Zamani Wins, Pupillo Second in WSOPC Rio Las Vegas High Roller
On Tuesday night, the World Series of Poker crowned its latest champion at the Rio All-Suite Casino and Resort in Event #14: $2,200 High Roller as Martin Zamani emerged the victor after topping a 179 entry field to secure his first Circuit ring. Zamani took down the Star-studded field in the late hours of the night, pulling in the $89,143 first-place prize, along with a shiny new WSOP Circuit ring.
"I'm rich!" Zamani laughed when asked how it felt to ship his first WSOP Circuit ring, adding another feat to an already hearty resume that already boasted over $2.1 million in live career earnings.
The Boca Raton, FL native saw his chip stack swell up to the top but instantly fell near the bottom shortly after so he took it in his own hands to find a strategy that would work for him.
"I had four racks and then I had no racks...So I decided if I won a hand that I would celebrate with a drink and then I continued celebrating." Zamani replied with a smile.
When the final table started to bust it seemed like every player stayed to watch it finished, along with some other notable friends to watch Zamani secure his first ring. "It wasn't me that did anything, it was the friends and atmosphere around me that did it," the latest ring winner on the circuit said.
WSOP Circuit Rio Las Vegas $2,200 High Roller Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Zamani | Boca Raton, FL | $89,143 |
| 2 | Nick Pupillo | Gilbert, AZ | $55,085 |
| 3 | Michael Rossitto | Brooklyn, NY | $38,365 |
| 4 | Brent Roberts | Staten Island, NY | $27,334 |
| 5 | Alex Rocha | Setauket, NY | $19,932 |
| 6 | Jasthi Kumar | San Ramon, CA | $14,884 |
| 7 | Roland Israelashvili | Forest Hill, NY | $11,388 |
| 8 | Viet Vo | Pearland, TX | $8,934 |
Final Day Action
The final day began with 70 runners of the 179 total entries, each of them having their sights set on reaching the money first. Unfortunately for Andrew Wall he was the final player to leave without finding a payout slip after Stephen Song rivered Broadway with king-queen to defeat Wall's pocket sixes. The others were all guaranteed a $2,425 min-cash from that point on.
Once the money was hit it did not take long for the field to dwindle down to the final two tables and it was none other than Zamani leading the final 18. However, once the official final table hit, he had dropped down all the way to the bottom of the barrel. The eventual champion notched an early double against Roland Israelashvili before Thai Ha became the first elimination.
Just moments after it was Viet Vo seen headed to the payout desk when his pair of nickels failed to hold against the ace-king of Michael Rossitto. Israelashvili, after losing the earlier all-in versus Zamani, then got his chips into the middle versus Jasthi Kumar with Israelashvili repping ace-ten against Kumar's king-seven. Israelashvili flopped a ten but the king river sent all the chips to Kumar and Israelashvili hit the rail in seventh place.
It was a short-lived success for Kumar, who took his newly acquired chips and sent them straight into the stack of Rossitto after losing kings versus ace-king Rossitto continued his heater and his next victim was Alex Rocha. Rossitto opened from the cutoff with pocket sevens and Rocha pushed his ladies over the top. Rossitto called and was in rough shape until the seven landed on the turn, sending another stack to Rossitto as Rocha took an exit.
Zamani sent Roberts to the showers on the very next hand when Zamani jammed the button and Roberts called for less in the big blind. Zamani tabled ace-queen and Roberts showed king-eight. The best hand held up to leave the field three-handed.
"I had four racks and then I had no racks...So I decided if I won a hand that I would celebrate with a drink and then I continued celebrating."
Rossitto started three-handed play with a monstrous chip lead but Zamani quickly took down the tower of chips that once sat in front of Rossitto, putting him into a short-stack position. Zamani shoved the small blind with nine-eight and Rossitto called with his ace-five. The turn brought a straight for Zamani and Rossitto headed to the payout desk.
Nick Pupillo began heads up on the smaller end of a large deficit and couldn't seem to get anything going. He managed to secure two doubles when he was on the brink of elimination but Zamani kept the pressure on him and put the final dagger in the coffin with a pair of jacks versus the king-eight of Pupillo. The board ran out clean for Zamani and Pupillo was eliminated in second for a respectable $55,085.
That wraps it up for PokerNews live coverage here in the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino but tune in Friday, February 28, for updates from the WSOPC Main Event at Horseshoe Hammond (Chicago area).
