Poker Tournament Results

World Poker Finals / WPT Event Season 7

Vanessa Selbst

Tournament Report

The 226 players who entered the 2008 Foxwoods World Poker Finals $2000 No-Limit Championship anted up a prize pool of $405,557! At noon on Sunday, 14 players returned to compete for the top prize. After almost 6 hours of play, Vanessa Selbst of New Haven, CT, overcame the persistent challenges of Randy Spain and the rest of the final table and emerged victorious claiming the Championship Trophy, commemorative leather jacket and $115,000! The Final Table got underway shortly after 1 pm, and right off the bat, chip leader James Witkowski was left with only 10k in chips as he called all-in with AcKc only to watch Vanessa show A's. The two sweated it out as the flop & turn came-out 8d3s10cJc, giving Jim plenty of outs, but the Js on the river left him short stacked. Jim was taken out the very next hand by Vanessa who had pocket 8's to Jim's Jc7c. Vanessa flopped a set, and Jim headed back to Schomber, ON with $5,272 for 10th. Jeffrey Hakim of Wexford, PA was all-in with A/Q after betting 107k only to be raised by, 7 to 1 chip leader, Vanessa with an all-in move. Vanessa flipped over 9/4 and hit the 9 leaving Jeffrey in 9th with $6,090. Kal Gullapalli a resident of New York, NY, made his move with 10's and was called by Arthur Evans. Arthur had K/J and with the board coming-out K/9/6/7/5, Kal would earn $7,300 and finish 8th. With the blinds at 6k-12k, Tirdad Baradaran- Seyed, of Woodbridge, Ct would raise to 50k only to have Vanessa move all-in. Tirdad called with QdJd, while Vanessa showed AdQc. The board was 7's and 2's with a K, relegating Tirdad to 7th for a $8,922 payday. Lance Corley would bet 30k after the turn gave the board 6/3/Q/A, Randy Spain deliberated and would raise all-in. After a couple of minutes, Lance would call with K's only to see Randy turn-over A/4, and with an 8 on the river, Lance would head back to Needham, MA in 6th earning $12,978 for his efforts. Soon thereafter, Avdo Djokovic of Staten Island, NY would move all-in with pocket 3's and would be called by Vanessa with K/J. The board gave Vanessa K's and resigned Avdo to 5th for $19,061. Jacob Gillis, who started the final table just shy of being the short stack, would be Vanessa's next victim as he called her all-in raise with pocket deuces to her 10/4. The board (K/10/5/6/7) gave Vanessa 10's and Jacob would settle for $25,145 and 4th place. Play would continue after the final three made an agreement. Arthur Evans, who was the short stack at the start of the final table, and Vanessa would watch the turn give the board 8/5/2/4. Vanessa would bet 60k only to be raised all-in by Arthur. She quickly called and exposed 6/7 for the straight. A disappointed Arthur would show Q/8 and with a 6 on the river, Arthur would finish 3rd and take $55,584 home to Davie, FL. Randy Spain of Brewer, ME was able to get Vanessa down to a 2 to 1 chip advantage, but unfortunately for him, after about an hour of heads up action, he would move all-in with A/6 after the flop of 6/8/5. Vanessa called with K's and after the dealer turned and rivered J/9, Randy would realize a 2nd place finish and earn $60,584. Vanessa Selbst would become the winner of the 2008 Foxwoods World Poker Finals $2000 No-Limit Championship! Reported by Rhue R. Reis for Foxwoods Resort Casino