $505,000 and continues to play mostly throughout Europe. The WPT500 remains the biggest win of his career.
Borenstein Win Big
In 2017, Jon Borenstein notched the first major win of his career-topping a field 3,519 for a $230,000 score. The player from Teaneck, New Jersey, had been a regular on the Northeast poker scene including some nice finishes at the Borgata.
Prior to the WPT500, Borenstein had found some five-figure scores including some WSOP cashes and several final table appearances. But the WPT500 became Borenstein’s time to be in the spotlight.
A big three-way all in on the first hand of the final table almost cost Borenstein a chance at the title.
“I was down to 1 million in chips early,” Borenstein said after his win. “I lost Jacks to Aces, and I was down to 1 million chips on the first hand at the final table, which was five blinds. And then I got a double and everybody just gave away their chips. They just went with it.”
Give it to the Greek
The 2018 event marked the first year of the WPT500’s partnership with Zynga Poker. The final table actually included Zynga Poker VIP player Hugh Grant, who finished eighth for $26,310.
In total, a field of 2,983 entries bought into the event at ARIA with Kyriakos Papadopoulos taking the title and $207,940 in first-place money.
Unlike some other moments in this event’s history, Papadopoulos entered the final table as chip leader with 15.675 million and was able to close the show. By the time he reached heads-up play with Bobby Poe, that had ballooned to 41 million.
Papadopoulos is originally from Greece and now lives in New York. The win remains the biggest of his career.
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Who will be the next player to take home the Zynga Poker WPT500 Las Vegas trophy and title? That remains to be decided, but it should be another fun summer of poker at ARIA.
For more information on the Zynga Poker WPT500 Las Vegas, click here.
Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and his work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.