With just seven big blinds to his name coming back from the second break, a run to the Event #15: $1,700 Main Event title seemed like an afterthought for Alex Cruz but after going on a run players only dream of he went from short stack ninja to Main Event champion taking home the $241,412 first-place prize, the gold WSOP Circuit ring and the $5,000 pacakge to the Bahamas for the 2025 WSOP Paradise.
"I was due," Cruz told PokerOrg after the tournament's conclusion. "You know, some things are just meant to be. I had a really good feeling about this one. My friend even texted me, I think you are going to win this. Sometimes you just get gut feelings."
With four players remaining, Cruz was sitting on a short stack of just over seven big blinds and found himself all in and at risk with ace-seven of spades against the ace-queen of Eliaan Pilo, leaving the Midland poker pro with both feet firmly in the grave. However, the deck had other plans as it went runner-runner flush for Cruz to keep his tournament hopes alive and score the massive double.
A few hands later, Cruz had all the chips after getting in pocket aces against Alex Rindone's ace-queen and finishing off Pilo in fourth place for $78,692. Cruz kept the run going when he once again came from behind to send Peter Clive to the rail in third place for $111,537.
All the chips went into the middle for Clive, who held king-three of diamonds against Cruz's jack-six of diamonds on a queen-ten-nine two diamond board. Cruz wound up finding a black eight on the river to complete his straight to take 70% of the chips in play into the heads-up match against Rindone.
Heads-up would be a bumpy ride for the eventual champion as Rindone would take the chip lead, but Cruz would slam the door shut with a huge semi-bluff. In a three-bet pot, on a board reading ace-eight-eight-four two diamonds, Rindone fired a massive bet of 7,200,000 into a pot of about 12 million chips.
Cruz moved all in for roughly 15,000,000 effective, and after Rindone reluctantly sent his cards into the muck, Cruz triumphantly tabled five-four of diamonds for a flush draw on the flop that turned in a pair on the turn.
Rindone never recovered from the back-breaking hand, and after being whittled down to just a few big blinds, found himself all in and behind with jack-ten against the queen-four of Cruz. A four on the river gave Cruz a pair, but he had the best hand the whole way with his queen high to send Rindone home in second place for $160,932.
"(The heads-up match) was tough, he is a very tricky opponent and it was hard to range him," Cruz said of Rindone's play heads-up. "Honestly, though, I kind of had a read on him from playing with him yesterday, and I think that read helped me out on the (five-four hand). If he has an ace, I am just screwed, but I didn't think he had it and had to go with the shove."
Earlier Final Table Action
Before Cruz went on his run, the first four hours of play were a slugfest as chips were flying across the table as short stacks doubled twice through start-of-day chip leader Marcus "Chocolate Thunder" Dickey, and left him in danger of going from nearly 30% of the chips to out the door in eighth place.
Dickey would find a double of his own through Bradley Ritschel to stay afloat, and Ritschel (8th place for $23,453) was the unfortunate first casualty of the day, a few hands later, after running his last few big blinds into Dickey's pocket aces.
Three more doubles were on the horizon for the short stacks before Jacob Thibodeau got it all in with ace-queen but ran square into the pocket kings of Rindone. Thibodeau found an ace in the window, but a king immediately followed it to send him to the rail in seventh place for $30,853.
Rohini Telukutla came into the day virtually tied for the chip lead with Dickey and used those chips to his advantage with uber aggression early, but that aggression would eventually come back to bite him when he moved all in for roughly 7,000,000 total under the gun plus one.
Clive had opened under the gun and, after some thought, called with pocket queens for over 5,000,000 effective. Telukutla tabled pocket nines, and when a nine failed to materialize on the runout, he went from a top-two stack to the shorty. Telukutla's tournament run would then come to an end in sixth place for $41,373 when his ace-jack could not run down Dickey's pocket sevens.
The players then went on their second break of the day at the final table, with Cruz and Dickey sitting at the bottom of the counts. When the players returned, on the second hand back from break, Dickey found himself all in for 3,000,000 effective with ace-queen only to run square into Rindone's ace-king to hit the rail in fifth place for $56,535 to set the stage for Cruz's eventual run to the title.
Final Table Payouts for Event #15: $1,700 Main Event:
- Alex Cruz - $241,412
- Alex Rindone - $160,932
- Peter Clive - $111,537
- Eliaan Pilo - $78,692
- Marcus Dickey - $56,535
- Rohini Telukutla - $41,373
- Jacob Thibodeau - $30,853
- Bradley Ritschel - $23,453
- Ahmad Popal - $18,180
he rivered a pair to send Rindone to the rail in second place for $160,932. 
