Yorky Pud

Some poker players will go through their entire career having never won a single tournament but that is not something Vanessa Selbst will ever have to worry about as in the early hours of this morning she won the NAPT Mohegan Sun Main Event for a cool $450,000. What makes her win even more remarkable is the fact she won the exact same event one year and two days ago, amazing!

Last year the event saw 716 players take part but this year the field was drastically reduced to 387, but the prizepool was still a substantial $1,746,330, which would be shared out amongst the top 56 finishers who would each take home between $7,500 and $450,000. Going into the eight-handed final table Selbst was second in chips, her 2,249,000 trailing only the 3,021,000 of Tyler Kenney. Other notable players on the final table included Dan Shak and Joe Tehan, the latter looking for his second NAPT title after winning the Los Angeles leg just a few months ago.

It took around 90 minutes before the table lost its first player, Steve O'Dwyer being that person. The action folded around to Vincent Rubianes in the small blind and he moved all in to put the maximum pressure on O'Dwyer, who only had around 12 big blinds in his stack. O'Dwyer called and discovered his Ah7d was in front of Rubianes' QdTs but it did not stay that way for very long as the flop came down Qh-Jc2c and when the Qc arrived on the turn O'Dwyer was drawing dead. The Td on the river improved Rubianes to an un-needed full house and sent O'Dwyer to the rail to pick up $32,330.

He was followed to the rail just 20 minutes later when another short-stack, Aaron Overton, opened shoved to 530,000 from the small blind with KhQd and found a customer in Selbst who made the call with Ah2h. She stayed ahead as the board ran out Th-6s-Ac-3h-5s and Overton became the 7th place finisher, worth a bankroll-boosting $50,000.

Another hour and a half passed and the blinds had risen to 25,000/50,000/5,000 which was putting pressure on some of the shorter stacks at the table, Joe Tehan in particular. Finding himself down to 450,000 chips and the action folding to him on the button, Tehan moved all in whilst holding Kd6s in an attempt to pick up the pot uncontested but Thomas Hoglund Jr re-shoved from the small blind with 8s8d, which stayed in front on a board reading Ts-9h-2d-4c-Jh.

One more hour went by before two eliminations in quick succession made it three handed. First to go was Rubianes who found himself with a ridiculously short-stack. Kenney opened from under the gun to 140,000, Shak called in the small blind and Rubianes moved all in for just 15,000 extra chips. Both active players made the call and saw a 4d-3c-2d flop. Shak checked then folded AsTs face-up when Kenney continuation bet to 165,000. This left him heads-up against the at-risk Rubianes, his KhTc trailing the Ad7c. However, he did not stay behind for long as the Ks followed by Kd fell on the turn and river to send Rubianes to the cashier's cage to collect $90,000.

Less than 20 minutes later and Hoglund Jr was eliminated at the hands of Kenney. With blinds of 30,000/60,000/5,000, Hoglund Jr open-shoved from the button for 700,000 with Qh9s and Kenney called with As7d. The board ran out Ac-Qd-6h-5c-8d and the final table of eight had been reduced to just three players, each guaranteed at least $170,000!

Astonishingly it was Kenney was busted in third, despite holding over 4,800,000 chips at one point. Eighty minutes into three-handed play and Shak raised to 200,000 from the small blind, Kenney three-bet shoved for 1,625,000 and Shak instantly called turning over AhQs, which was dominating the As7c of Kenney. By the turn Kenney was drawing to a chop at best as the board read 9h-Jh-8h-Tc but the 4c sealed his fate and sent him packing.

Going into heads-up Shak held a substantial 8,685,000 to 3,025,000 lead over Selbst but she did not panic, probably because he bread-and-butter game is heads up cash games! She won eight of the first nine pots and within an hour she found herself with a significant lead thanks to a relative cooler of a hand. She min-raised on the button, Shak made it 600,000 to play, Selbst then re-raised to 1,300,000 and Shak quickly called. The flop came down Ad-Kh-2s, Shak checked, Selbst bet 800,000 and then snap-called when Shak moved all in. Shak turned over KcQc but was way behind the KsKd of Selbst. The Jc gave Shak some more outs but the Js on the river was not one of them and Selbst took the lead.

Two and a half hours later and Selbst had taken all of Shak's stack. Shak limped on the button and Selbst checked her option. When the flop came down Ks-7d-3s Selbst checked then check-raised Shak's 200,000 bet to 625,000, only to see Shak move all in for 2,800,000 and Selbst had called before Shak's chips had crossed the line. Shak knew his Jh7h must have been in trouble and he was correct as Selbst held Kc7c meaning Shak was drawing to running jacks! The 5h on the turn locked up the hand and the match for Selbst and when the 2h completed the hand, Shak was eliminated in second place and Selbst had successfully defended her title!

Selbst now has over $4,100,000 in live tournament winnings, not bad at all especially when you take into consideration the fact she is only a part-time player as she is currently studying for a law degree!

Final table payouts

1.) Vanessa Selbst: $450,000
2.) Dan Shak: $254,000
3.) Tyler Kenney: $170,000
4.) Thomas Hoglund Jr: 120,000
5.) Vincent Rubianes: $90,000
6.) Joe Tehan: $70,000
7.) Aaron Overton: $50,000
8.) Steve O'Dwyer: $32,330