Players all around the Borgata poker room had their ears perk as a loud shout of excitement filled the air from the corner. "That's for all the bad beats!" a visibly elated Hugo Ouazana shouted at the conclusion of Event #10: $400 Almighty Stack.
The Frenchman took down a $100K score that tripled his lifetime earnings, and his emotions overflowed at the conclusion of the tournament.
"It's hard to say which means more," he said when asked about whether the trophies meant more than the money. "Usually, you're happy because you get both. I've been running pretty well these past few days, but I hadn't won a tournament in three years, so this trophy means something. If I had to pick only one, however, I think I'd take the $100k."
Dominates final table in just three hours
Coming into the final table as the chip leader, Ouazana went wire-to-wire and never relinquished the lead over the final table. From beginning to end, the final table took roughly three hours.
"I had the chip lead, and the thing is, during Day 2, I had no expectations," he said. "I was down a bunch of money before that, so I just decided I was going to play my game. It just went very well, and I ended up as chip leader.
"I didn't even look at the pay jumps or anything. When I realized I was the chip leader, then I said, 'You know what? Let's just see how they play.' They ended up respecting ICM, but they were all playing pretty well. I used that all to my advantage, which set me up pretty nicely for the win."
Tournaments are Ouazana's preferred version of poker, and he talked to us about his philosophy on the game.
"I play more tournaments, which is where I started," Ouazana explained. "I play some cash from time to time, but tournaments are what I am passionate about. They are also the hardest form of poker, just incredibly frustrating to play. I've taken my fair share of bad beats over the years, even during this week. I'm just so happy to close it out today."
Three-way chop
Ouazana decided to propose an ICM deal when play was three-handed and then play it out for the trophy.
"We played a lot together yesterday, and I noticed they were all nice guys," he said, speaking very kindly of his tablemates. "To be honest, I wouldn't have made the deal if it were guys that I did not like. I think everyone was happy at the end of it all."
With this massive boost to his bankroll, Ouazana talked a little bit about his future plans. He confirmed he would be staying through the Main Event, as he had already won a package to it.
"I live in New York, but my visa is going to expire pretty soon," he said. "I'm going to play a few tournaments, maybe go back to Vegas. After that, I am going back to Europe. I'm not a professional, but I'll probably play a few more tournaments like EPTs over there. It's going to be a lot easier having a bankroll now."
A total of 2,348 entrants came out to play and generated a prize pool of $768,850 that was divided up among the final 292 players.
Almighty Stack final table payouts
- Hugo Ouazana - $100,220*
- Federico Castro - $88,415*
- Elijah Kirat - $70,228*
- David Sathue - $37,150
- Robert Nelson - $25,300
- Rishi Mehta - $19,310
- Dror Mei-Tal - $14,970
- Matthew Blaustein - $11,885
- Corey Whitaker - $9,280
* After three-way deal
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