WPT Prime Voyage Championship Main Event Won by Gregory De Faria for $155,000

The World Poker Tour’s latest poker party on the Valiant Lady saw Brazilian player Gregory De Faria hold on tight, find the straight at the right time and catch a wave as he won the WPT Prime Voyage Championship for $155,400. With players such as Allison Hollander, Nicolás Betbesé and Brandon Takao going close, the conclusion of the event meant the poker party boat could continue to live it up into the night.

Bumper Boatful as Million Dollars on the Line

The $1,000+60+40 event saw a whopping 968 entries as players battled for a six-figure top prize and the title of WPT champion. The final eight players made the final table with Betbesé in a marginal lead, his 69 big blinds a little ahead of the eventual champion De Faria’s 63 bigs.

The first player to leave was Czech player Lukas Zaskodny, who busted in eighth place for a score of $18,500. All-in with , he needed to hold when at-risk against Brandon Takao’s . Sadly for Zaskodny, the board of sent him out before the business end of the event, albeit with a very healthy return on his entry ticket.

Ending his event in seventh place was Brazilian player Gustavo Carmona. On a board showing , De Faria moved all-in with for a king-high straight. Carmona used five time bank chips to consider his options for five minutes but eventually made the call, showing for a queen-high straight as he lost out in dramatic fashion, taking home $24,000.

Takao Taken Down

Out in sixth was the only female player to make the final table, Allison Hollander. All-in from the big blind with , she was called by Takao with and a board of only ever flirted with giving Hollander a chance by offering her a gutshot to the river that never came, as she cashed for $31,000.

Fifth place went to Brian Monigold, who might have the best poker name since Chris Smith became ‘Moneymaker’ all those years ago in 2003. Monigold couldn’t book the win here, however, losing out for $41,000. All-in pre-flop with , he lost to Trent Hopper’s as the board of fell to send play four-handed and keep Hopper hoping for the ultimate victory.

After his earlier heroics, eliminating multiple players, Brandon Takao had looked like one to watch in the final table bulletins, but he fell three places short of glory, missing the podium places after falling to a monster. Shoving with , he lost to De Faria’s as the latter held through a king-high board that never gave Takao any hope of overtaking his opponent. Takao left in fourth place for a score of $54,000.

Hopper Finished by De Faria

Into the final three places, Nicolás Betbesé was the unfortunate player to miss out on the heads-up battle for the trophy. All-in with against De Faria’s superior , Betbesé needed a lot of help from the board and didn’t get it as it came nine-high to send the Argentinian to the rail for a result worth $72,000.

Down to the final two, De Faria had bagged an important chip lead, his 20.6 million ahead of Hopper’s 18.1 million. De Faria’s elimination of Betbesé proved crucial as he used his stack to apply pressure to his final opponent. Heads-up was a lengthy battle and Hopper had chances but De Faria always felt like he had some real momentum to his play and boosted by a big lead in the final hand, De Faria shoved with and was called by Hopper with .

Hopper needed to hold but the board of gave De Faria a flush on the river and it was all over as Trent Hopper claimed the runner-up prize of $97,000. For Gregory De Faria, he took home the the WPT Prime Voyage Championship trophy and the top prize of $155,400, which includes entry worth $10,400 into the season-ending WPT World Championship at the Wynn in Las Vegas in December.