James Romero, a player from Portland, Oregon, will remember Saturday night as the night he turned into a millionaire. His terrific performance throughout the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic $10,400 Main Event final table secured him with the tournament title and the first-place prize of $1,938,118.
Romero started Day 6 of the Main Event as the chip leader, holding a massive stack. Action was off to a slow start. It took 42 hands before the first all-in confrontation occurred. Romero was involved in it, but odds were not in his favor and he lost some chips to Jake Schindler. Nevertheless, the eventual winner dominated the final table, winning key pots and defending his lead fiercely and courageously.
The first final table elimination occurred on Hand #59 for the day. Romero sent Igor Yaroshevsky to the rail with a pair of Queens. The Ukrainian player took home $268,545 for his sixth-place finish. Being responsible for the elimination, Romero further extended his lead.
Another player left the final table two hands later. Justin Bonomo missed another chance to win a WPT Main Event after getting busted in 5th place by Schindler. Bonomo collected a payout of $345,272 for his efforts.
The slow start was offset by the quick elimination of one more player within a the next two hands. On hand #64, Alex Condon could not survive a confrontation against Romero and left in 4th place for $494,889.
Action slowed its pace after Condon’s elimination. Given the huge first-place prize to contend for, the three remaining finalists were not ready to give up on it easily. Eventually, Hand #120 marked Schindler’s exit from the game. His share of the prize money totaled $736,579.
Heads-up between Romero and Ryan Tosoc started with the eventual champion holding a commanding lead over his final opponent. It did not look as if two-handed match would be a particularly long one. Yet, Tosoc managed to resist Romero’s attempts to pocket all chips at the table for 16 hands.
Hand #136 was the last one for the night and the tournament as a whole. It unfolded with Tosoc shoving for his last 1,975,000 and Romero calling instantly. Tosoc turned over [5s][5c] against his opponent’s [Kh][Kd]. The board ran out [Ah][Jd][9c][4s][6c] and Romero claimed the title with his better pair. Tosoc collected a nice payout of $1,124,051 for finishing runner-up.
Romero has become the winner of the last WPT Main Tour Main Event for this year. The WPT will be taking a break for the next month and a half, and will next head to Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City for the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open festival.
