With five players left in the WSOPC Las Vegas High Roller, Justin Lapka had nearly half of the chips in play and he was on cruise control toward his fourth circuit ring.
All of that came tumbling down in the blink of an eye when Lapka went with his gut and five-bet shoved into David Peters, who was sitting second in chips. Peters snap-called and tabled ace-king, leaving Lapka, who held ace-nine, tumbling all the way to the bottom of the chip counts with about 16 big blinds.
“There were a few things going through my mind that hand,” Lapka told us afterwards. “David opened, and there was a wide caller in between, and I squeezed (from the blinds). Peters is a top player, and I think he was aware that I knew there was maybe some dead money in the middle.”
Doomsday averted
Despite the setback, Lapka kept an upbeat attitude and maneuvered his way through the other two short stacks as Keun Kwak and Brandon Wilson hit the rail. With three players left, Lapka once again found himself all in against Peters.
This time Lapka looked to be in great shape as his ace-queen had Peters' ace-jack dominated, but when the flop fell king-jack-jack, Peters left him drawing to just four outs. The turn failed, but when the river fell the ten of diamonds, Lapka leaped from the table and let out a loud scream as he found the wild double.
“It looked like doomsday for a minute there,” Lapka said of the moment. “I still thought I was gonna win the tournament when I had no chips, when I had no odds; I continue to press forward and have hope that good things can happen. I think that attitude propels me in my everyday grind; it pushes me to higher heights than even I think I can go.”
Now he was basically free-rolling the tournament, and Lapka stayed patient. He picked his spots methodically, even though he was out of time extensions and reduced to just 30 seconds for every one of his decisions going forward.
That didn’t matter as he took big swing after big swing to grind back to second in chips before Walter Fisher hit the rail in third place. The turn of events set the stage for another huge moment against Peters.
With the blinds at 20,000/40,000/40,000, Lapka called a three-bet of 240,000 from Peters to see a flop of 
. Peters continued for 100,000, and Lapka called as the turn 
hit the felt. Peters checked, Lapka bet 200,000, and Peters called before the river 
completed the board.
Peters checked once again, and after almost running out of time, Lapka moved all in for 715,000. From there it was Peters' turn to run into time trouble as he exhausted his last two time extensions before flicking in the call, tabling 
for just ace-high with the nut flush blocker. Lapka tabled 
for rockets, and with that the chip lead was once again his.
“I was hoping for no heart on the river. He had been pretty aggressive three-betting me, isoing my limps. So I wanted to have that hand in my range to protect my weaker holdings, ” Lapka said. “We had set that up with being aggressive on both ends. David is a top player that I respect, and honestly that’s the right call, I think; I would have made that call if I was in his shoes.”
Out of time
With the chip lead back in his possession and both players out of time extensions, the clock became another opponent in the match with each player having to make big decisions under pressure.
A limped pot pre-flop at the 25,000/50,000/50,000 level saw the flop fall 
and Peters check-called a bet of 75,000. The turn 
saw Peters check-call another bet of 175,000, and when the river 
completed the board, Peters checked for a final time.
Lapka announced all-in just as the shot clock expired, and Peters used his whole shot clock before sliding in a single chip and tabling 
for second pair. Lapka tabled 
for a pair of jacks, and Peters was denied his fifth WSOP Circuit ring just a few weeks after taking home bracelet number five.
“I’m just living my dream every day,” Lapka said of winning his career ring and a package to The Bahamas. “I might go to The Bahamas this year; it would be a cool experience to have. Regardless, I just want to continue my best life and continue to have a positive attitude and continue to make friends while promoting poker in a positive light to the rest of the world.”
WSOPC Las Vegas $5,000 High Roller final table results
- Justin Lapka - $108,189
- David Peters - $71,624
- Walter Fisher - $47,292
- Brandon Wilson - $33,202
- Keun Kwak - $24,315
- Jim Collopy - $18,610
- Shawn Daniels - $14,916
- Jeremy Becker - $12,547
- Ankit Maheshwari - $11,105
