Ravee Mathi Sundar Engineers WPT Rolling Thunder Win After Back-To-Back Final Tables
A week ago, we wouldn't blame you if you didn't no who Ravee Mathi Sundar was. The software engineer from Dublin, California, had zero live tournament cashes to his name heading into the recent World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star event. There, Sundar finished sixth for $168,260.
That was last Friday night in San Jose.
Fast forward to Wednesday night just up the road in Lincoln, because again Sundar had worked his way to a WPT final table. This time he entered second in chips, but performed much better than his previous attempt to win the $266,857 first-place prize and WPT Rolling Thunder title.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ravee Mathi Sundar | Dublin, CA | $266,857 |
| 2 | Jesse Rockowitz | Petaluma, CA | $176,018 |
| 3 | Taylor Paur | El Dorado Hills, CA | $113,154 |
| 4 | Harrison Gimbel | Jupiter, FL | $83,818 |
| 5 | Rex Clinkscales | San Antonio, TX | $62,864 |
| 6 | Jeff Griffiths | Alameda, CA | $50,291 |
Not only was Sundar making his second WPT final table in a row, but Taylor Paur had made it as well and was looking to go back to back after winning the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star for over $1.2 million on Friday. Needless to say, the excitement was buzzing for this one.
The young and talented Harrison Gimbel began as he chip leader, and it was Jeff Griffiths to fall first. According to the event's live coverage, Sundar doubled through Griffiths to take the chip lead on Hand #10 of the final table, and then Griffiths bowed out on Hand #13. Two hands later, Rex Clinkscales joined him at the payout desk in fifth place.
Sundar maintained the chip lead and took out Gimbel on Hand #43 to really extend that lead. The hand occurred in Level 25 with the blinds at 15,000/30,000/5,000. At the time, Sundar was in the lead with 4.39 million, and Gimbel was in second place with 2.925 million.
After Paur min-raised from first position to 60,000, Gimbel made it 175,000 to go on the button. Sundar called out of the small blind, and Paur folded. The K♣4♠4♥ flop saw Sundar lead with a bet of 225,000, only to have Gimbel raised to 700,000. Sundar called, and the 6♥ landed on the turn. Sundar checked, and Gimbel moved all in for 2.045 million. This put Sundar in the tank for several minutes, but he eventually found a call with the Q♥Q♦. Gimbel had the 8♥5♥. After the 9♣ completed the board, Gimbel was eliminated in fourth place.
That pot gave Sundar over 65 percent of the chips in play.
Jesse Rockowitz had been pretty quiet throughout the final table, but he found a double up through Sundar on Hand #51. Then, Rockowitz found himself in first place after Hand #58, but the margin was small between him and Sundar. Over the course of the next few orbits, the two, along with Paur, traded times with the chip lead.
The three-handed affair was a long, hard-fought battle, but in the end Paur fell in third place on Hand #141 — nearly 100 hands after the last elimination had occurred. He was done in by Sundar, who then took a big 4-1 chip lead into heads-up play. Just a few hands later, it was all over.
On Hand #145, Sundar snap-called Rockowitz's shove with the J♦J♥. Rockowitz had the K♣9♠ and failed to hit on the 10♦3♦3♥6♠6♥ board. He earned $176,018 for his runner-up finish, and the title was sent to the hands of Sundar.
All told, Sundar earned $435,117 from his back-to-back WPT final tables in less than a week's time.
Data and photo courtesy of the WPT.
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