Pat Lyons, a poker pro from San Mateo, California, turned a dream of his into reality after winning the WPT Legends of Poker $4,000 Main Event early on Friday. Apart from the first-place prize of $615,346, including a seat into the season-ending Tournament of Champions, a tournament trophy, and a Hublot watch were only part of the items he received for taking down the event that he has long wanted to.
Lyons entered the tournament’s official six-handed final table second in chips. When six-handed play kicked off all eyes were on the chip leader at that time – William Vo. At the age of 77, the local tournament regular had the chance of becoming the oldest player to have ever won a WPT Main Event. He busted in 5th place, however, while Lyons was establishing himself as the dominant figure at the final table.
The eventual winner had some really tough opponents to deal with, including WSOP gold bracelet winners Upeshka De Silva and Benjamin Zamani. In fact, the two players were Lyons’ last opponents. Three-handed action lasted for hours before the champion busted De Silva in third place. Heads-up match began with Lyons holding a three-to-one chip advantage over Zamani.
The moment of victory came when Lyons shoved all in with [Ac][8h] to see his opponent call with [Ah][2c]. A board of [9d][9c][7s][Jh][10s] secured Lyons with the much-coveted title. Zamani’s payout from the tournament amounted to $341,412. It is interesting to note that this has been his third second-place finish within the past ten months.
As mentioned above, Lyons took home $615,346, which has been his career best live cash so far. Added to what he had previously won in various other tournaments, the player’s live winnings now total $1,169,279.
When asked what it felt like to win the event you have long dreamed of taking down, Lyons said that it was really satisfying. The winner also explained that winning the tournament meant quite a lot to him as Southern California players are really hard to defeat.
Here are the rest of the finalists and their respective payouts from the tournament’s prize pool. Upeshka De Silva, the other former gold bracelet winner, took 3rd place for $198,720. Todd Peterson finished 4th, good for $149,715. William Vo collected $113,105 for his fifth-place finish. Rafael Oliveira rounded out the final table for $85,760.
The WPT Legends of Poker $4,000 Main Event drew a total of 687 entrants who generated a prize pool of $2,465,643.
