James Dempsey wins the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic
Dempsey took down the title and the $821,612 first place prize after defeating a star studded final table that included defending champ Antonio Esfandiari, Andrew Lichtenberger, Vanessa Selbst and runner-up Soi Nguyen.
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| James Dempsey photo source: Bluff |
Dempsey's main reason of coming to Vegas wasn't even to play in this WPT event, but to pick up some cash for fellow pro and friend Chris Moorman. Since he was already there, he figured he might as well play. With this new personal best win, the Pot Limit Omaha WSOP Bracelet winner that they call "The Doctor" will need to find a lot more room in his luggage to bring back all the extra cash.
It's worth noting that...
•Most of the final table was heads up - The eliminations came fast and furious and defending champion Antonio Esfandiari was the first to go just 10 hands into the final. After hand 41, Vanessa Selbst exited in third place and Dempsey and Nguyen started heads up play almost dead even in chips. It took another 85 hands before they finished.
• Nguyen lead for most of the match - After exchanging some early jabs, Soi Nguyen quickly opened up a big chip lead and the former November Niner looked the clear favourite to seal the match when he opened up a close to 4 to 1 lead. Dempsey then doubled up twice, first with 
against 
all in preflop and some hands later with 
against 
. After those two hands Dempsey suddenly had a commanding chiplead.
• First time lucky for Dempsey in the WPT - In the final hand of play, it was Nguyen's turn to play the short stack and moved all in for 24 big blinds with 
. Unfortunately for him, Dempsey called with 
. A 
flop put Nguyen ahead, 
on the turn was a brick but 
on the river gave Dempsey another rivered straight. Dempsey's first WPT appearance will be a truly memorable one as he walked away with the title and $821,612
Congratulations to James Dempsey, the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic champion!
WPT Five Diamond
Final Results |
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| Place | Name | Prize | ||
| 1st | James Dempsey | $821,612 | ||
| 2nd | Soi Nguyen | $517,478 | ||
| 3rd | Vanessa Selbst | $338,351 | ||
| 4th | Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger | $218,933 | ||
| 5th | Vitor Coelho | $159,224 | ||
| 6th | Antonio Esfandiari | $119,418 | ||
| 34th | scottclements | $19,903 | ||
| 43rd | jonathanlittle | $15,922 | ||
| Players: 1 (413) | Prize pool: $4,130,000 |
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