Two live tournament scores to bring you up to speed on including Art Papazyan winning his second World Poker Tour title of the season, and Albert Daher continuing his great form with a victory in Kyrenia.
Art Papazyan became only the eighth player in history to win two World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event titles in a single season, after winning the WPT Maryland at Live! Casino Main Event.
Papazyan defeated a field of 561 entrants to capture the $389, 405 first prize after beating Zachary Donovan in heads-up action. The win came five weeks after Papazyan defeated 763 entrants, including Phil Hellmuth, in heads-up action, to win the WPT Legends of Poker Main Event.
26 players have won two WPT titles.
Here are the seven who earned theirs in a single season.
1. Gus Hansen (Season I)
2. Howard Lederer (Season I)
3. Erick Lindgren (Season II)
4. Tuan Le (Season III)
5. Darren Elias (Season XIII)
6. Anthony Zinno (Season XIII)
7. Sam Panzica (Season XV)
‘Mad’ Marvin Rettenmaier became the first player to win back-to-back WPT Main Event titles, but his wins in the Season X World Championshi
ps and the Season XI Merit Cyprus Classic ended and began new seasons.
It’s also interesting to note that Papazyan’s live tournament record was uneventful before his double win.
Final Table Result
1. Art Papazyan – $389,405
2. Zachary Donovan – $262,930
3. Tom Reynolds – $168,990
4. Randal Heeb – $120,165
5. Grigoriy Shvarts – $92,015
6. Timothy Chang – $76,620
Other big names who ran longer than a flamingo’s neck were Matt Glantz (11th), Christian Harder (24th), and Ari Engel (27th).
Papazyan’s victory means he is the runaway leader of the Hublot sponsored WPT Player of the Year race accumulating 2,400,000 points, more than double that of Guo Liang Chen and Jay Lee.
Albert Daher Picks up a Trophy
Art Papazyan isn’t the only poker player experiencing the heat, right now.
Albert Daher is also having the year of his life.
The Lebanese born pro has just taken down the $5,000 buy-in MSOP Main Event at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel & Casino in Kyrenia. Daher defeated 356 entrants to capture the $218,000 first prize.
Daher has now amassed over $700,000 in 2017 live tournament earnings, the most he has ever won in a single 12-months span. He finished fifth in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Championship at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $138,644, and eighth in the PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event for $159,870.
His highest score to date was a runner-up finish to Dominik Panka in a €10k High Roller at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Deauville back in 2014 earning $258,136.His total live earnings exceed $1.8m.
