The Big Event, which was held at the Bicycle Casino, drew quite a lot of attention this week because of the interesting turn of events at the final table. It’s common enough to see one poker pro at a final table, but to find two of them is quite rare. It’s even rarer to see them face each other at the heads up battle. This time, though, 2005 WSOP Main Event Champ Joe Hachem and WPT Champ, Victor Ramdin found themselves facing each other at the heads up portion of the tournament, with Ramdin walking away as the final winner.
The Big Event Final Table
There were eight people who made it into the Big Event’s final table, two of them the pros mentioned earlier. Santiago Nadal was the first unfortunate casualty, exiting at eighth place with a prize of $35,327. Following him was Jose De Noronha, who got $55,000 for his efforts. Next to go was Govert Metaal, who won $75,000. At fifth place was Bryan Leskowitz who was the first to be in the 6-figure money bubble, earning himself a nifty prize of $100,000. Following him closely was Taylor von Kriegenbergh, who ended up winning $140,000. It was a three-way battle after that, with Jeremy Ausmus and Joe Hachem holding a significant lead over Victor Ramdin. The three of them battled it out fiercely, with the lead switching hands several times. Finally, Ausmus was eliminated by Ramdin, earning him a pretty sizeable stack. Ausmus left the game with $190,000 in tow.
Then it was heads up between Ramdin and Hachem. Hachem had A-J while Ramdin had A-K on the final hand. The board turned out to be A-K-8-10-2. With a powerful two-pair, Ramdin went on to win the tournament. Hachem got $300,000 for his efforts – not a bad deal, really – while Ramdin got $500,000 as well as the prestigious title.
About Ramdin
Despite the closeness of the fight, Hachem was very gracious about accepting defeat. He posted in his Twitter account that he had a great tournament and that Victor deserved the victory. He even said that Ramdin “played his heart out”. Ramdin also posted in his Twitter, thanking his fans for their support. Indeed, Ramdin truly deserves the victory, especially if you consider how generous he is to charity despite the career slump he’s been experiencing. This is actually his first big payday since his victory at the WPT in 2006.
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