Stein, Cheong, Yunis, and Ausmus Score Big in Bellagio Five Diamond Prelims
The World Poker Tour is currently in Las Vegas for the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. The $10,400 Main Event began on Monday, Dec. 14, but the past week has seen the Bellagio Poker Room abuzz with several preliminary events. Two of those events were the $10,400 Pot-Limit Omaha and the $5,200 No-Limit Hold'em.
Stein and Cheong Chop $10K PLO Event
In the $10,400 Pot-Limit Omaha event, 35 entries generated a prize pool of $339,500.
The top four places paid, with Cary Katz squeaking his way into the money for a fourth-place finish worth $37,345. Next to the payout desk was Joe Hachem, winner of the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event. Hachem is no stranger to success at Bellagio, having won the WPT Five Diamond Main Event in 2006 for a whopping $2.2 million, and he added a $56,715 payday to his record thanks to a third-place finish.
Hachem's elimination left Sam Stein and Joseph Cheong as the two remaining players. The duo agreed to an even chop that earned them $122,220 each, and Stein won the final flip for the official winner's trophy.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Stein | USA | $122,220* |
| 2 | Joseph Cheong | USA | $122,220* |
| 3 | Joe Hachem | Australia | $57,715 |
| 4 | Cary Katz | USA | $37,345 |
*Denotes a heads-up deal.
Yunis Beats Ausmus To Win $5K NL
In the $5,200 No-Limit Hold'em event, a field of 185 entries generated a prize pool of $897,250. The size of the field represented a 13.5-percent increase over last year's field in this event, and first place was set at nearly $280,000 with the top 18 places making the money.
When it was all said and done, Chilean Nick Yunis defeated American Jeremy Ausmus to earn the win, but not after the two agreed to a heads-up chop. With the deal, Yunis earned $249,152, and Ausmus scored $190,505.
Finishing in third place was quite a familiar name, as it was none other than Stein earning another six-figure Bellagio score. He took home $103,184, and wouldn't you know, the man he chopped the $10,400 Pot-Limit Omaha event with, Cheong, took sixth place for $42,619.
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Yunis | Chile | $249,152** |
| 2 | Jeremy Ausmus | USA | $190,505** |
| 3 | Sam Stein | USA | $103,184 |
| 4 | Justin Oliver | Canada | $72,677 |
| 5 | David Levi | USA | $56,078 |
| 6 | Joseph Cheong | USA | $42,619 |
| 7 | Aditya Prasetyo | USA | $33,198 |
| 8 | Rodger Johnson | USA | $24,674 |
| 9 | Hunter Cichy | USA | $17,496 |
**Denotes a heads-up deal.
Another notables to cash in the $5,200 No-Limit Hold'em event were Taylor Paur (12th - $13,907), Will "The Thrill" Failla (16th - $10,318), and Sean Getzwiller (17th - $10,318).
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