James Carroll victorious at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event after defeating a final table that included former champion Nam Le, Mukul Pahuja and Dylan Wilkerson.
James Carrroll takes his live tournament earnings above $2.2m after taking the huge first prize of $1.2m at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event in San Jose, California.
It was the biggest field that a Bay 101 Shooting Stars event had ever attracted with 713 players smashing the previous record of 643 players set one-year prior, and the final table was an absolute corker.
It was a first WPT final table for Garrett Greer after coming so close with 7th and 8th place finishes throughout the years, but he would become the first player eliminated in this one.
Greer opened the cutoff, Dylan Wilkerson made the three-bet, Greer moved all-in and Wilkerson made the call. It was pocket eights for Greer and they were well behind the pocket nines of Wilkerson – a third nine sealing the deal on the turn and Greer was out.
Next to bust was a player who has a WPT record as good as anyone in the business. Nam Le was making his sixth WPT final table, but would have to settle for fifth in this one.
Le moved all-in from the cutoff for 565,000 and James Carroll made the call from the big blind. It was [As] [3d] for Le, pocket fives for Carroll, and that was all she wrote.
Next out was a man bang on WPT form in the shape of Mukul Pahuja who was making his fourth WPT cash of the season, and his second final table. He finished second to Derrick Rosenbarger in WPT Montreal, but would take fourth in this one.
Pahuja making a move over a Wilkerson open with [Ah] [Qd], his opponent called with the dominated [Qc] [Ts], but a [As] [Kd] [Js] flop would do very nicely and Pahuja was out.
The third place finisher was another man with fine recent form in WPT events. Shaun Suller took third in the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, and it would be a case of dejavu, as he would take that same spot in San Jose.
Suller check-raise jamming on the river on a board of [Kc] [4d] [2s] [Jc] [Qs], holding [Qd] [Js] for two pair and Carroll making the easiest call of his life with [Ah] [Ts] for Broadway.
That set up a heads-up clash between Carroll and the in form Dylan Wilkerson with Carroll enjoying a 12,450,000 v 9,100,000 chip lead and it was all over after the following hand.
Wilkerson min-raised to 500,000 and Carroll made the call. The flop was [9c] [4h] [2s] and Carroll check-raised to 1,300,000; Wilkerson called. The turn was the [2c] and Wilkerson moved all-in and Carroll called.
It was [Ah] [5c] for Wilkerson holding the ace high gunshot straight draw, and Carroll held [6s] [4d] for a pair of fours. The river card was the [Qh] and Carroll’s hand stayed ahead to hand him the title and a seat at the WPT World Championships in April.
Final Table Standings
1st: James Carroll – $1,256,500
2nd: Dylan Wilkerson – $728,650
3rd: Shaun Suller – $477,470
4th: Mukul Pahuja – $320,800
5th: Nam Le – $223,810
6th: Garrett Greer – $174,080
