Pratyush Buddiga continues his impressive streak of results with victory in the $25,000 High Roller at the Aria Resort in Las Vegas, after beating World Series of Poker bracelet winner, Larry Phillips, in heads-up action.
New Zealand born Pratyush Buddiga has now earned over $3.2m in live tournament earnings – and $2m in 2014 alone – after topping a record breaking High Roller field in the $25,000 derivative in the Aria Resort & Casino, Las Vegas yesterday.
The Spelling Bee wizard defeated the former World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, Larry Phillips, in heads-up action, to top a field of 59 entrants, and take the lion share of the $1,430,750 prize pool.
In just four years, Buddiga has moved from the midst of a hoard of average day grinders, to one of the most feared tournament players in the world. His victory is his fifth six figure score of 2014: he topped a 578 player field to win the 2014 Fallsview Poker Classic for $222,172; finished 10th in a $100,000 Super High Roller event at The Bellagio for $172,260; finished 4/802 in the €2k Estrellas High Roller in Barcelona for $126,616; and took third for a career high $844,571 in the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Super High Roller in the City of Dream Macau.
The final table, as you would expect, was brimming with talent. Multiple WSOP bracelet holder, Brian Rast, made it the fourth consecutive year that he had exceeded seven figures in live tournament earnings, after his third place finish. Rast has now taken over $600k from Aria High Roller events in 2014 with two third and two fourth place finishes.
Roger Sippl also loves this format. The Silicon Valley software pioneer won the $50,000 version of this event in Sep, for $776,160, and added a further $128,678 to his net worth with a fourth place finish.
There were also final table berths for the WSOP bracelet winner Doug Polk, the World Poker Tour (WPT) Alpha8 London runner-up Max Altergott, and the final table ever-present Jason Koon.
Buddiga defeated Phillips in a heads-up encounter that last close to seven hours. The final hand seeing Buddiga’s pocket nines outlasting the KQo of Wright on a board of A43A5. Most of Wright’s $343,380 purse was handed to the Yei Children’s Village in South Sudan.
Aria High Roller Final Table Results
1st. Pratyush Buddiga – $543,683
2nd. Larry Wright – $343,380
3rd. Brian Rast – $214,613
4th. Roger Sippl – $128,768
5th. Max Altergott – $71,538
6th. Anonymous – $57,230
7th. Doug Polk – $42,923
8th. Jason Koon – $28,615
