Griffin Paul topped a massive field of 2,310 entries at Gardens Casino to take down the WPT500 Los Angeles Main Event on Sunday. The Southern California native earned a massive $174,850 in top prize for his grand victory and trophies from both the World Poker Tour and Gardens Casino. This was the second WPT title for Paul and it took his live tournament earnings to $1,668,767.
The final table began late on Sunday night with Paul as a chip leader with more than 10 million chips. The first elimination from the FT came in Matthew Witjas whose pocket fives could not hold up against pocket nines of Tim Tang. Following him were Andrew Wisdom (8th) and Jaideep Sajwan (7th). Both Wisdom (Qd 10d) and Sajwan (Ac Kc) had shoved over a big raise by Bradley Hinson who held pocket aces, which finally held up and won him the pot on a board of K-7-5-10-3.
Jaideep Sajwan is a well-known name on Indian poker circuit with many notable scores in events in Goa, Manila, Vietnam, Las Vegas, Macau etc. While he has made plenty of deep runs, it was his third WPT final table finish for which he received $26,820, which happens to be his best live score.
The female player Einav Shalom was the next to fall in 6th place, and then it was Huy Lam who followed her in 5th place. A littler later, Tim Tang was busted in 4th place by Griffin Paul whose QK beat A5 of Tang on a board of 3-8-7-10-Q. Paul continued his hot run and then busted Hoang Le in 3rd place. Le’s 7d 3d failed to beat Paul’s Ah 5c and the latter entered HU as a chip leader.
The heads-up between Paul and Bradley Hinson did not last long. On the final hand of the tournament, Bradley Hinson held 8d 6d, while Paul had Kh 5c. The board ran 2s 5d Jh Kd 7s where the latter made two pairs to win the pot and earn his second WPT title for $174,850 in top prize.
Final Table Payouts:
1st: Griffin Paul – $174,850
2nd: Bradley Hinson – $109,935
3rd: Hoang Le – $81,125
4th: Tim Tang – $60,510
5th: Huy Lam – $45,630
6th: Einav Shalom – $34,790
7th: Jaideep Sajwan – $26,820
8th: Andrew Wisdom – $20,910
9th: Matthew Witjas – $16,490