Carlos Mortensen, Gus Hansen, Anthony Zinno, and Chino Rheem may be very different in their approaches at the poker table, but the four players have one important thing in common. They have all been celebrated for the rare deed of winning three WPT Main Event titles. A new member has recently joined their small company.
Darren Elias claimed his third WPT title earlier this week for winning the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic C$5,000 Main Event. The player had the difficult task to remain in contention over the three days of play and to beat fierce competition coming from the 488 other tournament entries. His efforts eventually paid him C$449,484 and a seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions, which this year is set to take place on April 7-9.
The Fallsview Main Event’s final day kicked off with 22 players still in contention. Apart from Elias, there were no other former WPT champions among the final 22. Action unfolded quickly and it was not very long before the final table of six was set. Six-handed play started with David Eldridge holding a commanding lead over his remaining opponents.
It took 68 hands of play before the names of the final two became clear. During those 68 hands, Eldridge managed to increase his stack even further. However, Elias also kept himself busy in accumulating chips. Eldridge maintained his lead up until the start of two-handed play. The heads-up match was set with Elias eliminating Jean-Christophe Ferreira in third place. Scooping the latter’s chips, the eventual winner also scooped the lead from his final opponent.
Yet, Eldridge and Elias entered into the final duel with a relatively small chip difference and both standing deep with 56 and 65 big blinds, respectively. That only promised a longish and action-packed heads-up match. However, the two players busted expectations by setting the winner after only three hands of play.
On the final hand, Eldridge moved his final 400,000 pre-flop and Elias called. Eldridge tabled [10c][9s]
against Elias’ [Jh][6c]. The board ran out [Kh][10d][5c], giving Eldridge the lead. However, the [Qc] on the turn improved Elias’ outs for hitting a straight. The river delivered just what he needed – the [9h], securing him with his third WPT title and the accolades that go with it. Eldridge got a nice payout of C$300,982 for his second-place finish in the tournament.
