James Carroll, a $3m+ winner online, took the marquee prize early this morning when he defeated Dylan Wilkerson heads-up for the Bay 101 Shooting Star title in San Jose, California.
With a record-breaking field this year Carroll collected a hefty $1.25m for the win along with a $15k seat in the WPT World Championship next month.
Italian Andrea Dato, meanwhile, outlasted a tricky final table and a tough heads-up opponent in Sam Trickett to earn the WPT Venice title and $145,849.
Pahuja Falters, Wilkerson Second Again
Entering the final table as the chip leader Mukul Pahuja was set to make his fourth big score on the WPT in the past seven months.
It ended up a bit smaller than he hoped, however, as an epic four-handed battle ended with him out in fourth for $320,800.
Wilkerson, who finished second at WPT Fallsview just last month, repeated the feat in San Jose, coming up just short of Carroll but still taking home $728,650.
Nam Le, winner of the Bay 101 event in Season IV, came in fairly short and couldn't get anything going, busting in fifth. The complete final table and payouts:
1. James Carroll - $1,256,550 2. Dylan Wilkerson - $728,650 3. Shaun Suller - $477,470 4. Mukul Pahuja - $320,800 5. Nam Le - $223,810 6. Garrett Greer - $174,080Trickett Debuts, Third Time Charm for Dato
Over in Venice an equally tough final table was playing out with Europe's winningest player ever in Trickett the odds-on favorite to bring the title home.
Playing in his first tournament as an Everest Poker pro Trickett made it all the way to heads-up with a 3-1 chip lead before his A♣ 8♦ couldn't beat Dato's K♣ Q♥.
Outkicked in a huge pot shortly after, Trickett hit the rail in second and Dato, after two final tables at WPT Venice previously, finally seized the title.
The final table results and payouts:
1. Andrea Dato $145,859 2. Sam Trickett $91,683 3. Maurizio Saieva $58,343 4. Mario Vojvoda $43,063 5. Alessio Isaia $33,341 6. Sotirios Koutoupas $26,951Check the full rundown of the action in both events on the WPT Live Updates pages here and here.
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