David Peters Banks $680,000 in Huge ARIA Weekend

Mo Nuwwarah

Nov 21, 2016 5 min read Last updated Apr 21, 2020

David Peters' career year continued this weekend with a win in ARIA $50,000 Super High Roller 13 and a second-place finish in the ARIA $25,000 High Roller 51. He banked about $680,000 between the two scores.

Peters has now cashed for over $6.7 million in 2016 while also collecting his first career World Series of Poker bracelet in what's surely been a year to remember for the pro from Toledo, Ohio.

Thursday, Nov. 17

Thursday's event, the 50th edition of the ARIA $25,000 High Roller series, drew 40 entries for a prize pool of $960,000. This was the only tournament Peters whiffed on, according to the live updates, falling out of the money in 14th place.

At the final table, a few players were before the money. Ali Fazeli got it in with eights against the sevens of Tom Marchese and found a key double when both players bricked out. Fazeli then won a race with jacks against the ace-king of Brian Rast to get the field down to seven and Alan Smithee bubbled out.

Erik Seidel was first to go after the money bubble burst, failing to overtake the queens of Byron Kaverman with ace-ten. Kaverman, though, couldn't keep the momentum going and busted a short time later when his ace-queen couldn't fare against Fazeli's eights.

Jake Schindler spent some time grinding a short stack but finally fell when his Q♦3♥ shove in the small blind was looked up by Sean Winter, who had 9♣8♣ in the big blind. The board brought a nine on the flop to send Schindler to the rail.

Marchese woke up with A♥10♥ when Winter shoved on the button, only to see Winter turn over a dominating A♣J♥. After Winter doubled through, Marchese was busto 10 minutes later when his Q♥J♣ couldn't find help against Winter's A♠7♠.

Winter and Fazeli were left to battle heads up and the two big all-in pots went Fazeli's way to ship the tournament and over $400,000. Winter got in ace-seven against ace-ten and couldn't win after a 9♠10♣6♥ flop gave him a gutshot. Then, a flip of sixes versus ace-nine went to Fazeli as well.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Ali Fazeli	$403,200
2	Sean Winter	$320,400
3	Tom Marchese	$134,400
4	Jake Schindler	$86,400
5	Byron Kaverman	$57,600
6	Erik Seidel	$48,000

Friday, Nov. 18

Maybe some players needed a day off or maybe some were saving their bankrolls for the next night's $50K, but numbers dropped quite a bit for the second night of the high roller weekend. Only 26 turned up for Friday's $25K, creating a prize pool of $624,000.

Dan Smith grabbed an early lead this time, according to the live updates.

Shortly after registration closed, Peters got his stack in with ace-queen when he jammed over an open from Ben Tollerene, who called with jacks. A safe flop of low cards hit for Tollerene, but a queen on the turn gave Peters a double. Peters was then able to take a chip lead into the final table, but only four players would cash.

Isaac Haxton bubbled out of the event in fifth when he shoved with A♠Q♥ over a Smith open and got called, with Smith showing down K♥4♥. The 8♦4♦4♣ flop was a brutal one for Haxton and the turn left him dead and busted.

Smith then won a race with threes against the ace-king of Keith Lehr to get it down to three handed. Ten minutes later, he reduced the field to two when Jason Koon jammed on the button with K♥8♥. Smith shoved over with king-queen and held up.

Peters experienced some early success against Smith when they got it in with Peters holding a dominated ace-five against ace-nine. A five on the river evened up the stacks, but Peters eventually fell to Smith after more than an hour of heads-up play.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Dan Smith	$312,000
2	David Peters	$168,480
3	Jason Koon	$93,600
4	Keith Lehr	$49,920

Saturday, Nov. 19

After two days of $25K action, the ante was upped for the big one: the weekend's $50K. In the end, 30 players showed up for a prize pool of $1,440,000, with five places set to be paid.

Fazeli ran up a big stack again but ended up busting at the final table, a little before the bubble burst, according to the live updates.

Peters had made his way to six-handed play, where he eliminated Christian Christner on the bubble. Peters raised and called a jam from Christner in the big blind. Christner saw he was in awful shape with 8♦7♦ against jacks, but a flop of 8♣J♠9♥ did give him a sweat with a straight draw. A nine on the turn ended those hopes, though.

Peters then got in a preflop raising war with Dak Shak that ended with Peters showing down ace-queen and Shak, two sevens. A queen-high flop gave Peters the pot after Shak couldn't find one of the remaining sevens.

After running queens into the aces of Seidel, Peters needed a lot of help when he got it in with A♠9♠ against the A♥J♣ of Marchese. Luckily for the Ohio native, a nine peeled off on the flop to give him new life.

Haxton tried shoving over a Marchese open and a Seidel call while holding king-queen only to see Seidel had flatted with ace-king. Neither player improved and Haxton went out in fourth for his first cash of the weekend.

Peters was able to double his 10 big blind stack when Seidel jammed in the small blind with ace-four and Peters woke up with sevens, turning a set to make it no sweat to the river. Right after that, Marchese shoved all in on a completed board of 4♦Q♠2♦2♠10♦. Peters called with J♠2♠ and his trips were good, sending him to heads-up play with Seidel.

Seidel and Peters agreed to a chop that gave Seidel and his bigger stack the majority of the money. However, there was $50,000 left on the table to play for and Peters ended up prevailing for the extra money, taking a slightly bigger payout overall. Combined with his other second-place finish, it was over $680,000 for a very lucrative weekend at ARIA.