The World Poker Tour Legends of Poker is all over and Will “The Thrill” Failla emerged victorious early Wednesday morning with the largest and most prominent win of his career. By besting the 757-strong field for victory, Failla claimed a first-place prize of $758,085.
When the final table began, Failla led the way with 6.77 million in chips. Although he lost some chips early to Joshua Pollock and Jeff Vertes, he fought back to send Owais Ahmed out the door in sixth place.
Ahmed, who began the final table as the short stack, moved all-in from the small blind after action folded to him on the 18th hand of the final table. The blinds were 60,000/120,000 with a 20,000 ante and Ahmed was all-in for 1.76 million. Failla was in the big blind and called with
On the 61st hand, Adam Aronson headed to the rail in stunning fashion that first saw him suck out with
Pollock, in fourth place, was eliminated by former World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Ken Aldridge on the 76th hand of the day. Pollock raised to 425,000 with the blinds at 100,000/200,000 with a 25,000 ante. He was on the button and Aldridge defended with a call from the big blind. The flop came down
When play was three-handed, Failla began finding doubles every time he got his money in. First, he doubled through Aldridge with
On Vertes’ final hand, the 164th hand of the final table, Failla raised from the button to 900,000 with the blinds at 200,000/400,000 with a 50,000 ante. Vertes three-bet to 1.75 million from the big blind, but Failla came right back with a four-bet shove. Vertes quickly called holding
When heads-up play began, Failla held the lead with 13.075 million in chips to Aldridge’s 10.65 million. It didn’t take long for Aldridge to take that lead from Failla in a big pot worth nearly ten million in chips.
Failla min-raised the button to 800,000 and Aldridge called from the big blind to see the flop come down
A few hands later, Failla doubled up after backing into a flush and getting Aldridge to shove on him on the river with only a pair of aces. Aldridge raised the button to 900,000 and Failla called from the big blind to see the flop come down
After the hand, Aldridge was left with 3.775 million to Failla’s commanding 19.95 million and things only lasted a couple of more hands.
After folding a couple of times preflop, Aldridge called all-in with
Final Table Results
Place | Player | Prize |
---|---|---|
1 | Will "The Thrill" Failla | $758,085 |
2 | Ken Aldridge | $365,800 |
3 | Jeff Vertes | $186,400 |
4 | Joshua Pollock | $128,500 |
5 | Adam Aronson | $102,800 |
6 | Owais Ahmed | $77,100 |
Prior to this win, the largest score of Failla’s career was a $241,950 side-event win at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure earlier this year. Failla more than tripled that score and bumped his lifetime tournament earnings to over $2.9 million. With this win, Failla has eclipsed $1 million in earnings already this year and is having his best year to date in poker.
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