Las Vegas real estate manager Longsheng Tan (34) boosted his half-million dollars in poker career earnings over the weekend in taking down the World Series of Poker $1,500 buy-in NLHE event following four days of intense competition.
Tan dominated much of the play in the closing days and especially at the final table, where at least initially he and US pro Adam Laskey vied for the lead; Laskey subsequently succumbed at fifth when he encountered a bad run, and left with $75,497.
When the heads up stage was reached Tan had a 3 to 1 lead on his last opponent, Californian Lanny Levine (67), managing to keep the pressure on and eliminate Levine at second for $199,862 after just 17 hands.
The event attracted 1,351 entrants, creating a $1,823,850 prize pool from which 203 players cashed.
Othder final table cashes included:,
Jayaram Kovoorchathoth $142,785
Trey Brabham $103,212
Adam Laskey $75,497
Stephen Bierman $55,892
John Pannucci $41,884
Georgiios Tavoularis $31,775
Jason Paradis $24,409
Controversy unfolded at the World Series of Poker Main Event, where 14 bracelet-holder Phil Hellmuth lived down to his nickname “Poker Brat” with a brief and expletive-laden meltdown at a televised table directed at another player.
Massachusetts-based firefighter James Campbell, whom Hellmuth appeared to feel was targeting him, was the subject of the Poker Brat’s rant. Campbell was eventually eliminated from the event as social media lit up with a number of pro players calling Hellmuth out on his behaviour, which went unpunished by the organisers.
In an attempt to make things right, Hellmuth later admitted he had been wrong to lose control of his emotions and apologised to the firefighter, sweetening it with an offer to pay his $10,000 buy-in to next year’s World Series of Poker Main Event.
Here’s what Doug Polk had to say about the incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnZf0mafZ3k