By Sean Chaffin
The WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic is one of the most prestigious tournaments in poker and this season’s event is right around the corner. The $10,400 event will be back in Las Vegas at Bellagio from December 11-15.
The annual event offers players a stay in style at the world-class hotel resort, a chance at huge money, and the chance to win an event that has been won by some of the game’s elite players. Here’s a look back at Part I of the event’s winners and their poker careers.
Season XVI – Ryan Tosoc
It was a massive two-year run at Bellagio for Tosoc. In Season XV, he finished runner-up at Five Diamond for $1.1 million. If that weren’t impressive enough, a year later Tosoc went ahead and won the title for $1.96 million. The tournament featured 812 entries and a $7.9 million prize pool.
“It feels unreal,” Tosoc said after the win. “I kind of feel like I’m in a dream right now.”
The dream continued this summer as Tosoc added his first World Series of Poker bracelet after taking down the $1,000 Online Championship for $238,779. He’ll certainly be someone to watch when the action gets underway in December.
Season XV – James Romero
With a big chip lead going into the final table, Romero never relented and finished off a table that included poker stars like Justin Bonomo, Tosoc, and Jake Schindler. The impressive win garnered $1.9 million in an event that featured 791 entries. It was only his third tournament cash with his previous best cash only $3,800.
“It feels great,” Romero said later. “I’m really excited about my future playing poker. I’m going to be traveling the world and donating the money back to professional poker players from every country.”
It was the biggest win of his career by far and makes up 68 percent of his career winnings of a bit over $2.8 million. Since then, Romero has scored a few other smaller titles at the PCA, Seminole Hard Rock, and L.A. Poker Classic.
Season XIV- Kevin Eyster
A big win for $1.587 million brought a second WPT title for Eyster. The title added to an already stellar career that includes a WSOP bracelet, three WSOP Circuit rings, an EPT title, and $4.5 million in live tournament winnings.
Eyster’s first WPT title came in the Season XI WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown.
A native of Lafayette, LA, Eyster remains a force on the tournament scene and even notched a runner-up finish in October in a $1,125 WSOP Circuit event for $28,366.
Season XIII – Moshin Charania
Five Diamond was not only special for Charania for taking home almost $1.5 million, but also marked his second WPT title. He staged a comeback for the win after entering the final table fifth in chips. Before his win, Charania was anything but an unknown. He had several titles to his name including an EPT win in 2012 in the EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final for $1.8 million.
Charania’s previous WPT title came in Season XI at the Grand Prix de Paris for almost $470,000 after finishing fifth in the same event a year earlier.
He came close to a third title in Season XIV when he finished runner-up at the WPT Rolling Thunder for $192,132. His poker resumé added another nice bullet point in 2017 when he won a WSOP bracelet for $364,438.
Season XII – Dan Smith
No stranger to poker success, Smith added yet another major title to his collection in 2012 after topping a field of 449 for $1.2 million. He came to Bellagio with plenty of final table experience – including an HPT title in 2008 for $102,000. That was nothing compared to 2012. Beyond his WPT win, he also scored a win at the Aussie Millions for more than $1 million and five EPT titles for over $1.2 million.
The championship that December on the WPT was just icing on the cake. The wins, final tables, and six-figure scores have continued, and he’s a regular on the game’s high-roller tournament scene. Bellagio has been a bit of a home away from home for Smith, and he won a $5,200 Five Diamond preliminary event in 2016 for $257,097.
A year later he added another preliminary event in the $100,000 High Roller for $1.4 million. Smith remains a big player in the poker world, playing at the highest stakes in the world including a cash in the 2018 $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop.
Season XI – Ravi Raghavan
A WPT regular, Raghavan notched a $1.3 million score to cap off a great run that December at Bellagio. Already with a win in a $2,620 preliminary event for $150,810, the heater continued in the championship.
Since that win, Raghavan has had numerous other five- and six-figure scores and added a WSOP Circuit ring in 2016 for $132,798. He remains a regular tournament poker player and Five Diamond is his biggest win to date.
Just this week, Raghavan made his third career final table at the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open.
Season X – James Dempsey
This win at Bellagio may be Dempsey’s lone WPT cash, but he sure made it count. The Englishman took home $821,216 after topping a field of 413. While Dempsey played mostly in Europe before his Five Diamond win, he was no stranger to success in the U.S. In the summer of 2010, he won a WSOP bracelet and finished runner-up in another event for a total of almost $500,000.
Dempsey continues to play a lot in Europe and at the WSOP each summer. Nicknamed “The Doctor,” he now has more than $2.1 million in live tournament earnings. He also spends much of his free time on the golf course.
Season IX – Antonio Esfandiari
One of the tour’s early big stars, Esfandiari was well-known among poker fans by the time he won Five Diamond. This win etched his name on the Champions Cup for a second time and brought him a score of $870,124. It was also a nice birthday present as he turned 32 on that same day
“My win was monumental for me because I hadn’t won anything in seven years,” he told WPT.com. “And so to come back and win a tournament on my birthday obviously gave me a bit of a boost in confidence, to say the least. It felt great.”
The Magician remains one of the most popular players in the game and now has three WSOP bracelets including winning the original $1 million Big One for One Drop in 2012 for $18.3 million. He remains active and serves as a commentator for ESPN’s WSOP broadcasts. Esfandiari plans to be back at the event in December.
Season VIII – Daniel Alaei
Alaei had been a regular tournament player with several wins and final table appearances when he headed to the Bellagio for Five Diamond. That resumé included a WSOP bracelet in 2006 and a WSOP Circuit ring that same year. His career continued to fly in 2009 when he won the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo Championship at the WSOP for $445,898.
Just a few months later, Alaei even topped that with his win at Bellagio for $1.4 million. The final table was a “Who’s Who” of poker sharks including Josh Arieh (runner-up), Faraz Jaka, Shawn Buchanan, Scotty Nguyen, and Steve O’Dwyer. After that win, Alaei didn’t slow down and now has five WSOP bracelets and more than $7.2 million in tournament winnings.
“It meant a lot to me,” he says of his Five Diamond win. “I had played a lot of WPT tournaments at that time and had never quite finished one off, so I was very pleased to win after making my first final table. It was also the biggest tournament score of my career and capped off an amazing year of poker for me.”
These days Alaei generally only plays tournaments at the WSOP but will be in Vegas in December playing cash games.
“Depending on how lively the games are,” he says, “I may play Five Diamond this year.”
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