Vitor Coelho Wins WPTDeepStacks Jacksonville
While all eyes of World Poker Tour fans are trained squarely on Las Vegas for a trio of final tables that began with David "ODB" Baker taking down the WPT L.A. Poker Classic last night, another, smaller event under the WPTDeepStacks banner was finishing up as well in Florida.
The WPTDeepStacks Jacksonville $1,500 Main Event went down at bestbet Jacksonville, ending with a veteran Florida grinder adding to his trophy case as Vitor Coelho topped a field of 446 for $123,419 in prizes.
Coelho had previously had success in a WPT side event at another Florida venue, where he took down a field of nearly 2,700 for $140,476. This most recent win pushes him past the $1 million mark in live cashes.
WPTDeepStacks Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vitor Coelho | $123,419* |
| 2 | Richard Kirsch | $84,407 |
| 3 | David Jolicoeur | $54,278 |
| 4 | Tyler Payne | $36,755 |
| 5 | Jeremy Sanders | $28,248 |
| 6 | James Reed | $23,455 |
| 7 | Diane Casino | $19,650 |
| 8 | Roman Paje | $15,846 |
| 9 | Bill Thompson | $12,042 |
*includes WPTDS Championship package
The tournament produced its $602,100 prize pool over the course of two starting days. Fifty-six places were paid, with World Series of Poker Circuit stalwarts Lakisha Slaughter and Peter Vitantonio among the players cashing.
The latter would bubble the final table when he lost a sizable flip with king-queen suited to jacks, and Coelho took the rest of Vitantonio's stack when a flopped bottom pair and gutter draw versus a gutshot and two overcards, per the live updates.
From there Coelho went into the final table with the chip lead holding just a little over 100 big blinds.
Final Table Action
Coelho wouldn't get much involved as the first couple of players, who each limped in with under 10 big blinds into the final day, busted during the first hour or so.
When Coelho finally did become active, things didn't go his way as he doubled up a short stack in a race and then saw Richard Kirsch turn two pair against his pocket nines with seven-six. Kirsch would then take the chip lead busting Diane Casino with kings over jacks.
David Jolicoeur then had his turn to run hot as he woke up with aces when short-stacked James Reed shoved with A♠7♣. Soon after, Jolicoeur's A♦K♠ held versus a reshove by Jeremy Sanders who couldn't get there with J♦8♥.
By that point everyone was under 35 big blinds at 75,000/125,000/125,000, so action was bound to get rolling. Coelho then earned the pot that would position him for the win when he opened for 250,000 and got a call before Tyler Payne shoved for 2 million. Coelho isolated with his 9♠9♣ and with his pair managed to fade A♠K♥ to take control of more than half of the chips.
Jolicoeur next fell to Kirsch and it was about even when heads-up play began. Coelho nearly had it right away on an A♦5♠4♥ flop when he called Kirsch's all-in check-raise, but Kirsch ran out a chop with ace-eight against ace-ten.
The final meaningful hand would see Coelho raise to 400,000 and Kirsch call. The flop came J♦6♦5♦ and both players checked to see the 9♥ turn. Kirsch bet 500,000 and called when Coelho raised to 1.3 million. On the 4♦, Kirsch jammed for about 4.5 million and Coelho called with K♦K♥ having slightly fewer chips.
The king-high flush was good as Kirsch had only 9♠8♦ for a weaker flush. Down to fumes, Kirsch couldn't pull an epic comeback and Coelho collected the win.
