Vinny Pahuja Wins Parx Big Stax XV 500 for $104,475
If it's not one Pahuja taking a tournament down, it might very well be another.
Just a couple of weeks after brother Mukul Pahuja grabbed a win in the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Palm Beach Kennel Club, his brother, Vinny Pahuja made his way to the winner's circle. He took the title and the lion's share of the money after a heads-up chop with Adam White in the Parx Big Stax XV 500 event, with the two being the last players remaining out of a 1,480-player field.
Pahuja has surpassed $2 million in career cashes with the win.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vinny Pahuja | $104,475 |
| 2 | Adam White | $92,000 |
| 3 | Jeff Gurfinkel | $58,253 |
| 4 | Grace Zhang | $39,072 |
| 5 | John Lee | $30,547 |
| 6 | Jeff Izes | $24,154 |
| 7 | Andrew Kloc | $19,181 |
| 8 | Robert Nicolaides | $14,918 |
| 9 | John Castaldo | $11,366 |
| 10 | Rosendo Guerrero | $7,175 |
A handful of notable players advanced to Day 3 of the massive tournament, falling before the final table. They included Dan Buzgon, Jesse Cohen, and Jose Montes.
According to the live updates, stacks were on the deep side as the final table began, with an average stack nearly 60 big blinds. Despite that, 10-handed play saw Pahuja take possibly the most crucial pot of the tournament, after White opened for 225,000 at Level 29 (50,000/100,000/15,000). One player called, Rosendo Guerrero three-bet to 800,000, and Pahuja four-bet to just over 2.1 million. Guerrero shoved all in when action folded back to him, and Pahuja called for 8.1 million.
Pahuja: K♣K♠
Guerrero: A♠K♥
The board ran out 8♦8♣2♠6♠J♣, and Pahuja found himself with a monstrous stack while Guerrero was crippled and busted shortly after.
Grace Zhang began the final table as chip leader and she mounted a serious threat to Pahuja's lead after getting a set of eights in against John Castaldo's set of jacks with one card to come. Zhang managed to find the fourth eight on the river to make quads and sent Castaldo packing, setting herself up with over 15 million.
A few eliminations later, Pahuja continued to run hot and busted start-of-day leader John Lee in fifth by flopping a set of sixes against Lee's tens. The two got it in on an eight-high flop, leading to four-handed play with three massive stacks and Jeff Gurfinkel trailing with about 20 big blinds.
Nonetheless, Gurfinkel managed to outlast Zhang, as she was on the wrong side of another set-over-set when Pahuja flopped three nines and Zhang a set of threes. Gurfinkel held on for awhile but eventually fell in third, leading to heads-up between White and Pahuja.
Before a single hand was played though, the two came to terms on a deal rather than engage in a prolonged heads-up war. Stacks were very deep, with White the "short" stack at about 70 big blinds and Pahuja holding about double that. Pahuja locked up his second Big Stax title and the third-biggest live cash of his career.
*Image courtesy of Parx Poker Blog.
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