February 19-24
Hands of heads-up play before Nick Seward closed out the comeback victory.
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1ST
Nick Seward
$418,700
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2ND
Greg Brown
$270,000
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3RD
Drake Kemper
$200,000
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4TH
Lily Kiletto
$151,000
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5TH
Anthony Zinno
$114,000
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6TH
Eddie Pak
$87,000
Poker was easy for Nick Seward on Tuesday.
“Everything that could have gone right went right,” Seward said after winning the WPT Venetian Spring Poker Championship in Las Vegas.
“I’m very fortunate, I ran very hot, and I was happy with my decisions overall. It was an amazing final table.”
It's always an amazing final table when you win $418,700, and Seward did it with a brilliant comeback in just a few hours.
Greg Brown was the initial final table leader after a flurry of chips landed in his stack on Monday night, giving him more than half of what was in play as the final six sat back down on Tuesday. Seward was lingering in a distant second, followed by a pack of players like Lily Kiletto, Eddie Pak, Drake Kemper, and familiar WPT face Anthony Zinno.
Zinno out, Brown up
Zinno, who was trying to join Darren Elias and Brian Altman in the Four-Time Champs Club, did not make it beyond the 10th hand of the day, and his made is exit in fifth. Before him was Pak, who lasted only a few hands, and after him was Kiletto. The Florida resident and tournament regular would be the last woman standing, and her $151,000 prize will take her over the $1.5 million mark in career earnings.
Meanwhile, the final three players were still keeping Brown's pace, as he had 173 of the 244 remaining big blinds. Seward was still lurking and Kemper was the short stack, but he was gone after another dozen hands to set up what would be an extended heads-up battle.
Brown had extended his lead but Seward clawed back right away, closing the gap with a steady forward march over the next 90 minutes. A pivotal flush-over-flush hand during Seward's ascent was a good metaphor for how Brown's heads-up experience played out.
Catching Mr. Brown
It started with Seward's limp from the button and Brown's check, which led to a flop of 
. Brown, who was holding the 
, checked, and Seward, who held the 
, slid out 125K. Brown check-raised to 420K and Seward called.
The turn was 
and Brown was the one to fire away, this time for 700K. Seward called and the money card came in with 
on the river. Brown continued for another 1.6M but Seward put his remaining 6.4M in the middle and the action came to a halt for three time banks.
Brown would eventually think better of it and his hand went into the muck, but the situation did not improve from there. Seward retook the lead and drove Brown away, setting up one final clash between two hands you don't really expect to be in play for a six-figure final prize.
The final hand would start with another limp from Seward and another check from Brown, and this time the flop was . Good news for Seward, who had , and impending doom for Brown, who held .
Seward bet 400K and Brown called, oblivious to the and the full house it just made. Brown checked and Seward bet a pot-sized 1.4M, which was an easy enough call to get a second pair with on the river. Brown checked again and Seward pushed all in, but this time it was too tempting. Seward turned over the full house and added his name to the Mike Sexton Cup.
Head over to WPT YouTube for the full broadcast:
Images courtesy of Luther Redd/World Poker Tour.
