One of the nicest, and most talented, men in poker gets his just desserts after Dylan Linde takes down the record $10,400 World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio for $1.6m.
I woke in a good mood. Then I turned on the Internet (I don’t want brain cancer as I sleep), walked downstairs and began filling in the blanks. I picked up on something that turned my mood. I won’t share the shame of it.
I needed something sweet to come into my life – a fantastic marriage, not a broken one, a lover not a lawyer. Something. Anything. I was fed up of holding the hand mirror and having to put up with the schmuck staring back at me.
And.
Then.
I.
Saw.
It.
Dylan Linde had won the $10,400 World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $1.6m.
“It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke,” I thought to myself.
It was the first thing I said to my wife when she arose from the pit; before the kiss; before “I love you.”
“Fucking hell! Really?”
I saw the look of love on her face, and suddenly the day was going to be aye ok. I never popped a cork with the man. I never will. But the thought was enough to brighten up my day, so thank you, Dylan.
Dylan Linde Wins The Biggest $10k in History (Outside the WSOP Main Event)
Matt Savage tweeted with excitement that the 2018 5D had broken all records in the $10k department after 1,001 entrants created a $9,709,700 prize pool, so if the facts are wrong, then hang him on the windmill blades that periodically hit the moat.
Linde was one of the primary reasons those numbers were so high, firing an impressive five bullets into the coffers.
“All I wanted to do is get even,” Linde told reporters after his win. “I was like, ‘Okay, I just want to get 24th place and make $8K, that’s great.’
Well, he did a lot more than that. The 38-year-old from Coeur D’Alene, Idaho beat every single one of those 1,001 entrants, including a final table that housed some exceptionally talented poker players, no more notorious than the former WPT Alpha8 winner, Andrew Lichtenberger.
Let’s see how Linde worked his magic.
Final Table Chip Counts
1. Milos Skrbic – 8,430,000
2. Dylan Linde – 7,780,000
3. Ping Liu – 7,325,000
4. Andrew Lichtenberger – 5,865,000
5. Lisa Hamilton – 5,340,000
6. Barry Hutter – 5,301,000
Barry Hutter Expelled in 6th Place.
Hutter opened to 250,000 on the button, and Skrbic made the call in the big blind. The flop of 8s6d5s was as wet as a cigarette in the mouth of a fish. Skrbic checked, Hutter bet 350,000, Skrbic check-raised to 1,375,000, Hutter piled in for 3,650,000, and Skrbic called. Hutter showed Ac8d for top pair, top kicker, and Skrbic showed 6h5d for the bottom two pairs. The turn and river were kinder to Skrbic, and Hutter was out.
Lisa Hamilton Eradicated in 5th Place.
Linde opened to 350,000 from the first position; Hamilton moved all-in for 2,500,000 (17bb), and Linde matched up the stacks. We were at the races with Hamilton slightly ahead holding pocket fives against the ATdd of Linde. The flop reversed those positions as the Th7s3d gave Linde top pair, the Ts on the turn gave him trips, and as the 3s on the river wasn’t a third five, Hamilton was a goner.
Chip Counts
1. Dylan Linde – 14,975,000
2. Milos Skrbic – 14,075,000
3. Andrew Lichtenberger – 6,175,000
4. Ping Liu – 4,825,000
Ping Liu Erased from the Picture in 4th Place.
The action folded to Linde in the small blind, and he moved all-in. Seated in the big blind, Liu peeked at his cards, realised he had a playable hand and then began eyeballing Lichtenberger’s stack. I am sure a host of ICM calculations went through Liu’s mind before he made the call, but make the call he did. Linde showed the world J2cc, and Liu turned over his Ad4h. Once again, the flop fell in Linde’s favour when Kh7h2s gave the RunItOnce coach a pair of deuces, and it was good enough, with the 3s and Kd not adding any value to Liu’s hand.
Chip Counts
1. Dylan Linde – 22,250,000
2. Milos Skrbic – 14,025,000
3. Andrew Lichtenberger – 3,775,000
Andrew Lichtenberger Excluded From the Winner’s Shot in 3rd Place.
A family pot saw the final three players staring at Kc7s3c as a cat looks at a rattlesnake. The action checked to Linde who bet 275,000, Skrbic check-raised to 925,000, Lichtenberger moved all-in for 3,575,000, Linde got out of the way, and Skrbic made the call. Lichtenberger showed Kd5h for top pair, Skrbic showed T6cc for the flush draw, and it connected on the turn when the 8c came out to play, leaving Lichtenberger drawing dead.
Dylan Linde Wins the WPT Five Diamond Championship.
Chip Counts
1. Dylan Linde – 22,375,000
2. Milos Skrbic – 17,675,000
So Dylan Linde would take on Milos Skrbic for the $1.6m first prize, and passport into the WPT Champions Club, with Skrbic arguably the hotter with a fifth-place finish in the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event for $275,055 still ringing in his ears.
However, Linde began with the chip lead and never surrendered it, grinding Skrbic down until there was nothing left of the man. The final hand saw Skrbic take his last stand with 17 big blinds and pocket fives, and Linde turned over pocket jacks. A call and five community cards later, Linde was preparing to stare into the camera as a WPT Champions Club member.
Here are the final table results:
Final Table Results
1. Dylan Linde – $1,631,468
2. Milos Skrbic – $1,087,603
3. Andrew Lichtenberger – $802,973
4. Ping Liu – $599,147
5. Lisa Hamilton – $451,880
6. Barry Hutter – $344,529
Three other stars of the game that went deeper than a Tampax designed for an elephant were the former WSOP Main Event Champ, Joe McKeehen (9th), the WPT Montreal third-place finisher, Sorel Mizzi (12th) and the loser in the controversial bathroom bet, Rory Young (18th).
That’s a wrap for Season XVII in 2018.
The next time a WPT Champion brightens up my day will be in January when The Hawaiian Gardens Casino acts as the host for the $10,000 WPT Gardens Poker Championships Jan 12-16.
