Paul Lozano Martin entered Wednesday's Venetian $1,600 Ultimate Stack event as the overwhelming chip leader, and walked out four hours later the undisputed champion, banking a career-best live cash of $131,023.
But everything that happened in between the first cards of the final table going into the air and the final river was anything but straightforward. River card after river card shifted fates and outcomes, big pairs repeatedly went down in flames and the stacks swung wildly throughout the night.
Patrick Leonard first victim of fate
For a $1,600 event, the talent level at the final table of this Venetian Ultimate Stack was off the charts. There were four players with over $3 million in lifetime live tournament earnings, according to The Hendon Mob, with two WSOP bracelet winners, and a WPT Champions Club member in the mix.
Perhaps the most notable player of them all, Patrick Leonard, began the afternoon in the middle of the pack and found himself in the kind of spot all poker players dream of. Leonard picked up pocket aces against Brad Gafford's 
, with Jeremy Becker putting in considerable dead money before folding his pocket jacks.
But in a sign of what was to come, the dream quickly shifted into a nightmare.
Leonard would go on to finish in seventh place. Becker ran into Martin's pocket queens, and he'd follow shortly thereafter in sixth.
The rivers start coming and they don't stop coming
Martin remained in a dominant chip position and added to it in the unlikeliest of circumstances. Holding 
against Adam Adler's 
, Adler smashed the 
flop, only for Martin to run off diamond-diamond to pull off an unlikely victory. Adler soon returned the favor, when he went all in with pocket nines and was outflopped by Martin's ., only to run off spades on the turn and river to make a flush.
Adler continued his climb up the chip counts when he rivered an unlikely gutshot straight draw against Gafford. WSOP bracelet winner and WPT Champions Club member Brek Schutten fell out in fourth place, and that brought the tournament into a three-handed endgame between Martin, Gafford, and Adler.
Lozano Laughs Last
Three-handed play carried on for long enough that all three players spent time as both chip leader and short stack. Gafford's pocket aces managed to hold up with him on the other side of the equation. Martin reclaimed his chip lead by putting Adler out in third place, as his pocket queens managed to hold off Adler's 
. But after the best hand held up a couple of times, there was one final chance for a premium holding to go down in flames.
The end result was Martin banking the second-best result of his career, against a final table of absolute killers. He just had to take the long way around.
Venetian $1,600 Ultimate Stack final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Lozano Martin | $131,023 |
| 2 | Brad Gafford | $93,960 |
| 3 | Adam Adler | $68,300 |
| 4 | Brek Schutten | $50,327 |
| 5 | Gerald Cunniff | $37,600 |
| 6 | Jeremy Becker | $28,486 |
| 7 | Patrick 'Pads' Leonard | $21,890 |
Lead Patrick Leonard photo courtesy of PokerStars
