Isiah Ditoto Wins Event #1: $400 Mystery Bounty ($96,657)
Event #1: $400 Mystery Bounty at the Potomac Winter Poker Open attracted 2,457 runners generating a prizepool of $589,270. On Sunday, January 29th, 193 players returned for the second and final day with all eyes on the $96,657 first prize as well as the $25,000 top bounty.
After 15 hours of play, Isiah Ditoto of Maryland bested Marshall Roof in heads-up play to record the largest cash of his career. Both Roof and Ditoto had played in Flight 1f, which concluded late the previous night, and so fatigue had certainly set in by the time there were the only two players left.
Event #1:$400 Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
| Position | Name | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isiah Ditoto | United States | $96,657 |
| 2 | Marshall Roof | United States | $53,458 |
| 3 | Jacob Hershey | United States | $42,851 |
| 4 | Sheldon Poe | United States | $33,423 |
| 5 | Dorothy Adams | United States | $26,116 |
| 6 | Gabe Gonzales | United States | $20,341 |
| 7 | Jason Bregger | United States | $15,981 |
| 8 | Brandon Frazier | United States | $12,740 |
| 9 | Chris Harrell | United States | $10,265 |
Play went quickly throughout much of the day, with the tournament average stack hovering around the 25 big blind mark. The pace did slow down somewhat once the final three tables were set and had settled completely by the time the final table was reached.
The mystery bounty element of the tournament came into play on Day 2 and it was David Lee who not only drew the top bounty of $25,000 but also two of the $10,000 bounties to lock up the lion's share of the bounty prize pool, much to the chagrin of the rest of the field.
Final Table Action
Chris Harrell was the first player to exit the final table after he ran into the full house of Roof. Next to go was Brandon Frazier who chose a poor time to shove, running directly into Jacob Hershey's flush. Not long after Jason Bregger was felted when his deuces could not overcome the eights of Hershey.
Hershey continued his hot run by next eliminating Gabe Gonzales in sixth place with a turned full house downing Gonzales' flopped flush. The last woman left in the field, Dorothy Adams, finally ran out of steam in 5th place after getting her last chips into the middle against Ditoto with a dominated ace.
Sheldon Poe, the largest stack coming into the day, rode his lead right until very near the end but did fall in 4th place in a blind on blind encounter with Hershey.
Three handed play continued for quite some time with several massive pots going down without an elimination. Finally, however, it was the elimination of Hershey after he shoved his short stack into the ace-seven of Ditoto that took the tournament down to the heads-up stage.
Ditoto held a significant advantage going into heads-up play and did not look back, eventually securing the win when his ace-four held against the queen-nine suited of Roof. While Roof will be disappointed at having come so close just to fall at the final hurdle, hopefully the runner up prize of $53,458 will provide some consolation. Ditoto, meanwhile, secured a whopping $96,657 which, along with the bounties, takes his total winnings from the tournament over the $100,000 mark.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates from the floor throughout the rest of the Potomac Winter Poker Open.