David Dongwoo Ko outlasted several lead changes and a power outage to close the deal at WPT Montreal to earn his spot in the Champions Club.
The power outage — caused by thunderstorms that ripped through the area in the late evening — delayed the completion of the final table by several hours. When power was restored, Ko survived a wild ending to complete his wire-to-wire win.
Ko was aggressive all week and bagged the chip lead on each of his three days of the tournament before the final table showdown. He outlasted a field of 882 entries to win CA$434,900 (around $319,317 USD.)
"I called lots of bluffs today," Ko told PokerOrg after Day 2. "A lot of confident players are here. I was able to find some calls."
He returned on Day 3 with the biggest stack and continued his aggressive play. "Today there were some ICM implications, and a lot of people wanted to make a final table, so there was more pressure I could put on with the bigger stack," Ko said while bagging up for the finale.
At this point, Ko — a qualifier for this week's Tournament of Champions in Los Angeles — had to cancel plans to finish the job in Montreal.
He sat down with the chip lead at a final table that included Tamer Alkamli and Rayan "Beriuzy" Chamas — who showed up to avenge a second-place finish from November's WPT final Seminole.
Also qualifying for the final table was Dan Stavila, his second of the week. The WPT Prime finalist joined the tradition of back-to-back TV tables with a deep run in both events.
Charles Kassin entered the day as the short stack, but it's the second deep run in only two tournaments this year — the first being just two weeks ago at the Borgata Spring Poker Open.
The player closest to Ko in chips was Tommy Nguyen — the only other runner over 100 big blinds to start the final day.
Ko caught speeding
It took a few orbits for the first player to hit the rail when Kassin bowed out in sixth place. Kassin entered the day as the short stack and he found his spot with queens, but Nguyen turned over kings and it was over.
Alkamli and Chamas were busted by Ko in quick succession before Nguyen called a big bluff to turn the tables. Ko — an aggressive player all week — finally got caught speeding with jack-high when Nguyen tank-called a giant river bet with top pair.
The hand gave Nguyen a massive lead with nearly 300 big blinds and it left Ko just under 100. Stavila, who watched all of this happen over about 30 minutes, found himself in the mix with three players left.
The final three battled for over two hours when Ko doubled back into the lead. Moments later, the power went out at Playground Poker Club.
Lights out in Montreal
Storms ripped through the area and the venue remained dark for nearly two hours until power was restored.
A short time later, the TV set was ready to go, and play resumed. Ko returned to 86 big blinds while Nguyen and Stavila were behind him, relatively even with around 68 big blinds each.
Three-handed play was a battle of wills and everyone had their turn at the front. Nguyen fell to the short stack and got it in twice with the worst hand before he was saved by a chop on both occasions. He eventually found paydirt with a double through Ko that left a steadily charging Stavila on top at the beginning of Level 33 — nearly three hours after midnight.
Ko, having fallen to the short stack, doubled through Stavila twice before he eliminated Nguyen. The series of events gave him a chip lead he wouldn't relinquish and shortly after 4am on the East Coast, Ko was a WPT champion.
“I had lots of success in low stakes and mid-stakes tournaments," Ko told Tim Fiorvanti of WPT in the early morning hours after his win. "I didn’t really have much success in the High Roller events, or anything $3,000-plus. That was something that I really, really wanted to prove to myself and to the world, that I can compete in these higher level tournaments – and today I think I did.”
Photos courtesy of World Poker Tour/Enrique Malfavon
