Dylan Linde bests the WPT Five Diamond in Vegas for first WPT title and more than $1.6 million in prize money
Dylan Linde has had major success in the EPT, WSOP Circuit, and PCA, but he has never won a WPT Main Tour title until last night. Not only did the player lock up his first WPT title, but he also took down one of the most popular events on the series’ calendar – the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
Linde bested a behemoth field of 1,001 entries after five days of play to collect a first-place prize of $1,631,468 and thus nearly double his overall tournament earnings.
Linde credited his victory in the Five Diamond event to River, his dog he and his fiancée adopted in Las Vegas. The player said that during this summer’s WSOP, he made several final tables and they always brought River for good luck. Linde’s furry pal was on the Five Diamond’s rail over the past week and was treated to quite some attention by his fellow spectators. River delivered good luck to his owner once again.
As mentioned earlier, this year’s edition of the Five Diamond drew 1,001 entries who created a massive prize pool of more than $9.7 million. Linde himself fired five bullets to make sure that he would progress into the tournament.
He told WPT staff last night that at first all he wanted to do was to reach the money and get even. However, as play progressed, the player got more and more confident.
Final Table Recap
Linde entered the official six-handed final table second in chips, but the player did not waste time and quickly began his march toward the title. The eventual winner was responsible for all five final table eliminations, which helped him build a solid stack into the decisive heads-up match.
Milos Skrbic was the other player to make it to heads-up. At the start of the duel, Linde was holding a comfortable advantage over his final opponent. The soon-to-be-champion had 22.275 million in chips to Skrbic’s 17.675 million.
The battle for the title lasted 35 hands, during which it was Linde who was putting the greatest pressure. The player cemented his lead to eventually sent Skrbic to the rail and claim the major title. As for the runner-up finisher, he took home almost $1.1 million, his poker career’s largest cash, for his great performance and deep run into the tournament.
In his post-victory interview, Linde said that he did not feel nervous, despite the fact that he took part into one of the hardest WPT Main Events on the series’ schedule. He went on to say that things ran smooth for him as he was able to run the right bluffs and pull the trigger whenever he needed to.
Now, as he is $1.6 million richer, the player said that he and his fiancée would buy a house and probably get married. Linde joked that the engagement ring expectation has just gone way up.
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