Andreas Olympios Wins the partypoker WPT500 Main Event at ARIA

By Ryan Lucchesi (@Luccrazy)
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com

When there are 3,956 players in a poker tournament, you know the blinds and antes, as well as the chip stacks, are going to get pretty high by the end of the tournament. Players started with 15,000 to their name in their various Day 1 flights, and by the end of play that was less than a fifth of an ante. Few players were equipped with stacks to stay afloat in that quickly rising tide at the start of the final table in the partypoker WPT500 Main Event at ARIA. Wesley Hickey was the chip leader at the start of play and he put that stack to good use by making the heads-up final. But there was an unusually large number of double ups that opened the door for a short stack to also make a run to the heads-up final. Andreas Olympios started the day with the second shortest stack (just 15 bbs), but by the time heads-up play began he held 43.4 million after a crazy run at the final table.

Hickey held close to 16 million at the start of heads-up play, but the first heads-up confrontation in the final match was his last. Olympios had a loud and rowdy rail throughout the day, and they stormed the final table after the win was all locked up. The $260,000 up top gave the Manchester, England resident the largest win of his poker career, and if the initial celebration was any indication, he is about to have one fun night on the Las Vegas Strip.

Here is a look at the seating chart and chip counts when play began this afternoon.

Seat 1.  Wesley Hickey  –  20,925,000  (105 bb)
Seat 2.  Guy Cicconi  –  2,400,000  (12 bb)
Seat 3.  Andreas Olympios  –  3,025,000  (15 bb)
Seat 4.  Khoan Ho  –  3,200,000  (16 bb)
Seat 5.  Guy Gorelick  –  3,625,000  (18 bb)
Seat 6.  Jonathan Opas  –  10,625,000  (53 bb)
Seat 7.  Robby Seurynck  –  5,200,000  (26 bb)
Seat 8.  Sanjay Mayekar  –  4,950,000  (25 bb)
Seat 9.  Drazen Ilich  –  5,500,000  (28 bb)

The high blinds and antes ensured that play started fast at the final table, and Guy Cicconi was all in on the ninth hand of play. His A-J couldn’t catch up to the pocket sixes of Jonathan Opas. Cicconi was out in ninth place, good for $27,150. Khoan Ho and Andreas Olympios then both scored a double up to take us to the 12th hand of play with eight players remaining.

Guy Gorelick than made his last stand holding J-7, but he was dominated by the A-7 of Opas and the board changed nothing. Gorelick was out in eighth place, good for $35,000. It took just four more hands before Khoan was all in again. He held pocket kings, but Opas found a second ace to go with his A-Q in the hole to win the hand. Khoan was out in seventh place, good for $45,000.

During the next stretch of play Robby Seurynck and Sanjay Mayekar doubled up before the players took their first break of the day. Shortly after they returned, Mayekar moved all in with pocket eights and Drazen Ilich called with A-Q. A queen fell on the flop and Mayekar was eliminated in sixth place, good for $58,000.

Another four double ups occurred next, with Seurynck and Olympios alternating the survival of their all-in tests. The battle for fifth place was a long one, and it was prolonged even farther when Wes Hickey doubled through Ilich to make it five in a row without an elimination. Olympios then doubled up again to make it a half-dozen double ups in a row.

It took 120 hands to finally get the field down to four players. Opas was all in with pocket tens, but he was behind the pocket queens of Olympios. No help arrived and Opas was eliminated in fifth place, good for $75,000.

The next elimination took a very short of amount of time to transpire. Seurynck was all in preflop holding pocket fours and Olympios called with A-Q. An ace fell right on the flop and Seurnynck was the fourth-place finisher, good for $100,000.

The hits just kept on coming when Ilich moved all in with Q-4. He was ahead of the J-10 held by Hickey, but the board fell A-A-9-10-10 to give Hickey the pot with a full house. Ilich took home $135,000 thanks to his deep run to third place. The hand gave Hicks 15.95 million to take into the final battle against the massive stack worth 43.4 million held by Olympios.

Heads-up play began 134 hands into the day, but it would only take 10 more to decide a champion. On the final hand, Olympios limped for 600,000, Hickey raised to 2,000,000, and Olympios called.

The flop came , Hickey moved all in, and Olympios called with for a pair of kings and a spade flush draw.

Hickey turned over for a pair of nines, and needed to improve to stay alive.

The turn card was the , the river card was the , and Andreas Olympios won the pot — and the WPT500 trophy — with a spade flush.

Hickey finished as the runner-up, earning $185,000. Olympios wins the partypoker WPT500 at ARIA Resort & Casino, earning $260,000 and the WPT500 trophy.

Congratulations to Andreas Olympios!

Final Table Results:

1st:  Andreas Olympios – $260,000
2nd:  Wesley Hicks – $185,000
3rd:  Drazen Ilich – $135,000
4th:  Robby Seurynck – $100,000
5th:  Jonathan Opas – $75,000
6th:  Sanjay Mayekar – $58,000
7th:  Khoan Ho – $45,000
8th:  Guy Gorelick – $35,000
9th:  Guy Cicconi – $27,150

That concludes our coverage from the partypoker WPT500 Main Event. Thanks to ARIA for hosting another great event here on the Las Vegas Strip. The next stop on the tour will take us to the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma for the WPT Choctaw Main Event from July 29 – August 2. The WPT live reporting team will be there to bring you all of the poker action at the end of this month.