Photo Credit: Joe Giron
Ryan Van Sanford is the newest member of the World Poker Tour Champions Club after defeating Chris Bolek in heads up action at the World Poker Tour bestbet Bounty Scramble in Jacksonville.
Ryan Van Sanford is the newest member of the prestigious World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club, after defeating Chris Bolek, in heads-up action, at the bestbest Bounty Scramble in Jacksonville Florida.
The 21-year old ploughed through a field containing 461 entrants, in the revamped $5,000 buy-in event, that also contained 40-players carrying a $2,500 bounty on their head. It was the first time that Van Sanford had ever cashed in a major event.
The Fort Lauderdale native came into the final table as the chip leader, closely followed by the headline act Jason Helder. The 28-year old, from Philadelphia, recently taking down the $1m first prize at the 2014 River Poker Series; Helder finishing in fifth courtesy of a race with Van Sanford, where his [Ks] [Qs] just didn’t have the legs to get ahead of the [Ah] [Td] of the eventual champion.
Helder wasn’t the first player out though. That honor was reserved for Corey Hochman. The 39-year old ophthalmologist recently came ninth in the Season XII WPT World Championships, but he would take sixth in this one – once again king-queen failing to beat a hand held by Van Sanford who was this time holding ace-queen.
Chris Bolek would oust Jared Reinstein out of the contest in fourth – pocket eights losing a flip against ace-ten – and it was Van Sanford once again doing the damage when he sent Brian Reinert to the rail to set up a heads-up encounter with Bolek, after his pocket jacks dodged a whole load of aces and kings.
Bolek, a World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner, would last 15-hands against Van Sanford before the pair got it in on a [Th] [9s] [6s] flop. Bolek was holding [Td] [7h] for top pair, Van Sanford held [Ts] [8d], for the same hand with a slightly bigger kicker, and after the [2s] and [Qc] completed the action, Van Sanford was declared the winner.
WPT Jacksonville Final Table Results
1st. Ryan Van Sanford – $421,068
2nd. Chris Bolek – $284,371
3rd. Brian Reinert – $182,853
4th. Jared Reinstein – $135,223
5th. Jason Helder – $101,518
6th. Corey Hochman – $81,335
Other notables who cashed in the Top 30 of the event were Christian Harder (10th), Mike Gracz (11th), Jacob Bazeley (15th), Jamie Gold (17th), David Diaz (18th), Darryll Fish (21st), Shannon Shorr (26th) and Anthony Zinno (27th).
The focus of the WPT now turns to Nottingham, England, where the WPT500 is currently underway at Dusk till Dawn.
