Kyle Kitagawa Wins His First WPTDeepStacks Title at Thunder Valley

Kyle Kitagawa (pictured) topped a field of 356 entries to win the Season 6 WPTDeepStacks Thunder Valley Main Event on Monday at Thunder Valley Casino Resort. The WPTDeepStacks Regular from Elk Grove, California took home his first WPTDeepStacks title worth $106,250, and that includes a $3,000 championship prize package.

“This means a lot because I’ve been traveling with the tour for the last few years. In 2017 I went hard, I traveled and went to nearly every single stop but I didn’t have the year I was looking for, so I really felt like I was under-performing. I really wanted to just win this tournament, it meant more to me than the money, It was personal, I needed to win,” said Kitagawa after the win.

“Your mental game is everything, if you’re not mentally strong, or mentally prepared to grind it out for hours or days you’re eventually going to mess up. I’ve been fortunate that my head has been clear lately, that’s been something I’ve really been working on,” said Kitagawa about his mindset coming into the final table today.

Kitagawa now has a seat in the WPTDeepStacks Championship at the end of the season, and it just so happens that it will be hosted here at his local casino. Here is what Kitagawa had to say about that upcoming event that will be hosted here on his home court. “This is the best place to have tournaments, it’s close to me so I’m super excited and thankful it’s hosted here at Thunder Valley for the championship. You’ve got the prize pools, you’ve got the players, Dan Ross does a great job with the blog, Ben Erwin and his staff is a great team. I never have any problems here, and it’s close,” said Kitagawa.

“When this tour came out I was super excited because it’s WPT, it’s $1k-$2k buy-in range, which is perfect, it’s affordable, and it’s more fun. It’s the fun tour,” said Kitagawa when he was asked about what keeps bringing him out to play in WPTDeepStacks events.

Season 6 WPTDeepStacks Thunder Valley Final Table Results

1st: Kyle Kitagawa – $106,250*
2nd: Thu Tran – $69,025
3rd: Zihan Men – $50,875
4th: Mark Bansemer – $37,920
5th: Dann Turner – $28,580
6th: Taylor Pollard – $21,790
7th: Roman Shainiuk – $16,805
8th: Ryan Awwad – $13,115

* First-prize amount includes a prize package with the winner’s seat into the Season XVIII WPTDeepStacks Championship, which will be held in April at Thunder Valley Casino Resort.

The chip were flying at the start of play with a couple of short stacks up against the wall. Ryan Awwad was the first player to fall in eighth place, and then Roman Shainiuk took his leave in seventh place. Taylor Pollard busted in sixth place, and then it was Dann Turner who hit the rail in fifth place.

The quick eliminations kept coming when Mark Bansemer fell in fourth place, and the final three player pumped the brakes for an extended battle for third before Zihan Men was the odd man out in third place. That set up a final battle between Kitagawa (6,405,000) and Thu Tran (4,275,000). The final two played for a little under an hour, but they only got all of the chips into the middle once on the final hand.

On that final hand, Kitagawa raised to 600,000 from the small blind preflop, and Tran reraised to 1,725,000 from the button. Kitagawa reraised all in for 5,785,000, and Tran called all in for a 4,895,000. The two players then flipped over their cards.

Kitagawa: 
Tran: 

Board: 

Kitagawa won the hand, and he took home his first WPTDeepStacks trophy along with $106,250, which includes a $3,000 championship prize package. Tran was eliminated in second place, and he took home $69,025 for his deep run in the tournament.

Congratulations to our new WPTDeepStacks champion – Kyle Kitagawa!

Up Next for WPTDeepStacks in North America

The next stop for Season 6 on the WPTDeepStacks schedule in North America is WPTDeepStacks Hollywood. The Main Event runs from January 9-13 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.